Six steps to identify major gaps within a team to make your organization more effective

Checking the efficiency of your company is a big challenge. On one hand, as it’s commonly said and repeated: “a crisis is a great opportunity.” But, on the other hand, humans are vulnerable to pressure from the environment, clients, and investors, causing panic to rise during hard times.

Having a lean and mission-ready team is extremely important, especially during a crisis, as this is the time when companies are being tested. Having an effective team can help manage pressure and panic during challenging times.

Successfully getting through a difficult time depends on the people within a company, employees’ skill sets, and competencies. If employees have the tools to predict, prepare, and overcome a crisis, a company can feel confident and safe knowing it has the right people to deal with extreme circumstances.

A people management process is critical during a crisis, and similar to any other process, it can be described, measured, and implemented with specific steps to calculate progress. Below are a few steps to analyze the process and ensure a company can survive a crisis. 

1. Go through the main drivers of the organization (product, sales, or service) and establish milestones and long-term goals.

The basis for any action taken within a company is to have at least a high-level company strategy and defined goals. Ask “where is the organization now and where is it going?” Without having a clear answer, there is a small chance the team will perform correctly and the business is more prone to fail during a crisis. 

When a business has a high-level strategy and mission, the next step is to start translating the strategy and mission into milestones to be achieved in specific areas such as product, sales, and services. How do each of these drivers contribute to the company’s success? What should be done in each category? What are the milestones to achieve?

2. Ask the core team these questions:

• What stage do we want to be after each quarter of the year?

• What are the problems with this goal?

• What functions are needed to deliver/build this goal?

After identifying the main milestones, the next step is to go into more details in each of the specified areas. This will not only help to clarify and make sure an organization is on the right track and have a clear roadmap to achieve desired business goals, but also to effectively allocate current talents within the team and identify if there are any roles missing. It’s important to be transparent and spot problems while setting goals. 

3. Define what type of role is needed within the organization and when a team should start working on an issue to deliver the best results.

Once the lack of specific functions are recognized within the organization, the next step is to proceed with preparing the list of the roles and responsibilities needed to be able to cover those areas. It’s important to define the specific skill set needed to achieve goals, taking into consideration how big those goals are. Is just one person needed or a whole team? In order to deliver on time, determine when people should start working on tasks to reach goals. Focus on the skills, competencies, roles, and responsibilities needed to decide who can cover specific tasks and who might need to be hired.

4. Have a list to check if and how to move people to and from an organization to reach goals.

Once the roles and responsibilities are established, as well as which of them are missing, a company can start matching specific people to certain roles. This step allows an organization to effectively allocate current talents, as well as prepare a hiring plan to make sure all areas are covered in the most efficient way.

The main questions to ask are; Who can fit into the specific role? Who can take ownership of this area? Is this person in the organization already? Or is there anyone within the organization with the potential to be promoted? Is there anyone who changes the specialization? 

5. Plan the onboarding of talent needed within a company. 

In this step, focus on the hiring plan. Prepare a clear job description related to the role and establish the recruitment process. The next step is setting deadlines, such as when the candidate would start and create a tool to measure the progress of recruitment. It is a good idea to reach out for external human resource support in order to hire the best, top talent. 

6. When the scope and plan are ready, have it readily available to execute.

The last and the most important step is to implement the outcomes within the organization. It should include:

• Clear communication of the roadmap and milestones after each quarter.
• Clear communication of the roles and responsibilities to the teams.
• Training for managers to effectively handle a team on daily tasks, as well as develop the talents identified.
• Plan for onboarding new team members.
• Have a report where you will be able to check progress and implement any necessary changes.

Having an effective team is not only about hiring the best talent, but managing the best talent in the best way. This is an efficient and effective way to make it possible for employees to use their skills to help organizations identify internal gaps and reach business goals.