Over the years, many chief executives have voiced their frustration with the process of transforming a vision into reality. One CEO in particular compared it to a high-performance sports car without any gas. By the same token, the "fuel" is often missing from an executive's ability to drive multiple initiatives that move a company forward. The key is overcoming gaps that exist between a company's current state and desired future state.
A burning question on the mind of the C-suite community is how to fill the void left by these major gaps. Some examples we typically see across a variety of industries are a lack of resources, quality culture, accountability and active management behavior. In many instances, these problems are evident to the executive team, but the solutions are not. Multiple gaps can be overwhelming, so knowing where to begin on the map to recovery is half the battle.
Identifying foundational requirements, such as key objectives, guiding principles, areas within scope, as well as constraints and considerations, is a great place to start.
Defining the gaps is an essential part of the process, but there are no guarantees the management team will mutually agree on the best path to a future state . The alignment of leadership has its own set of challenges, such as the acceptance of new behaviors and resources that will fill the gaps. However, once everyone buys in to the proposed solutions, the otherwise rocky road to a future state becomes much smoother.
8 major gaps we typically find
