Unlock efficiency: Cut Costs & Retain Talent with a Leadership Gap Analysis

Developing your leaders will mean better in-house expertise, securing your top talent and driving a stronger bottom line. But many organisations are losing their skilled leaders or struggling to attract them in the first place. The more important question is: where do we start?

If a needs analysis isn’t a priority task for you, then you could be wasting money and wasting talent. Don’t believe us? Read on to find out why.

At The Leadership Coaches, we always begin with the end in mind. When we work with clients, we recommend ensuring that the right leaders are in place with the right knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviours to ensure that the business can meet its goals, both now and in the future.

But what does the right knowledge, skills and behaviours look like? It needs to be more than just a review of what it looks like now. We encourage you to consider three, five or even ten years from now. How does this leadership team develop to be future ready for whatever is coming in the industry?

Once you have an idea of the future, you can then backtrack to now, and that’s when you can create a leadership learning needs gap analysis.

Maximise Impact with a Gap Analysis

A gap analysis, or needs analysis as it is also known, tells us where the leadership needs are, and we can use a number of different tools to inform them. Typically, I’d recommend looking at things such as:

• 360 feedback reviews

• Employee engagement surveys

• Culture audits

• Performance reviews

• Grievances and disciplinaries

• Attrition, absence, sickness

The good news is that most of this data is readily available within your organisation! You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, just collate what’s already there. Next you compare the evidence of ‘now’ with what the business needs from its leadership team as it continues to develop to meet the ever-changing needs of the organisation, the industry and environment in which it operates.

Consider knowledge, skills, and behaviours.

Knowledge gaps might be things like commercial awareness, strategic direction, or financial acumen, for example.

Skills could include, among others, developing a devolved leadership model, delegation or influencing the strategy.

Behaviours often include emotional intelligence, accountability, and inspirational leadership.

Typically, we suggest analysing needs at two levels for a thorough needs analysis:

• The broader leadership trends impacting the organisation

• The individual development needs of each leader

This is where you, as a learning and development (L&D) expert shine, acting as a true strategic partner to the business, ensuring budgets are spent wisely for maximum impact.

The Costs of Skipping a Gap Analysis

If an organisation doesn’t conduct a thorough needs analysis, it is then essentially throwing something at the wall and hoping it’s going to stick. Without a gap analysis, how can you know what solutions are needed?

When you don’t know what solutions are needed, you not only end up wasting the budget, but you also run the risk of upsetting leaders by dragging them through things that they don't need training and development on. This demotivation has often led to people choosing to move jobs, meaning you could lose the talent as well.

Have you ever experienced this kind of request: “We want a management development programme.” and on future investigation, it turns out that would have been a total waste of money as they simply needed to be coached through a tricky conflict situation?

Sadly, we have heard new clients saying: “We had a two-year leadership development programme, but it hasn’t really made a difference.” How heartbreaking is that as a learning and development practitioner?! Imagine standing in front of the board, having to explain why a massive investment, not just in budget, but the time and energy of every leader, has made an insignificant impact. Not only is it embarrassing, but it raises the question: “Why did we make that decision?” and L&D end up having to justify their choices, or explaining why they were persuaded by managers, leaders, consultants, or even suppliers!

Don’t let leadership development become an expensive gamble. Take control by ensuring your investment is backed by evidence and aligned with future business needs. Review information that is often readily available and show your expertise in influencing strategic L&D budget spend.

Our CEO, Zoé Lewis wrote this blog and as a former trainer of L&D practitioners with the CIPD, she is known for her diligence in deploying L&D solutions. Always happy to be a sounding board for strategic L&D advice, she welcomes reaching out for guidance on how to navigate your leadership development challenges.