Every annual plan I have reviewed contains a quiet assumption.
That the team can already do what the plan asks.
Win the big tender. Run a key account with a hospital group. Hold a clinical conversation with a specialist who has never seen the brand.
Sometimes the team can. Often it has never done it before, and nobody says so until the launch is already running.
A capability map is a simple way to find out early. It has four parts:
- What the plan needs. The capabilities next year's plan depends on, listed before you look at anyone.
- What we can do today. Based on what you have seen on double visits, in tenders and in account reviews. Evidence, not self-rating.
- The gap. Where the plan needs something the team cannot do yet.
- An owner and a date for every gap. Train, hire or find a partner, and review it.
One rule matters most to me. The map is about the organisation, not individuals. It is not an appraisal and it is not a ranking. I build it with my managers and share it with them, because they are the ones who will close the gaps.
Done this way, training stops being a cost line and becomes part of the plan.
“A plan that needs a capability you do not have is a training plan first.”
Lesson 5 of 17 in Step 5: Building the organisation, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.