9 The Need for Gaps: Trusting the Corporate Instinct Available to Purchase

Opinions vary regarding the best ways to manage during hard times. Some say a downturn is a great time to consider outsourcing, while others say it's the worst. Some argue for immediate cuts across the board; others suggest it's better to examine processes and projects in order to trim fat, not internal organs. Interestingly enough, hard times are always characterized by the presence of many gaps in the organization, the market, the economy, management and so on. The harder the times, more the number of gaps and their impact:

• Gap in the excess of inventory, compared to demand

• Gap in profitability, compared to levels of investment

• Gap in creativity, compared to fierce competition

• Gap in skilled personnel and management, compared to eminent need for downsizing, layoffs and employee loyalty; and the list goes on….

Corporate gaps, no matter their nature, are always a challenge for management and the organization as a whole. However, for learning organizations, gaps can and should be opportunities to transcend, to renew and reinvent themselves. As discussed throughout this book, although organizations must learn to deal with the constant “move of the cheese,” they will be better-off learning to constantly reinvent, re-create their own cheese. By doing so, learning organizations will be actually moving the market's cheese; for sure, it's the competitor's cheese. Call it disruptive technology, or strategy, today, organizations must be ready to view the everyday business challenges coming their way as a necessary gap. After all, such gaps are for sure inevitable.