WHAT IS THE GAP: DESIRED VERSUS CURRENT BUSINESS RESULTS
For the critical business issue or its components, what is the desired result—we want a 15 percent market share—and what is the current level—we currently have a 10 percent share. In this example, the gap is a 5 percent share of market. Such a clear and measurable gap helps to scope the problem and determine the value of a solution. Some clients know exactly what gap they are trying to close, whereas others have a strong feeling or belief that there is a problem but are a bit vague about the goal.
Clients often need help in specifying the gap. Savvy performance consultants find it is critical to success to stick with it and define the gap. The gap lets us identify the value of solving the problem—a 5 percent increase in market share can be converted to dollars quickly—so we can scope our efforts accordingly. It gives us a clear target and a way of measuring results. We find that the gap also points to where to look for a sponsor or champion: look for a person in authority whose goals are threatened by the gap.
Conduct a Requirements Audit for Organizational Results
Once you have identified a gap in performance against results, check whether or not the organization meets basic requirements for achieving and sustaining organizational results. Geary Rummler has identified six requirements that an organizational system must meet to translate plans into predictable, consistent results:
• Is the super-system monitored and appropriate actions taken? (See The Anatomy of Performance, Figure 4.1.)
• Is the organization aligned with the super-system via mission/vision, strategy, business model, and goals? (See also Business Logic, Figure 4.3.)
• Are the value chain outputs and requirements linked to organization and customer requirements, clear, and communicated?
• Are processes optimized to achieve the desired value chain results via aligned goals and capable processes?
• Are the processes capable of achieving the desired results?
The value of mapping the organization and its super-system is that you can organize your analysis around these six factors and find breakdowns fairly quickly.
Is Anyone Already Achieving the Desired Results?
Identify one or more sites, plants, departments, or other sub-groups that are exemplars: achieving the desired results or better. Then, contrast these with similar sites that are producing average results to see what the exemplar is doing that the others are not. This also allows you to determine how much of an improvement is realistic within the client’s current system, since at least one of the units is already achieving it.
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