Practical examples of gap analysis for leadership skills examples in 2025

Why start with real examples of gap analysis for leadership skills

Leadership development content often sounds nice on paper but falls apart when you try to apply it to your actual job. That’s why examples of gap analysis for leadership skills examples are so helpful: they turn fuzzy goals into specific, trackable actions.

A leadership gap analysis usually compares three things:

• Your current behavior and results
• The leadership expectations of your next role (or your ideal role)
• The concrete skills, behaviors, or experiences you’re missing

From there, you build a plan to close the gap over a realistic time frame. Modern leadership expectations now include things like leading hybrid teams, using data for decisions, and supporting employee well-being. Research from places like Harvard Business School highlights communication, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking as ongoing development priorities, especially in 2024–2025.

Let’s walk through several real examples of gap analysis for leadership skills across different career stages.

Early-career professional: Example of moving toward a team lead role

Meet Jordan, a high-performing individual contributor in a marketing team. Jordan wants to become a team lead within the next 12–18 months.

Current state:

• Recognized for strong execution and creativity
• Often works independently
• Limited experience guiding others’ work
• Nervous about giving feedback to peers

Target future state:

• Official team lead for a small group of 3–5 marketers
• Expected to delegate, prioritize work, and coach junior staff
• Expected to represent the team in cross-functional meetings

Gap analysis findings:

When Jordan compares their current skills to the expectations for a team lead, several gaps appear:

• Feedback and coaching: Rarely gives structured feedback; tends to “fix it myself” instead of coaching others
• Delegation: Holds onto tasks, worried others won’t meet the same standard
• Meeting leadership: Participates in meetings but doesn’t drive agendas or decisions

Action plan to close the gap:

Jordan and their manager agree on a 9–12 month development plan:

• Take on a peer mentoring role with one newer colleague, focusing on weekly check-ins and feedback
• Run the agenda for at least one recurring team meeting each month
• Complete a short course on coaching and feedback (for example, through a local college or an online program)
• Ask for specific feedback from their manager on delegation and communication after each major project

This is a simple but clear example of gap analysis for leadership skills: current behavior vs. future role, then targeted steps to grow.

New manager: Examples include leading through change and conflict

Now let’s look at Priya, a new manager who has been promoted to lead a hybrid customer support team.

Current state:

• Strong product knowledge and problem-solving
• Comfortable managing tasks and schedules
• Avoids conflict and uncomfortable conversations
• Unsure how to support remote team members’ engagement

Target future state:

• Confidently manages performance and difficult conversations
• Builds trust and psychological safety across both in-office and remote staff
• Communicates clearly during organizational changes

Gap analysis results:

Priya’s leadership gap analysis surfaces these areas:

• Conflict management: Tends to postpone tough conversations, which lets small issues grow
• Emotional intelligence: Sometimes misreads tone in chat or email, leading to misunderstandings with remote staff
• Change communication: Relays messages from senior leadership but doesn’t translate them into clear “what this means for us” guidance

Development actions:

• Shadow a more experienced manager during a performance review cycle (with employee consent)
• Use a structured model for difficult conversations, such as situation–behavior–impact–next steps
• Schedule monthly one-on-ones with each team member that include both work topics and well-being check-ins
• Complete a short training on emotional intelligence or interpersonal skills; resources from organizations like the American Psychological Association can help frame this area

This scenario is one of the best examples of gap analysis for leadership skills examples because it shows how soft skills like emotional intelligence and conflict management can be broken into specific behaviors and practiced over time.

Mid-level manager: Strategic thinking and cross-functional leadership

Next, consider Miguel, a mid-level manager in operations who wants to move into a director role.

Current state:

• Excellent at running day-to-day operations
• Strong at process improvement within his own department
• Rarely involved in company-wide strategy discussions
• Limited exposure to financial metrics beyond basic budgeting

Target future state:

• Director responsible for multiple teams and a larger budget
• Expected to contribute to long-term strategy and present to executives
• Collaborates with product, finance, and HR on cross-functional initiatives

Gap analysis insights:

Miguel’s gap analysis surfaces several leadership skill gaps:

• Strategic thinking: Focuses heavily on short-term efficiency, less on long-term impact or risk
• Financial literacy: Can read basic reports but not comfortable discussing ROI, margins, or trade-offs in leadership meetings
• Executive communication: Rarely presents to senior leaders and tends to share too much detail instead of key insights

Action plan:

Miguel builds a 12–18 month plan with his manager:

• Join a cross-functional project team to redesign a key process, with a specific role in presenting outcomes to leadership
• Partner with finance to understand the P&L for his area and practice explaining the numbers in plain language
• Take a strategy or leadership course through a university extension or online program; many business schools, such as Harvard Extension School, offer part-time options
• Prepare quarterly “executive-style” summaries of his team’s performance using a simple story: context, problem, action, results

This is a clear example of gap analysis for leadership skills that bridges the jump from operational management to strategic leadership.

Senior leader: Examples of gap analysis for inclusive and remote leadership

Leadership expectations have changed significantly since 2020, with more emphasis on inclusion, psychological safety, and remote collaboration. Here’s how that looks for a senior leader.

Meet Dana, a seasoned senior leader in a global tech company.

