As an organization, you always have a set of business goals that you would like to achieve through a clear plan. A gap analysis aids in establishing the best strategy to achieve these business goals. In this blog, we provide you with an explanation of gap analysis and a step-by-step guide, enabling you to navigate through it effectively.
What is a gap analysis?
In a gap analysis, you juxtapose the current situation with the desired situation. This can pertain to a specific department, a particular project, or the entire organization. By comparing the current situation with the desired one, you gain a better understanding of the steps needed to achieve the goal. To gain this insight, you can use three questions: ‘Where are we now?’, ‘Where do we want to go?’, and ‘How do we get there?’. By answering these questions, you immediately generate ideas for possible steps to improve the company, streamline processes, and increase profits. Conducting a gap analysis helps in gaining insights, necessary to work towards the business goal and serves as a solid foundation for the improvement plan leading to the goal.
Why conduct a gap analysis?
Visualizing the end goal is not particularly challenging. An example of a gap analysis could be that production workers aspire to produce better quality than just meeting the quality standard. However, what’s considerably more difficult is devising an appropriate and realistic strategy that will actually lead the organization to this end goal. Often, it’s challenging to see the forest for the trees when it comes to improvement options. The gap analysis brings order to chaos by posing a few clear questions. Simple questions that nevertheless challenge you to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the current position of the organization or project and the ideal scenario of the organization or project. With the answered questions, you can proceed to develop a strategy based on facts rather than assumptions or risky guesses, thus fully harnessing the potential.
Tools for a gap analysis
To understand the difference found in the gap analysis, you can use different tools to come up with a good plan for improvement. One of the most common tools is the SWOT analysis. With a SWOT analysis, you carefully look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the organization and compare them in a table. This helps you see any dangers and figure out how to get ahead by matching opportunities with strengths.
Another tool frequently used in conjunction with the gap analysis is the fishbone diagram, also known as the Ishikawa diagram. Especially when there is not only potential for improvement, but also a clear existing problem, the fishbone diagram assists in exploring possible causes and solutions. This type of cause-and-effect diagram provides insight into the root cause of a problem. For identifying focal points contributing to – and impacting – the goal or the problem, this is the ideal tool. In this case, the goal or problem is filling your ‘gap’.
How to conduct a gap analysis in 3 steps?
Would you like to conduct a gap analysis yourself to work more targeted towards your business goal? Then use the gap analysis model below, consisting of three clear and straightforward steps. This gap analysis plan is simple, yet effective.
1. Clearly map out the current situation
By analysing the current situation, you understand what the starting point is from which you need to work towards the business goal. Answer the first question of the gap analysis: ‘Where are we now?’. Consider all aspects involved in the improvement plan. For example, finances, employees, products, and customers. Depending on the project or organization, many aspects influence the current situation.
2. Define the ‘destination’
Determine where you ultimately want to end up. What is the ideal situation in the future, and what overall picture do you have in mind? It can be immensely helpful to use SMART goals at this stage, so you delve into multiple levels of the goal. When should the goal be achieved? How do we measure progress? And is the goal relevant enough compared to the associated investments?
3. Identify where you fall short and devise a plan
After completing steps one and two, it will become clear where exactly the gap lies between current performance and the potential you want to achieve. Once you have this in mind, it’s time to search for solutions that can bridge the gap. Go for the most efficient solution and communicate this solution to the team to receive feedback. Together with the team, you can develop an improvement plan to implement the solution in the organization. Only with a clear strategy and realistic objectives will you be able to convince the team. Therefore, develop a comprehensive action plan and demonstrate which tasks can be performed by which employee, to collectively achieve the goal.