What are performance gaps?

A performance gap describes the difference between current performance and desired performance. It can happen at the individual, team, department or organizational level. The gap between where you should be and where you are can affect functionality throughout the company.

Why you may want to address performance gaps

When the company’s performance isn’t up to par, it can have widespread effects. An individual or group that’s not performing how they should be can drop productivity.

It can also affect the quality of what those employees or teams are producing. Poor quality can impact the customer experience and hurt sales and profits. Decreased performance in one area of the company could have a domino effect and cause issues in other departments that rely on the work.

Performance gaps can impact employee morale as well. If a person feels like they’re underperforming, they might feel frustrated and lose motivation, which could make their performance decline even more. By supporting team members and working to correct the issues, you can keep your employees happier and improve your retention rates.

Common causes of gaps in performance

There isn’t a single cause for all performance gaps. They can stem from one or more causes, including:

• A lack of skills or knowledge neededto perform to expectations
• An unclear understanding of the expectations
• Poor training or onboarding
• Not having access to the right tools to complete the tasks properly
• Issues with leadership
• Unreasonable expectations

How to detect performance gaps

The first step to correcting these gaps in employee performance is identifying them. Knowing the specifics can help you decide how to tackle the issues and improve performance. That means not only finding out which performance elements are coming up short but also the cause of those gaps. The following methods are options for uncovering the gaps in your organization.

1. Perform askills gap analysis

You can spot many issues byperforming a skills gap analysis. This method looks specifically at the skills and knowledge that your organization is missing to accomplish its goals. The results can help you make strategic plans to improve the situation.

2. Review employee evaluations

Thorough employee evaluations look at each team member’s skills, knowledge and performance. Pulling up your latest reviews can help you look for areas where performance can improve. The evaluations could give clues about the reason for the lower performance. It might mention the lack of training, for example.

If you’re due for employee performance reviews anyway, now is a good time to do them. You can analyze your employees more closely than usual to dig up any performance-related concerns.

3. Getmanager input

Your management team might have additional insight that they didn’t document in employee evaluations. If it has been a while since your last employee reviews, new performance issues could have happened since then. Sit down with your managers individually or as a group to hear their opinions on where you might have performance gaps. You can then investigate those issues to see if they’re a concern.

4. Talk to your team

Another good source is your team. Employees may be aware that their performance isn’t hitting the mark. A salesperson can see when they’re not hitting their quotas, for instance. Talking directly to employees who have performance gaps can help you determine the cause. You might find that they don’t have the resources they need, or they’re doing the job as they were trained to do it, even if it’s incorrect.

You can also gauge how willing they are to work on their performance. The conversation gives you a chance to ask for their recommendations or bounce ideas off them for training.

What to do about performance gaps

You have a better idea of your performance gaps, but how do you fix them? Bridging the gap takes a strategic approach and time for the remedies to take effect. Consider trying these options to boost performance.

1. Develop a plan

The specific actions you take depend on what’s causing the gap in performance. Create a specific plan for individuals, teams or the company as a whole based on where the gaps exist. This becomes your blueprint for making changes.

2. Clarify expectations

Some performance gap issues are easy to clear up by clearly defining roles and expectations. Review your current positions and their corresponding job descriptions. Verify they’re still accurate and provide enough detail to guide your employees.

Then, express those expectations to individual employees. Sitting down for a one-on-one can be an effective way to share those expectations. Encourage your team to come to you or their managers with any questions on their duties.

3. Review workloads

When the feedback shows that some employees feel overwhelmed with their duties, you might need to evaluate workloads. You could have an unbalanced distribution of tasks that are causing the performance gap. Shifting duties could help improve the workload for some employees. Or your review could find that you need to hire an additional position to handle the demands.

4. Implement moretraining

Your employee training and development program is often integral to overcoming performance gaps. Evaluate the training you currently offer your employees, starting from their first day on the job. Getting feedback from your team helps you determine if those training methods are adequate and if there are additional training topics they need.

A strong onboarding process ensures new employees receive all the high-quality training they need. This can reduce new performance gaps as your staff grows. You might also need to plan specific training sessions to catch your current employees up on skills and knowledge. Once you fill in the missing skills and knowledge, you can look at ongoing training topics that could be beneficial.

5. Create apositive culture

Fostering a company culture that promotes collaboration and open communication can decrease performance gaps. Team members will be more likely to help each other out and feel more comfortable asking for help from peers. Positive work environments also tend to support productivity and motivate employees to work harder, which can also improve workplace performance.

6. Monitorthe progress

Keeping performance gaps under control is an ongoing process. Your company is constantly evolving, which means your performance and skill needs will also change. Monitoring the identified performance gaps helps you determine if your solutions are working. You might try a different approach or add other options to remedy the situation. If you identify new gaps, you’ll also need to make a plan to address them.

FAQs about performance gaps

What are examples of performance gaps?

One example of a performance gap is an employee who was trained incorrectly by a colleague and now performs the tasks incorrectly. An example based on unreasonable expectations is an employee who is expected to do the workload of two people alone.

Are performance gaps and skills gaps the same thing?

While the two are related, they aren’t the same. Skills gaps refer specifically to the skills an employer needs or wants and the skills their employees have. If you have a skills gap, it can lead to a performance gap because your team likely doesn’t have the skills to perform where you want them to. However, performance gaps can also have other causes other than a lack of skills.

Can training fix all performance gaps?

Training can fix many performance gap issues, but not all of them. It depends on what’s causing the issues with performance. If it’s a matter of unrealistic expectations, you need to shift the duties or add more personnel to handle the workload, for instance. Identifying what’s limiting performance helps you create a plan to correct it.