GAPS Training

The “GAPS” Top-Priority Objectives

Effective leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of their employees. While employers may feel confident that they have matched employee skills to capabilities, employees may not always agree. “Often strengths and development needs are relative. The same level of skill might be a strength in one role and not high enough for another role.” (Gebelein, Nelson-Neuhaus,et. al., 2010, ). When employees are provided opportunities to self assess or to have others assess them they learn if their perceptions are accurate. When employees know what they do and how to do it they become competent, flexible and goal oriented; which will reflect back on the employer in a positive way.

A “GAPS grid” is one way to help employees identify developmental needs that are important to them and highly needed by the organization. The grid helps to collect information about employees in four key areas: goals, abilities, perceptions and success factors.

The first step in the evaluation of employee’s goals is to simply ask people what matters to them. “Goals and values are the internal motives and values that drive behavior” (Gebelein, Nelson-Neuhaus,et. al., 2010, pg. 371 ). Some possible questions to ask are:

ü  What do you value and care about?

ü  What is important to you in your work and career?

ü  What are your career interests and aspirations?

ü  What gives you the greatest sense of satisfaction and reward?

ü  What gives you the least satisfaction and why?

The next step is to ask employees to describe their abilities. “Abilities include their view of their capabilities and performance, especially in relation to what is required of them and what they want to do” (Gebelein, Nelson-Neuhaus,et. al., 2010, pg. 372 ). Some possible questions are:

ü  How do you view your performance and capabilities?

ü  What skills are your strengths? In what areas are you most likely to offer your expertise to others?

ü  Where do you need to improve? In what areas do you turn to others for assistance?

Additionally, it is important to ask people how they think others perceive them. “Perceptions include how others view people’s capabilities and performance, including interpretations and assumptions about what they observe.” (Gebelein, Nelson-Neuhaus, et. al., 2010, pg. 372 ). Information you might gather includes:

ü  Personal observations

ü  Feedback from others about the person’s capabilities

ü  The person’s reputation among people at different levels in the organization

ü  How the person performs in areas critical to success in current and future roles

Finally, as a leader your position is to share with others the organizations goals, mission, vision and plans for the future. “Success factors comprise expectations regarding performance and behavior relative to current and future roles and responsibilities, organizational and team objectives, and market and business challenges” (Gebelein, Nelson-Neuhaus, et. al., 2010, pg. 372 ). Information you share after ascertaining it is:

ü  Clear expectations of performance for the person’s current and possible future roles, including skill requirements, required experiences, and additional educational needs

ü  The mission and strategic plans of your organization

ü  Pressing issues and goals that face your organization, including internal and external perspectives about industry trends and competition

ü  Capabilities in greatest demand in your organization, and which of them are expected of this person, now and in the future

When “GAPS” is used as a tool to identify organizational objectives, employees make it a top priority to try to link their goals and motivations to the development of the organization. Often employees are not aware that there is a chasm between the two. Usually when they realized there is a gap, they become energized to try to resolve the differences. The following are some employee critical development objectives:

1. Identify the person’s top personal priorities. Have them identify their top both short and long term objectives.
2. Match priorities with organizational incentives. Employees need to know that their performance  at the organization is crucial for both their and the organizations success, both now and in the future.
3. Look for alignment between personal priorities and organizational interests. As leaders it is imperative that you work to align your employees “goals and organizational standards” (Gebelein, Nelson-Neuhaus, et. al., 2010, pg. 373 ). Creative ways should be considered to attain these goals.
4. Maximize return on investment (ROI) by choosing development objectives that will yield the greatest payback for a given amount of effort. The best way to do this is just to start small and only choose one or two goals to work on initially. It is important to revisit the process periodically.

Once the GAPS have been identified, then the real work begins. It is now a team effort between leadership and the employee to discover the best way to create and implement             plans for development.

One tool that helps to provide an action plan for development is called the FIRST Development Model. This model is a self development plan that really works! Many employees, if you ask them when the last time was they developed a new skill will have an answer readily available; however the majority of employees will struggle to find something to say. The following process will help all employees to develop successful actions plans:

F ocus on Priorities: Identify critical issues and goals.

I mplement something every day : Stretch your comfort zone.

R eflect on what happens: Extract maximum learning from your experiences.

S eek feedback and support: Learn from other people’s ideas and perspectives.

T ransfer learning to next steps: Adapt and plan for continued learning.

As a leader it is wise to review employee development plans periodically to ensure that they are useful, relevant, and based on best practices. Check for the following:

• Limit the number of development priorities- People shouldn’t tackle more than two or three objectives at a time.
• Look for opportunities to incorporate daily action-Smaller daily activities always provide better learning opportunities than one big burst will. An effective development plan, “specifies situations, time, and people that will tripper development action.” (Gebelein, Nelson-Neuhaus, et. al., 2010, pg. 375 ).
• Focus on job development activities-Look beyond just training and development. Employees also need on-the-job training to be effective at their jobs.
• Discover how and when the employee plans to reflect on new learning-Learning occurs when employees have an opportunity to talk about, write it down, and think about what happened, and what and how they learned content.
• Discern ways to get ongoing feedback and to track and sustain progress-People need to get accurate, current information on their progress to help propel them to meet their goals. An effective plan includes:

ü  Sources and processes for getting relevant feedback

ü  People who can provide encouragement and support

ü  Accurate gauge to measure progress towards the employee’s goals

The best plan to improve employee development originates from the employee and is a shared goal with the employee and their supervisor. A good leader coaches their employees to become key individuals in the organization. What really makes an employee most successful is a supervisor leading by example; when employees succeed, so does the organization.

(Gebelein, Nelson-Neuhaus, et. al., 2010, Successful Manager’s Handbook ).