Gap Analysis

Synopsis

What sets high-caliber teams apart from all the others? They perform frequent and extensive gap analyses of their skills, resources, funding and revenues. With our Gap Analysis presentation, you can assess your venture's unique data and situations, break it down to the staff and stakeholders and come up with the best strategy to close the cavity that keeps you from absolute triumph. Below, we also included the advice from senior leadership development firm, RHR International, on what you can do to close the strategy-to-execution gap.

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Slide highlights

Answer the questions that will help your team to close the gap between the current and the desired state of your business. What is your competition doing? What feedback have you received from your customers that can improve your product?

This slide will help you to communicate a gap analysis template data. A gap analysis template is a visual technique that involves the detailed comparison of actual performance of the business with potential or desired performance of it.

Use this slide to present and explain the results of your skills gap analysis test. The skills gap analysis will aid you in identifying the best way to span the gap and determine the most effective training program for the staff.

Overview

There are numerous business areas, such as accounting, sales, customer service, HR and many more that benefit from the gap analysis process. Some examples that illustrate the broad range of ways a company can use a gap analysis include, per Smartsheet:

• Product Launch – after a company launches a new product, a gap analysis might help to determine why sales didn't meet forecasts.
• Productivity – when a factory's productivity is not meeting expectations, targeted customer needs or the set of business requirements that were laid out, a gap analysis can help determine what process needs to be fixed, the Smartsheet team says.
• Supply Chain Management – in case a hospital finds itself running short of supplies on a regular basis, a gap analysis can help to identify the reason for shortages.
• Gap Analysis – performing a gap analysis may help a manufacturer look at the sales performance of the company product catalog to make sure the right mix is being produced and use the results to maximize production.
• Individual Assessment – a team leader at an accounting firm can have each member perform a gap analysis and use those results not only to find targets to improve each team member's performance but also to draw out the best practices that everyone can adopt, the Smartsheet team says.
• Product Evaluation – a software company might run a gap analysis of their product to ensure that all features and functions outlined in the business requirements are present and work as expected.

Application

Here are some necessary steps to take when conducting a gap analysis, according to a tech consulting firm, The Blueprint:

1. Identify the area(s) for improvement – understand where you want to apply a gap analysis model, and what you seek to get out of it. From there, you can assess what type of gap analysis you want to apply to the situation.
2. Identify the area(s) for improvement – review where you are today. By looking at the current state, you determine your starting line for improvement. Gather all relevant business intelligence and document all of the contributing factors that created the current state. Be specific and detailed in this documentation.
3. Define the end goal – define quantifiable goals to strive for. One way to determine your ideal future state is to look at industry standards or the bar set by the competitors. Another way to do this is to look at historical data for your company. "If you've been growing sales at 10% each year, but they suddenly drop to 8%, the end goal might be to bring sales back up to the 10% level or higher," the experts at The Blueprint say.
4. Understand the gap – compare the two states to understand the gap you're trying to close. Record all of the challenges in the current process that must be resolved to get to the desired state. Note which significant issues may take time to overcome and which can be addressed instantly.
5. Determine a plan of action – determine a plan of action to bridge the gap. With clarity on the hurdles to overcome, you can go down this list and devise solutions for each, such as pursuing business development to increase sales, for example. Also, collect feedback on your solutions to ensure there's buy-in across the organization, the experts say.

Expert advice

In their "Harvard Business Review" piece, researchers from RHR International senior leadership development firm, Paul Leinwand, Cesare Mainardi and Art Kleiner remind us that "Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare." The researchers outlined what senior leaders must do to wake up and close the strategy-to-execution gap.

[bold]Commit to an identity,[bold] Leinwand, Mainardi and Kleiner say. In their research the authors found that the following key differentiators set high-performing teams apart from the rest:

• They spend nearly 20% more time (compared to low-performing teams) defining strategy and translating a high-level vision into clear actionable goals.
• They spend 12% more time aligning the organization around that strategy through frequent internal communications and driving a consistent message downward into the organization.

Translate strategy into everyday processes and capabilities. The experts stress that their analysis of how senior teams spend their time shows that:

• High-performing teams spend over 25% more time focusing the enterprise than their lower-performing peers. That time is spent establishing financial and operational metrics, aligning goals with overarching strategy, allocating resources and reviewing key metrics.
• High-performing teams spend 14% more time checking their progress against strategic goals by reviewing key metrics and shifting resources accordingly.

Also, according to the researchers, leaders must concentrate on the unique cultural factors that fuel success, because they found that:

• High-performing teams spend over 25% more time focusing the enterprise than their lower-performing peers. That time is spent establishing financial and operational metrics, aligning goals with overarching strategy, allocating resources and reviewing key metrics.
• Those same teams invest almost one-third more time in optimizing talent capabilities by reviewing development plans, ensuring that succession plans are in place and evaluating compensation plans to be competitive.

Finally, shape the future. According to Leinwand, Mainardi and Kleiner's research and analysis, high-performing teams successfully shape the future, rather than just staying in a reactive mode in the present. High-performing teams also:

• Spend 25.3% more time influencing high-level stakeholders by identifying their needs and managing their expectations.
• The high-performing teams spend 13.2% more time planning for the future by setting direction, creating a vision and defining their strategy.
• They shape the future by responding to change in the present (20.7% more effectively than lower-performing teams), positioning the enterprise for future success.