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Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) • DOI: 10.1002/pfi.20160

GAP ANALYSIS REVISITED Roger Chevalier, CPT, PhD

Gap analysis is an important part of the performance improvement process that fits into the

International Society for Performance Improvement’s 10 Standards of Performance Technology,

Standard 5. This article discusses the need to set a reasonable goal to motivate people to close

the performance gap and provide a milestone for measuring progress as the gap is closed. It

also provides insight into the need to identify performance trends that led to the current level of

performance as we define the performance gap.

GAP ANALYSIS IS AN important part of the performance improvement process that fits into the International Society for Performance Improvement’s 10 Standards of Performance Technology, Standard 5: “Be systematic in all aspects of the process including: The assessment of the need or opportunity” (ISPI, n.d.). A performance gap is typically defined as the difference between an existing level of performance and a desired level. In reality, this narrow definition may limit the motivation of the people who must close the gap and hinder evaluation to deter- mine the impact of a performance intervention.

I first used this limited definition (Chevalier, 1990) as the basis for a diagram to describe a performance gap as depicted in Figure 1. I have since added another line (Chevalier 2003, 2008, 2009) to describe the reasonable goal that serves as a milestone in closing the performance gap as shown in Figure 2.

SETTING A REASONABLE GOAL Our starting point for gap analysis is to determine the existing and desired levels of performance, and

then set a reasonable goal or milestone for measur- ing progress in terms of quality, quantity, time, and cost. At the most basic level, a reasonable goal can be set for such areas as productivity, waste, sales, ser- vice, and customer service. At an intermediate level, a reasonable goal can be set for such issues as reliability, calls on warranty, customer retention, or customer referrals. At the business outcome level, reasonable goals can be set for profitability and market share. The reasonable goal serves to show progress in closing the performance gap.

Another useful aspect of setting a reasonable goal is that it may serve to better motivate the people who will do the work to close the performance gap. As an example, an organization would like to increase its domestic mar- ket share from its current level of performance of 10% to a desired level of performance of 15% in the next 5 years. Senior managers may be motivated by such a large performance gap, but the people on the line will not be able to grasp how a gap of that size can be closed. By ask- ing line people to participate in setting a reasonable goal for one year, they will have ownership of this short-term

FIGURE 1. PERFORMANCE GAP ANALYSIS FIGURE 2. PERFORMANCE GAP ANALYSIS WITH A

REASONABLE GOAL

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6 www.ispi.org • DOI: 10.1002/pfi • AUGUST 2010

goal (e.g., 1% over the next year) and will work harder to close it.

The reasonable goal should be stated in terms that the people doing the work can control. If the overall goal is to improve profitability, the reasonable goal for manufactur- ing line people should be set in terms of productivity and quality. Although improvement in these areas will have a positive effect on profitability and market share, produc- tion people are better motivated by the things that they actually control.

An interesting application of this idea was presented at an ISPI Performance Improvement Conference in which I learned of the goal-setting process that the Netherlands Olympic swim team used. An article that followed (Bloem & Vermei, 2005) described how the team wanted to bring a group of swimmers in the 100-meter free- style event from 51 seconds to near the world record of 47.84 seconds. The team’s overall performance gap of 3 seconds became a slogan for closing the gap: “From 51 to 48.”

A gap of 3 seconds can seem insurmountable in the minds of athletes in an event that takes only 48 seconds, even if they have 4 years to close the gap. To remedy this situation, the team set reasonable goals by dividing the 3 seconds into smaller and smaller intervals, such as .02 second a week and .004 second per training day. The measurable outcome of the team’s efforts happened concretely at the 2004 Olympics in Athens with two of the swimmers on the 4 � 100 women’s freestyle relay, and served as the mental fundamentals for winning the gold medal in Beijing 4 years later in 2008.

Setting goals that are both challenging and attain- able serve to motivate those who must do the work. Three seconds in 4 years may seem insurmountable, but .02 second a week was considered reasonable, if also challenging. Setting a reasonable goal was important, but it took many other activities to help close the 3 second performance gap.

