Why operational potential often remains invisible to leadership
This article is based on an interview with Gunnar Aass, Chief Analyst at Mantec, who has conducted more than 600 operational analyses across industries and countries.
In most organisations, senior leaders are not unaware of their challenges. They know where complexity lies, where productivity feels constrained and where performance does not fully match expectations. Yet despite this awareness, significant improvement potential often remains unrealised.
The reason is rarely lack of intent. More often, it is lack of clarity.
Across hundreds of analyses, Mantec has observed the same pattern: leaders know that something needs to improve, but not how much it matters, where exactly to act, or what the impact on results would be. When insight remains fragmented, decisions tend to be cautious, delayed, or focused on symptoms rather than root causes.
The gap between awareness and action
As organisations grow, operational reality becomes increasingly difficult to grasp from the top. Performance is reported through KPIs, dashboards and summaries, but these often reflect outcomes rather than causes. They show what has happened, not why it happened.
At the same time, operational complexity increases. Daily decisions are made across functions, sites and management layers. Small inefficiencies accumulate, but rarely stand out clearly enough to trigger decisive action.
In Mantec’s experience, this gap between awareness and action is one of the most common barriers to performance improvement. Leadership discussions may circle around familiar issues for years, without a shared, fact-based understanding of their true magnitude or financial impact.
Why operational potential often remains invisible
Based on our experience, improvement potential typically remains hidden for three structural reasons.
Information does not equal insight.
Most organisations have extensive data and reporting in place. However, without connecting numbers to real work processes and leadership practices, critical patterns remain unseen. Numbers show outcomes, not root causes.
Leadership attention is stretched thin.
Senior leaders operate under constant time pressure, balancing strategy, governance and external demands. This leaves limited capacity to step back and examine daily operations in sufficient depth.
Internal improvement efforts lack focus and follow-through.
When change initiatives are run internally, key people are often involved in multiple projects simultaneously. As a result, improvement efforts become fragmented and operational issues that require sustained attention remain unresolved.
As a consequence, opportunities for improvement are often acknowledged in principle, but rarely quantified, prioritised or anchored strongly enough to drive decisive action.
Seeing the whole picture
The Mantec analysis addresses this challenge by providing a structured, fact-based view of how the organisation actually operates. The purpose is not to evaluate strategy, but to make operational reality visible.
The analysis examines performance from three complementary perspectives: statistical, operational and behavioural. It combines data analysis with field observations, interviews across organisational levels and close dialogue with management throughout the process.
This approach allows leaders to see connections that are otherwise difficult to detect: how management practices influence productivity, how time and resources are actually used, and where value creation is constrained in everyday operations.
Importantly, findings are continuously validated with management. Insight is built together, not delivered as an external opinion.
From insight to confident decisions
The outcome of the analysis is a clear, quantified picture of improvement potential. Across industries and company sizes, Mantec consistently identifies 20–25% efficiency improvement potential, often with a strong impact on profitability and growth capacity.
Just as important, leadership gains clarity. Instead of broad assumptions, decisions can be based on facts: where to focus, what to prioritise and what results to expect.
This clarity changes the nature of leadership discussions. Improvement is no longer abstract. It becomes concrete, measurable and actionable.
It also explains why nine out of ten companies choose to proceed into implementation after the analysis. Not because they are persuaded, but because they can clearly see what is possible.
Why the analysis matters
Mantec’s analysis typically takes 3–5 weeks. On its own, it does not bring financial results. Its value lies elsewhere: in enabling leaders to make good decisions.
By turning operational complexity into structured insight, the analysis creates a solid foundation for implementation and change. It helps leaders move from knowing that something needs to change to understanding what, where and why.
In an environment where execution determines results, seeing clearly is no longer optional. It is the starting point for sustainable performance improvement.
Looking to reveal the true improvement potential in your operations?
Contact us for a free 45-minute consultation:
Denmark – Bent Hansen
bent.hansen@mantec.eu
+45 20 91 46 36
Finland – Eero Vuorensola
eero.vuorensola@mantec.eu
+358 40 54 45 200
Sweden – Göran Svensson
goran.r@mantec.eu
+46 70 631 86 18
Norway – Jan Erick Olsen
jeolsen@mantec.eu
+47 922 68682
Other countries – Kjetil Barfelt
kjetil.barfelt@mantec.eu
+47 913 13 131
