Mike 
One of my friends tells a story of visiting the Grand Canyon as a child. After the long family car ride to get there, she jumped out, ran to the rail, and looked over the edge. She then turned to her father, said “Is that it?!” and went back to wait in the car.
The Grand Canyon is one of my favorite landmarks. Perhaps that explains why I think that “gaps” are such an important leadership tool. Gaps simply give us a way to assess the difference between our ideal and our current reality. They provide information with which to make better leadership decisions. A church that had been growing by 5% a year has two consecutive years of declining attendance. There is a gap between their ideal (improving on the historic growth rate) and the more recent trend.
You can’t truly appreciate the Grand Canyon just by observing from the rim. It beckons you to explore. The deeper you hike into the canyon, the more you observe. Similarly, leaders need to go beyond simple analysis to understand their organization’s gaps. Is the church’s change in attendance due to fewer people joining, more people leaving, or people attending less frequently? What are the possible explanations for each of these factors and what steps should be taken?
To harness the power of gaps, leaders need to:
- Acknowledge their existence – leaders who think gaps are “bad” may ignore them, but that doesn’t make the problem go away.
- Understand their cause – superficial analysis of a gap rarely leads to the meaningful insight that can come from a deeper dive.
- Prioritize what is most important – gaps are all around, so leaders must decide which ones deserve attention.
- Act to close the gap – effective leaders then develop plans and take action to close the gaps that matter.
