Daily Insight for CEOs: Closing performance gaps before year-end

Insight. Every organisation experiences a gap between planned performance and actual results. The CEO’s responsibility is to identify these gaps early enough and ensure that corrective action is taken before they become permanent year-end shortfalls. Closing performance gaps requires more than demanding better results. CEOs must understand the underlying causes, whether they relate to weak execution, insufficient resources, operational inefficiencies, changing market conditions, or leadership shortcomings.

The objective is to address the causes of underperformance rather than simply manage the symptoms. Key Strategies: Compare actual performance with annual targets and approved budgets. Identify the root causes of significant performance gaps. Prioritize corrective actions based on business impact and urgency. Assign clear ownership and deadlines for improvement initiatives.

Monitor corrective actions and adjust them when results are insufficient. CEO Leadership Actions. Require executives to provide evidence explaining major performance shortfalls. Direct management attention towards gaps with the greatest financial and strategic consequences. Regularly review corrective actions until measurable improvements are achieved.

Actionable Tip. Ask each executive: “What is the most significant performance gap under your responsibility, what is causing it, and what specific action will close it before December 31?” Why This Matters? Unresolved performance gaps can weaken profitability, customer confidence, employee morale, and strategic execution. CEOs who act early create opportunities for recovery, improve resource utilization, and reduce the risk of carrying avoidable weaknesses into 2027.

About the Author. Ernest De-Graft Egyir, CEO advisor, Thought Leader, and Founding CEO of Chief Executives Network Ghana, convenes the Ghana CEO Summit and served on Ghana’s Economic Dialogue Planning Committee.