Chapter 6: Integration Gap Identification and Prioritisation

Once organisational discovery is complete, we transition from insight to action. The diagnostic process uncovers dozens of disconnections—between structure and strategy, leadership and culture, teams and outcomes. Not all of them are critical, and not all require immediate intervention.

This chapter focuses on identifying the most relevant integration gaps that could derail synergy capture, transformation success, or future growth. The aim is not to fix everything, but to fix what matters most—through a structured analysis and prioritisation process.

6.1 Defining Integration Gaps

Integration gaps are misalignments between the current organisational reality and the desired future state. These gaps emerge across multiple layers—operating model, team capability, leadership readiness, cultural fit, and management systems.

Typical integration gaps include:

• Misaligned leadership behaviours vs. expected future culture

• Overlapping roles and unclear decision rights post-integration

• Team capability not matching redefined strategic goals

• Gaps in communication flow or cross-functional collaboration

• Disconnected employee experience across legacy organisations

• Leadership pipeline not ready for scaled operations

Each of these gaps has the potential to slow down execution, erode morale, or introduce strategic risk. That’s why defining them precisely is the first step toward meaningful resolution.

6.2 Synthesis Across Diagnostic Layers

We do not view integration gaps in isolation. Instead, we synthesise findings across all diagnostic dimensions to build a comprehensive picture.

This synthesis process includes:

• Cross-referencing structural gaps (Chapter 2) with team capability gaps (Chapter 3)

• Linking leadership style mismatches (Chapter 5.1) with cultural friction points (Chapter 4)

• Identifying where succession gaps (Chapter 5.3) create management bottlenecks

• Highlighting areas where employee experience breaks down during organisational transitions

This approach ensures that we are not reacting to surface-level symptoms, but identifying systemic misalignments that require coordinated solutions. We look for patterns, bottlenecks, and friction zones—often across functions or reporting lines.

✅ Deliverable: Integration Gap Map across five domains—Structure, Team, Culture, Leadership, Management.

6.3 Categorising and Prioritising Gaps

Not all gaps are equal. Some are urgent and block execution. Others are important but manageable. We categorise gaps based on three lenses:

1. Impact on Business Objectives

   • Will this gap delay synergy capture, value creation, or go-to-market execution?

2. Readiness and Feasibility of Resolution

   • How easy is it to address this issue within current bandwidth and resources?

3. Risk to People or Reputation

   • Does this gap cause cultural anxiety, attrition risk, or disengagement?

Using a structured prioritisation matrix, we classify integration gaps into:

• Critical – Must be resolved pre-Day 1 or in early Day 100

• Strategic – Essential to medium-term success; included in change roadmap

• Tactical – Can be addressed over time or by function-level action plans

✅ Deliverable: Integration Gap Prioritisation Matrix (Urgency × Impact)

6.4 Designing Closure Actions

Once prioritised, each critical and strategic gap is linked to a closure action. These actions become part of the integration or transformation roadmap.

Examples of closure actions:

• Define a unified leadership behaviour framework (for misaligned styles)

• Redesign decision-making forums (to resolve accountability gaps)

• Deploy team realignment workshops (to strengthen cross-functional clarity)

• Launch targeted leadership development sprints (for succession risk)

• Conduct cultural onboarding sessions (to align merged teams on norms)

Closure actions are assigned owners, timelines, and outcome metrics—ensuring the diagnostic phase directly fuels execution.

✅ Deliverable: Integration Closure Action Plan (with owner, timeline, outcome)

6.5 Communicating the Gaps Internally

Diagnosing and acting on integration gaps is not just a technical exercise—it’s a leadership communication responsibility. People inside the organisation need to know:

• That leadership understands the current misalignments

• That action is being taken to address them

• How their role is affected—or part of the solution

We help leaders create transparent, empathetic communications that balance candour with confidence. This builds trust and activates a change-ready mindset throughout the organisation.

✅ Deliverable: Integration Gaps Communication Brief for leaders and managers

Conclusion

The discovery phase delivers data—but its value is only realised when turned into decisions.

Chapter 6 bridges that gap. By identifying and prioritising the critical misalignments across structure, team, culture, and leadership, we equip integration leaders with a clear view of what must be addressed first—and how.

This sets the foundation for Chapter 7, where we translate this clarity into a fully actionable integration roadmap.