Governance Continuity Assessment
Can your organization function without you? Most executives assume the answer is yes. This assessment is built to find out where that assumption holds — and where it doesn't.
Formerly the Governance Gap Map. Same methodology. Sharper entry point.
- Confirm this is the right fit for your organization
- Identify where decision authority and continuity risk intersect
- Working session at $2,500 — designed to fit within discretionary budgets
- Written finding delivered within 48 hours
Every executive has wondered what happens if they are unavailable for two weeks. Most have never gotten a clear answer.
Not because the question is uncomfortable. Because the answer requires knowing something most organizations have never mapped: where decision authority actually lives, who holds it, and whether it can be exercised without the people who have always exercised it.
Authority gets assumed. Accountability gets distributed informally. Critical decisions become dependent on specific people rather than defined processes. Institutional knowledge that should belong to the organization stays locked inside individuals.
Under normal conditions, this is invisible. Under pressure — a leadership absence, an unexpected departure, a cyber incident, a regulatory deadline — it becomes the problem.
Decisions stall when key leaders are unavailable
Authority exists on paper but cannot be exercised in practice
Escalation paths depend on relationships, not defined process
Critical approvals flow through individuals, not roles
"The issue is rarely absence. The issue is governance drift — authority, accountability, and decision-making becoming disconnected from operations — and nobody can see it clearly until something forces the issue."
That is governance drift. And that is where continuity risk lives — quietly, until something forces it into view.
Continuity risk compounds across four dimensions. An incident does not create the exposure. It just makes it undeniable.
The assessment examines where governance drift has allowed authority, accountability, and operational dependency to separate from what leadership believes is in place.
Decision Authority
Who can make critical decisions. Whether authority is documented, understood, and actually operable — or assumed and informally held.
Escalation and Accountability
How decisions move through the organization. Where delays, bottlenecks, and ownership gaps occur under time pressure.
Operational Dependency
Which people hold essential knowledge, relationships, or approvals. Where the organization relies on individuals rather than defined process.
Executive Visibility
Whether leadership can see where continuity risk has opened — before a departure, absence, or disruption forces it into view.
A structured expert-led session that surfaces what your leadership team can feel but cannot clearly see.
The Governance Continuity Assessment is a 90-minute session that identifies where decision authority, accountability, and operational dependency have created continuity risk inside your organization — and what that exposure looks like across your four critical dimensions.
This is not a compliance audit. Not a succession planning exercise. Not a technology review.
It is a disciplined expert-led conversation with Ann Marie van den Hurk that produces a specific written finding you can act on.
How It Works
Discovery Call
A free 20-minute conversation to confirm this is the right fit for your organization right now. No preparation needed. Book directly via the link above.
Confirm and Pay
If it is a fit, you receive a payment link and a proposed session date the same day. $2,500, designed to fit within discretionary operational budgets. Corporate card accepted.
Complete Your Intake
Three focused questions arrive 48 hours before the session. Takes ten minutes. Ensures the conversation addresses your specific situation from the first minute.
The Session
A 90-minute structured conversation that examines where decision authority is unclear, assumed, or person-dependent — and where that creates continuity exposure.
Written Finding
Within 48 hours you receive a written Continuity Assessment Finding that maps exposure across all four dimensions. Specific. Actionable. Yours to use internally.
A clear, specific picture of where your organization's continuity depends on people rather than process.
The outcome is not abstract feedback. It is a specific, actionable finding you can use internally — and if needed, present to your board.
Where decision authority is assumed rather than defined — and what happens when the person holding it is unavailable
Where critical operational knowledge, approvals, or relationships are concentrated in individuals rather than roles
Where governance and accountability have drifted from what leadership believes is operating
A written finding with priority actions to improve resilience before those gaps become operational failures
Designed to fit within discretionary operational budgets.
Who This Is Designed For
Executive leaders who can feel that decision authority and operational continuity are more fragile than they should be — but have not had a structured way to see exactly where.
Mid-market CEOs
Chief Operating Officers
General Counsels
Chief Risk Officers
Defense contractors preparing for CMMC
Organizations in growth, transition, or restructuring
Most valuable for regulated, growth-stage, or operationally complex organizations where governance and operational delivery are competing for the same resources.
What leaders ask before booking.
Who should be in the session?
The CEO plus one or two key leaders whose work sits at the intersection of governance and operational delivery. General Counsel, COO, and Chief Risk Officer are common participants. No more than three ensures the conversation stays focused.
Do we need to prepare anything in advance?
You complete a three-question intake form 48 hours before the session. No other preparation required. The session is designed to reflect real operational conditions, not prepared answers.
Is this a succession planning or HR exercise?
No. The focus is on where decision authority and operational accountability have become unclear or person-dependent — not personnel planning. The finding is a governance document, not an HR assessment.
What do we receive afterward?
A written Continuity Assessment Finding delivered within 48 hours. It maps exposure across all four dimensions and gives leadership a specific, actionable picture of where to focus first.
What happens if the finding surfaces deeper exposure?
The finding will indicate where exposure exists and how significant it is. For organizations where structural governance and decision authority gaps require deeper work, the natural next step is the Governance & Decision Authority Engagement — a custom-scoped advisory engagement starting at $10,000. That conversation begins with a direct outreach to hello@mindthegapcyber.com.
Does this require a formal procurement process?
It's priced to fit within many organizations' discretionary operational budgets, often processed on a corporate card. If an internal summary would help with your approval process, we're happy to provide one.
Continuity risk does not announce itself.
Governance drift builds quietly inside decision authority, accountability, and operational dependency — until something forces it into view. The assessment shows you where to focus before that happens.
Book a Discovery Call →Based in Newport, Rhode Island. Available across Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut — and nationally and globally.