Conduct a gap analysis

1. Identify the current state of your organization.

Define where your organization is currently, and what departments or features you want to improve on. Either look at the entire company against your mission statement or audit certain areas such as finances, customer service, employee productivity, and target audience. Note what is working and what is not.

2. Determine your desired state and company goals.

What is your target point of where you would like to be? How can this state be measured? What does success look like in this particular area? Be realistic and determine achievable goals. Use quantifiable data to measure success such as data numbers and growth percentages.

3. Define the gap between your current state and desired state.

List the key items that are different between the current situation, and what you want it to be. Examine the reasons behind the gap and determine some reasons for the lack. Define the 3 most significant gaps.

4. Write down a list of possible solutions.

Once you’ve figured out why the gap occurs, you can come up with some solutions as to how to fix it.

5. Review the pros and cons of your solutions.

Some solutions may be costly or might affect another area of your company. It’s important to determine which solutions will actually fix your issue or create new ones.

6. Determine which solutions you’ll implement into your company’s strategy.

Try not to tackle too many issues in one go; instead address one issue at a time and measure your progress.

7. Share your plan with others and begin to bridge the gap.

Getting your entire team on board is crucial to initiate real change in your company’s performance. Motivating factors such as rewards and publicly tracking progress will inspire everyone to get on board.

8. Analyze results and reconfigure your solutions.

This is where you track your company’s progress in bridging particular gaps and determine how successful your strategies were. Try new solutions or determine a new course of action. Gap analysis can be conducted with any of the company’s processes or departments.