Developed an App to Match Goals to Roles
Four years, six clubs, five officer roles, six district roles, two Pathways, and a few contests into my Toastmasters journey, I noticed a pattern. When a member is asked to take on a leadership role, they are usually shown only the roles the club needs filled at that moment. They pick the one that sounds most interesting and hope for the best.
This is backwards. It led me to build the Goal to Role app, a tool that starts with what a member wants to achieve and works toward the role that can help them get there.
The Challenge
Toastmasters depends on members voluntarily taking on leadership roles, but most clubs approach recruitment backwards. They list open roles and ask members to pick one, rather than starting with the member's goal and the skills they want to build or improve.
The better approach is to ask members about their goals early in the year, before roles need to be filled, and then show which goals can be achieved through which roles. Members who serve in a role tied directly to their own goal are more likely to stay engaged than those who agree to whatever is presented. Club needs still matter, but this puts the member's growth first.
What I Did
The idea took shape while I was preparing a workshop for a Toastmasters conference. The goal-based role selection process worked well in the room, and attendees enjoyed it. Turning it into an app meant anyone could use it anytime.
I started by using Claude to build a spreadsheet of the skills needed to achieve common goals, then mapped club and district leadership positions to those goals. From there, I used iterative prompting in Lovable to build the matching app. I supplied the Toastmasters color palette hex codes so the tool would feel visually consistent with the organization's brand.
Here is how it works. On arrival, users type in a goal or select a common one. The app returns three possible leadership roles, and each includes:
Why it could fit
How it will help you
Skills you will build
Time commitment
Whether it is a club or district role
A success story
I also added a feedback form to the live site to keep the loop open for user input, along with a disclaimer to keep expectations appropriately scoped.
The Impact
Respondents' feedback has been positive. They reported that the tool is easy to use and that the role suggestions felt relevant to their goals. Anyone can try it, Toastmaster or not.
I continue to improve the app based on user feedback. Next steps include:
Allowing clubs to select the officer roles currently available, so users only see roles they can fulfill right now
Featuring real Toastmasters' brief success stories and photos alongside the roles they held
CompetEncies Applied
AI-Assisted Development
Prompt Engineering
Product Iteration
Click the arrow to play a demo of this app.
