The Development view on the Trajectory tab measures the lifecycle of development gaps: which gaps are getting resolved, which are sticking around, and which are appearing for the first time. It’s the answer to “is our coaching and development actually moving the needle?”.
What this page answers
Are we resolving development gaps? Which gaps respond to intervention, and which persist? Where is development effectiveness highest and lowest? Which individuals have a string of unresolved gaps?
What’s on the page
Four headline KPIs
Gaps Resolved — Count of gaps that appeared in a prior cycle and don’t appear now
Gaps Persistent — Count of gaps appearing across multiple cycles without resolution
New Gaps — Count of gaps that just appeared in the latest cycle
Resolution Rate — Resolved as a percentage of (resolved + persistent + new)
A high resolution rate means development is working at firm level. A low rate means the gaps Compass found in prior cycles are still there.
Resolved vs persistent gaps
A bar chart showing, by specific gap type (e.g., “delegation”, “client conversations”), how many people had it resolved vs how many still have it. A gap with high resolved and low persistent counts is a development success story; the reverse is your hardest challenge.
Development effectiveness
A bar chart of the distribution of employees by their development effectiveness rating — Compass’s overall verdict on whether their development is working:
Effective — More gaps resolved than persisting
Mixed — At least one gap resolved even if others persist — or the only persistent gaps are long-horizon leadership capabilities (influence, delegation, strategic thinking), which are expected to take years
Ineffective — No gaps resolved and two or more actionable gaps persisting
Top resolved gaps
A green bar chart of the most-resolved gap types — the things the firm is best at fixing. Useful for celebrating wins and identifying what training programmes are working.
Development needs
A table of every employee with one or more persistent gaps, sorted by count. Columns:
Name — Clickable for detail
Department
Persistent Gaps — Comma-separated list
Resolved — Comma-separated list of resolved gaps (or a dash if none)
Trajectory — Direction
This is your “needs ongoing investment” list.
Where the data comes from
Everything on this page comes from the trajectory synthesis job. When Compass produces a trajectory record for an employee, it includes:
Gaps resolved — gaps from earlier cycles that are no longer present
Gaps persistent — gaps present across multiple cycles
New gaps — gaps that have just appeared
Development effectiveness — the overall rating (effective / mixed / ineffective)
The page aggregates these across the cohort.
The resolution rate is simply resolved gaps as a percentage of all gaps — resolved, persistent, and new — calculated as you load the page.
How to read it
Resolution Rate is your headline. Above 30% means development is genuinely moving people. Below 10% means gaps are accumulating without resolution.
Resolved vs persistent by gap type tells you where to double down. If “delegation” has a high resolution rate, your delegation training works — keep doing it. If “strategic thinking” has high persistence, your current approach isn’t.
Development needs is your operational list. Sort by persistent gap count and you have a “these people need a long-term plan” shortlist.
Distribution of effectiveness ratings is the strategic read. If most of the cohort is “Ineffective”, your overall coaching model needs review.
What counts as “resolved”
A gap is resolved when it appeared in the employee’s prior cycle (per Compass’s extraction) and does not appear in their current cycle. This is one signal among several — it doesn’t mean the underlying skill is bulletproof, just that it’s no longer flagged.
A common pattern: a gap “resolves” because the employee changed role or context, not because they grew. Look at the underlying reviews to distinguish.
Tips
Don’t equate “new gap” with “deteriorating”. New gaps can appear because the employee moved into a new role with different requirements. Read the context.
Resolved gaps + accelerating trajectory is the strongest combination. Those are people for whom development is demonstrably working — celebrate them, retain them, learn from them.
Persistent gaps + a Stalled archetype is a long-term coaching investment. These aren’t quick wins; they’re commitments.
Re-running the trajectory analysis affects all numbers on this page. Numbers shift as new cycles complete and analysis updates — it’s a moving picture.