TREND ANALYSIS Another important aspect of gap analysis is found in establishing trends in performance before the interven- tion is made. Too often evaluation begins by determin- ing the existing level of performance as a single point in time. The impact of the intervention is then determined by the change from that point after the intervention as shown in Figure 3. The results could be misleading if the performance trend before the intervention is not known (Chevalier, 2010).

But how does the evaluation of the result of the inter- vention change when we know the trends in performance

that existed before the intervention? Was performance declining, steady, or already improving? Did the interven- tion increase the trend that was already there?

Depending on the trend before the intervention, the various outcomes have different values. A simplified view of performance trends is shown as Figure 4. If there was a downward trend before the intervention, an upward performance is desirable, but leveling the performance downturn may also show a measure of success. If there was steady performance before the intervention, then only upward performance would indicate that the in- tervention was successful. If there was an upward trend before the intervention, continued upward performance may not necessarily be an indication that the interven- tion added value since performance was already headed that way.

The best way to determine the trend that precedes the existing level of performance is to use existing busi- ness metrics. These metrics are inexpensive to use since they are already in place to measure performance. They demonstrate trends over time, can account for seasonal variance, and are already accepted by management as indicators of performance.

FIGURE 3. PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT MEASURED FROM A SINGLE POINT

FIGURE 4. PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT MEASURED FROM PERFORMANCE TRENDS

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Performance Improvement • Volume 49 • Number 7 • DOI: 10.1002/pfi 7

CONCLUSION Although identifying the current and desired levels of performance is important, setting a reasonable goal to measure progress toward closing the performance gap can be just as important. A reasonable goal, set in measures that the people who must do the work can control, can also serve to motivate them toward closing the performance gap. A phrase used by the Netherland’s swim team in their goal-setting process was, “If you work for them [the goals], they work for you” (M. Bloem and A. Vermei, personal communication, March 28, 2010).

It may not be enough to define the current level of performance at a single point in time. Trend analysis us- ing existing data may be necessary to measure how much impact the intervention had on improving performance. Using existing business metrics is the easiest way to estab- lish the performance trends that were happening before arriving at the current level of performance.

One final comment, if the starting point for perfor- mance improvement is a perceived opportunity, the performance gap that should be examined is found in the organization’s long-range plan. The value of the opportunity should be evaluated as to how it contributes to closing the gap between the organization’s present and desired levels of performance as stated in the long-range plan.

References

Bloem, M., & Vermei, A. (2005, July). The Olympic road to performance improvement. Performance Improvement, 44(6), 7–13. [DOI: 10.1002/pfi.4140440604.]

Chevalier, R. (1990, November–December). Analyzing per- formance discrepancies with line managers. Performance + Instruction, 29(10), 23–26. [DOI: 10.1002/pfi.41600291007.]

Chevalier R. (2003, May–June). Updating the behavior engineering model. Performance Improvement, 42(5), 8–14. [DOI: 10.1002/pfi.4930420504.]

Chevalier, R. (2008, November–December). The evolution of a performance analysis job aid. Performance Improvement, 47(10), 9–18. [DOI: 10.1002/pfi.20034.]

Chevalier, R. (2009). Analyzing performance: An example. Performance Improvement, 48(7), 15–19. [DOI: 10.1002/ pfi.20090.]

Chevalier R. (2010). The changing role of evaluators and eval- uation. In J.L. Moseley & J.C. Dessinger (Eds.), Handbook of improving performance in the workplace (Vol. 3, pp. 354–374). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.

International Society for Performance Improvement. (n.d.). Standards and ethics. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http:// www.ispi.org/content.aspx?id=418.

ROGER CHEVALIER, CPT, PhD, is the author of the 2008 ISPI Award of Excellence recipient, A Manager’s Guide to Improving Workplace Performance, published by the American Management Association (2007). He is an independent consultant who specializes in embedding training into comprehensive performance improvement solutions. He has personally trained more than 30,000 managers, supervisors, and salespeople in performance improvement, leadership, coaching, change management, and sales programs in hundreds of workshops. His Web site is www.aboutiwp.com. He may be reached at Roger@aboutiwp.com.

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