Diagnosing Performance Gaps with the Cube

Unlike linear diagnostic approaches, the SPARA Cube allows you to surface breakdowns that occur across dimensions:

1. Theme Gaps – When a performance domain is neglected, misunderstood, or misaligned with organisational needs.

2. Lever Gaps – When the mechanisms used to drive change are either over-applied, underused, or poorly targeted.

3. Measurement Gaps – When performance lacks visibility, evidence, or traceability.

Crucially, most performance failures are not caused by a single issue — but by mismatches between these three dimensions. The Cube exposes the space between components, not just the components themselves. This is what makes it a more advanced and powerful diagnostic tool than traditional assessments or maturity models alone.

The Cube encourages diagnostic thinking that is structured, repeatable, and grounded in practice. To diagnose with the Cube:

• Begin with Symptoms – Use real-world observations, not theory, to identify friction.

• Trace Across Dimensions – Map the symptoms back to Themes, interrogate which Levers are present or absent, and check whether relevant Measurement Chain elements exist.

• Surface Root Interactions – Ask: where are we applying effort without outcomes? Where are outcomes desired without direction? Where is action invisible due to lack of evidence?

• Apply Pattern Recognition – Use common diagnostic shapes to make sense of recurring challenges.

Scenario: Post-implementation of a major tooling upgrade, the service team continues to experience process instability. Incidents rise, manual workarounds are frequent, and automation tools are underused.

Surface Symptoms:

• New tools not adopted

• Workflow steps skipped or delayed

• High variation in outcomes across teams

Cube Diagnosis:

• Theme gap: Capability & Competence is underserved

• Lever imbalance: People & Empowerment is absent; Governance & Alignment is dominant

• Measurement Chain gap: No KPIs around training coverage or skill competency

Action: Use the Capability Maturity Framework to baseline team readiness. Introduce practical enablement sessions and monitor skill progression using defined learning KPIs and feedback-based XLAs.

Diagnostic Insight: The service did not fail due to bad tools — it failed due to a mismatch between investment in technology and investment in capability.

Scenario: A central PMO office has implemented rigorous governance controls to manage cross-functional change. However, team leaders complain about bureaucracy, delayed decisions, and confusion around ownership.

Surface Symptoms:

• High meeting volumes with low output
• Frequent escalation loops
• Duplicate reporting to multiple boards

Cube Diagnosis:

• Lever overload: Governance & Alignment is oversaturated
• Theme distortion: Ownership & Accountability is formal but ineffective
• Measurement Chain absence: No indicators on decision cycle time, role clarity, or stakeholder burden

Action: Rebalance with Levers for Collaboration & Culture and People & Empowerment. Empower working groups, use facilitated retrospectives to reassign ownership boundaries, and measure outcomes with streamlined accountability metrics.

Diagnostic Insight: Over-governing creates the illusion of control while draining momentum. The issue wasn’t lack of governance — it was the absence of complementary levers.

Scenario: An innovation programme launches five AI pilots aimed at improving service outcomes. Stakeholders report anecdotal success, but leadership lacks clarity on impact.

Surface Symptoms:

• Unclear benefit statements

• No consistent data capture

• Stakeholders disagree on success

Cube Diagnosis:

• Theme engaged: AI Integration & Automation

• Levers engaged: Performance Intelligence, Customer Experience

• Measurement Chain void: Objectives are unclear; CSFs and KPIs undefined; no traceable XLAs

Action: Apply the Measurement Chain Canvas. Define success at outcome level (e.g. faster resolution), capture CSFs (e.g. user confidence, accuracy), and create KPIs that connect AI performance to real-world business indicators.

Diagnostic Insight: Innovation fails not when it lacks intent, but when it lacks measurable relevance.

Common Cube imbalances emerge across organisations:

• Theme without Lever: The domain is acknowledged (e.g. Risk) but lacks coordinated action

• Lever without Measurement: Work is being done, but results are not proven

• Theme + Lever without Measurement: Activity occurs, but impact is speculative

• Overused Theme: One area (e.g. Reporting) dominates strategy, starving other domains

By cataloguing these patterns, SPARA practitioners can accelerate diagnosis and use the Cube as a practical triage tool across programmes, practices, and portfolios.

The Cube also supports:

• Pre-mortems – Use it to assess risks before launching an initiative

• Checkpoints – Apply Cube analysis at stage gates in transformation programmes

• Audit Calibration – Align internal audit focus areas to under-addressed themes or levers

• Board Briefings – Present insights using the Cube to highlight systemic barriers

The goal is not to perform diagnostics once, but to embed Cube thinking into the operating model.

• SPARA Maturity Diagnostic Templates (aligned to Themes)

• Performance Heatmap Canvas (to visualise intensity across dimensions)

• Measurement Chain Health Check

• Cube Pattern Spotter (for root-cause patterns)

• RACI and Decision Accountability Worksheets