StrategiesYour project portfolio Critical processesYour most critical gaps
Clarify the current situations and root causes of any lack of performance, as well as adding clarity to your desired state. Obtain insight to the gap from multiple perspectives (clarifying the whole elephant). In doing so, you and your people have a line of sight to what needs to be done and why.Establish the Return on Investment of closing your gaps. Determine the barriers and required actions to close your gaps (if you don’t know them, you can’t plan for them and they’ll affect you eventually). Prioritize the most critical activities that map to their goals.Design and plan the gap-closing activities, then scope, sequence, and staff them.Implement the steps needed to close the gaps and, especially when the business lacks a good track record, hold people accountable and coaching, recognizing and reinforcing desired behavior. Obtain the benefits of the transitions as you had envisioned them — the productivity, profitability, and/or customer-related objectives you had when you authorized the efforts.Sustain the results by ensuring that the people who must change accept, adopt, and sustain the required behaviors through change leadership and change management. Equally important is instilling a sustainable behavior where people are held accountable without outside help, over time.After you have closed the gap, take the time to do a lessons-learned. What worked well, and what could you improve the next time you close a gap?