Current state:

• Highly respected for technical expertise and delivery
• Leads a distributed team across several time zones
• Sometimes gets feedback that meetings are dominated by a few voices
• Limited track record in formal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives

Target future state:

• Considered a role-model leader in inclusion and culture
• Leads hybrid and remote teams in a way that feels fair and engaging
• Sponsors diverse talent and builds succession pipelines

Gap analysis findings:

Dana’s leadership gap analysis highlights:

• Inclusive facilitation: Struggles to ensure quieter or remote team members are heard in meetings
• Sponsorship vs. mentorship: Has mentored people informally but not actively sponsored underrepresented talent for opportunities
• Cultural awareness: Wants more confidence leading across cultures and time zones

Development steps:

• Work with HR or an external coach to review meeting practices and adopt more inclusive techniques (structured rounds, rotating facilitators, chat-based input)
• Identify 2–3 high-potential employees from underrepresented groups to sponsor for stretch assignments and visibility
• Attend a DEI leadership workshop and follow up with measurable actions, such as tracking promotion rates and engagement survey scores by demographic group
• Regularly review resources from organizations such as the Society for Human Resource Management on inclusive leadership trends

This is one of the best examples of gap analysis for leadership skills examples in a modern context because it reflects 2024–2025 realities: hybrid work, global teams, and increased expectations around inclusion.

Aspiring executive: Real examples of gap analysis for C‑suite readiness

Finally, let’s look at someone aiming for the executive level.

Alex is a successful director in a healthcare organization, eyeing a future Chief Operating Officer role.

Current state:

• Strong record of hitting operational targets
• Well-liked by direct reports and peers
• Limited exposure to the board of directors
• Not yet seen as a thought leader outside the organization

Target future state:

• Executive responsible for organization-wide operations
• Frequently presents to the board and external partners
• Represents the organization in industry forums and conferences

Gap analysis outcomes:

Alex’s leadership gap analysis surfaces gaps in:

• External influence: Little presence in industry groups, publications, or conferences
• Board-level communication: No experience distilling complex operations into a few slides and a clear narrative
• Enterprise mindset: Still thinks in terms of “my division” more than “the entire organization”

Development plan:

• Co-present with the current COO at one board meeting within the next year, starting with a small section
• Join an industry working group or professional association and aim to present a case study or panel talk within 18 months
• Partner with leaders in other divisions to lead a cross-enterprise initiative that touches multiple functions, such as patient experience or digital transformation
• Study executive leadership resources from organizations like the National Center for Healthcare Leadership to understand evolving expectations for healthcare executives

This is a high-level example of gap analysis for leadership skills that connects operational success to executive presence and enterprise-wide thinking.

How to create your own examples of gap analysis for leadership skills

You don’t need a formal program to apply these ideas. You can sketch your own gap analysis for leadership skills examples in a simple document.

Start by describing your current role: what you actually do, how others would describe your leadership, and what feedback you’ve received. Be honest here; this is for you.

Then define your target role: maybe it’s a team lead, manager, director, or something less formal like “trusted project leader.” Look at job descriptions, competency models, or leadership frameworks from your organization. Many universities and leadership institutes publish public frameworks; for instance, the Center for Creative Leadership outlines common leadership skills needed at different levels.

Next, list the gaps between the two:

• Where are expectations higher in the target role?
• Which behaviors or outcomes are you not consistently demonstrating yet?
• What feedback have you heard more than once?

Finally, turn each gap into an actionable experiment:

• If you need better communication skills, volunteer to lead a recurring meeting or present a project update
• If you need more strategic thinking, ask to join one cross-functional initiative and focus on understanding the bigger picture
• If you need stronger people leadership, start mentoring one person and practice structured feedback

The best examples of gap analysis for leadership skills examples are not perfect documents; they are living plans you adjust as you learn.

Common mistakes when doing a leadership gap analysis

When people first try to build their own examples of gap analysis for leadership skills, they often run into the same traps:

• Being too vague: “Be more strategic” or “Improve communication” doesn’t help. Translate those into specific behaviors like “Present quarterly results to leadership using a one-page summary.”
• Ignoring feedback: Your performance reviews, 360 surveys, and even informal comments are gold. Patterns in that feedback point directly to your most important gaps.
• Overloading the plan: Trying to fix ten things at once usually leads to fixing nothing. Focus on two or three leadership skills at a time.
• Skipping measurement: Decide upfront how you’ll know you’re improving—better survey scores, fewer escalations, more successful projects, or direct feedback from your manager.

If you review and refresh your plan every six months, your own story becomes one of the best examples of gap analysis for leadership skills you’ll ever see.

FAQ: examples of gap analysis for leadership skills examples

Q: Can you give a quick example of gap analysis for leadership skills for someone with no direct reports?
Yes. Imagine you’re a senior analyst who wants to be seen as a project leader. Your current state: you do strong individual work but rarely coordinate others. Your target state: you lead small cross-functional projects. The gap: project planning, meeting facilitation, and influencing without authority. Your action plan might include leading the next small project, running weekly check-ins, and asking your manager for feedback on how you’re guiding the team. That’s a simple, realistic example of leadership gap analysis without formal people management.

Q: How often should I update my leadership gap analysis?
Most people benefit from revisiting it every 6–12 months, or whenever your role changes. Leadership expectations shift over time, especially with trends like AI adoption, hybrid work, and changing employee expectations about well-being and flexibility. Updating your plan keeps your examples of gap analysis for leadership skills aligned with what your organization actually needs now.

Q: Do I need a formal leadership program to do this well?
No. Formal programs help, but they’re not required. You can create your own examples of gap analysis for leadership skills examples by combining honest self-reflection, feedback from others, and clear descriptions of the role you want next. Then you test and refine that plan through real projects and stretch assignments.

Q: What if my manager isn’t supportive of my development plan?
It happens. In that case, widen your support network. Look for mentors in other departments, peers at your level, or external communities and associations in your field. You can still use these examples of gap analysis for leadership skills to guide your growth, even if your immediate manager isn’t actively involved.

Q: Are there good online resources to help identify leadership skills to include in my gap analysis?
Yes. Many universities and leadership institutes publish free articles and frameworks. For example, Harvard Business School Online outlines core leadership skills, and the Center for Creative Leadership discusses skills needed at different levels. You can use these as reference points when building your own leadership gap analysis examples.