GAP Analysis
GAP Analysis lines up where you are against where you said you'd be, and turns the difference into a named list of what has to happen to close it.
Five boxes run left to right, starting at the target state you've defined and ending with the date you'll re-measure against it.
Reach for this when…
- A plan set a target eighteen months ago and nobody has checked the distance since.
- Budget season is coming and you need to show exactly what's short, not just that something is.
- Two people in the room think you're closer to the goal than you are.
How to run it
- State the desired future state in specific, measurable terms.
- Assess the current state against the same terms, honestly.
- List the gaps: what's missing, short, or off-track, one by one.
- Turn each gap into an action with an owner and a date.
- Set a date to re-measure the current state against the target.
A worked example
Situation. Olena Kovalenko ran Kovalenko Textiles, a garment exporter in Lviv, Ukraine, that had set a target two years earlier to supply three European retail chains directly instead of through agents.
Applied. She listed the target state in specifics: certifications, minimum order capacity, direct shipping terms. Measured against it, she had one certification of three, half the capacity needed, and no direct shipping account at all.
Result. Each gap got an owner and a deadline. The certification gap alone took nine months, but naming it that day meant it was already moving before the retailers asked.
The catch
GAP Analysis assumes the target state is right and stable, and it often isn't - markets move while you're closing last year's gap. It also tempts people to list the gaps that are easy to measure and skip the ones that aren't, like a culture that resists the change.
A gap you can't put an owner's name against isn't a gap yet, it's a wish.