BE-DO GAP

A “Be-Do” gap is the gap between being and doing. It is the gap between core aspirations and actual behaviour and responses.

Individuals, teams and organisations can suffer from “Be-Do” gaps. At an individual level, people with a wide ”Be-Do” gap live with contradictions, which can negatively impact mental and physical health. At a team or organisational level, the “Be-Do” gap is the gap between the defined culture or values and the ‘actual rules of the game’, that is to say, the behaviours which the team or organisation define as acceptable or not through their daily interactions.

From the perspective of organisational transformation, identifying and closing ”Be-Do” gaps pro-actively is at the core of reinforcing the new cultural norms that enable people to think differently, act differently, and achieve different results.

Pros

• Identifying “Be-Do” gaps increases the probability of people understanding what needs to change in the day-to-day behaviour of the organization
• Closing ”Be-Do” gaps pro-actively reinforces the new cultural norms
• Leaders who are willing to lead at this level become multipliers of the desired culture

Cons

• Leaders must be prepared to address systemic changes in their organisation to support the desired behaviour
• Leaders themselves must be prepared to address “Be-Do” gaps at the highest level of the organisation

Recommended resource:

Navigating in Times of Change: The N.E.W.S.® Navigation Journey, Goz Aviad, 2020