Identify a Performance Problem
Identify a gap between the outcomes you want employees to produce and the outcomes they actually achieve. For example, suppose that a salesperson or a sales team in your organization is not reaching quota on a regular basis. If this occurs from time to time, it may not be a problem. But if it occurs regularly, it indicates a performance gap.
Most performance gaps reflect outcomes that are lower than your goals—projects being completed late or with too many mistakes, more errors than you expect, and so on. Sometimes, however, your employees are performing exactly as they are expected to, but your goals for them are too low. This is called an opportunity gap. The employee has potential for much higher performance but is missing it partly because your expectation or goal is too low.