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Using a gap survey to develop action plans for improvement


Posted on 11/14/2017 by Elizabeth in category: survey software articles
You're heading towards the end of the year and it's time for you to make strategic plans and changes for the upcoming year. However, before you do this, it's important to identify your organization's strengths and weaknesses so you can begin working on them for the New Year. One of the best ways to identify areas that need improvements is to conduct an annual end of the year gap analysis.

This gap survey is your way of figuring out the areas your company is lacking in, whether its a product you sell or service you offer. No matter what topic you decide to use your survey software for, this type of analysis will help your business identify where you're doing things right and what areas you need to improve. Gap analyses can help you figure out how you need to allocate your resources. So how do you conduct this gap analysis so you can come up with an action plan for improvement?

What's your Mission?

Your first step when conducting a gap survey tool is to decide on your specific goals by looking at your organization's mission statement, improvement objectives and strategic goals. Your gap analysis, designed with online survey software, can help you learn what your business needs are and prioritize them by identifying any shortcomings or deficiencies you need to overcome. Once you've uncovered these gaps, it will be easier to quantify them and figure out the work effort you'll have to put it to address them.

Gather Data

Next, you'll need to analyze your present business processes. You do this by gathering relevant data on levels of performance and how you're presently allocating resources to these processes. You can gather this data from multiple sources such as conducting interviews, looking at the documentation, observing and brainstorming project activities and sending out surveys.

Gap analysis survey software provides decision makers with a thorough overview of the whole organization or a specific function like information technology, accounting or operations. This enables executives and directors to decide if the organization or department has the resources or not to meet their goals, objectives, and mission.

This also applies to staff as well. If you have gaps between employee work experiences and their expectations, this can result in poor productivity and low morale. If the same goals and values are shared throughout your entire organization, it leads to success.

Devise a Plan

Last, once you compare your target objectives to your present state, you can then come up with a comprehensive plan that's the framework of the specific steps you need to take to fill the gap between the current state of your organization and where it’s going, reach your target goals.

When you run an efficient gap survey analysis looking to improve your entire operation and your business mindset, you place yourself in a win-win situation. Your staff is better motivated, you're completing more projects successfully and everything is running according to plan. Losses and risks may also be eliminated.
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