Business Planning: Inside-Out or Outside-In Approach?

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Have you ever wondered why your boss is making planning decisions that seem at odds with what you would do&quest; Or&comma; on the flip side&comma; do your employees seem to question your planning decisions&quest; It could be that they are operating from a completely different planning perspective&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">There are a couple of questions you can ask yourself to determine what base <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;business-planning-tools-easy-efficiency&sol;">business planning<&sol;a> philosophy your business is operating from&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Is your company managed from the inside out with a focus on building on internal strengths and products to compete&comma; or is it managed from the outside in&comma; shifting priorities to meet external needs&quest; Understanding the difference for yourself can help you make decisions on how to align your priorities to achieve successful <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;logility&period;com&sol;solutions&sol;integrated-business-planning&sol;sop-soe&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Sales and Operations Planning<&sol;a>&period; It can also help you to understand where your business is headed and the reasons behind why management makes certain decisions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Inside-Out Business Philosophy<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Planning from an inside-out perspective is the more traditional and conservative method&period; It focuses on how to offer better goods and services&comma; get a greater share of the market&comma; and operate more efficiently&comma; all beginning with items that can be controlled internally&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When using an inside-out approach to business strategy&comma; you would likely see effective use of company resources and core competencies as the propelling force pushing shareholder value&period; Inside-out strategists believe that by focusing on factors within the company&&num;8217&semi;s control&comma; they will be able to adapt and ensure better quality products and services&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Outside-In Business Philosophy<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When you take an outside-in approach&comma; you are focusing on the needs of the market&comma; rather than your own internal objectives&period; Instead of considering what value you can get from an account&comma; you look at win&sol;win type situations and how the client may view your offerings from their perspective&period; The idea is that by analyzing what your clients need and how you can fill their needs&comma; they will be more attracted to working with your company&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">One caveat of this approach is that it can be taken too far&period; Firstly&comma; because customers aren’t always able to explain what they need&comma; and secondly&comma; without an accurate and systematic way of gaining data&comma; you may not be able to rely on the information you’ve gathered&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Case Study<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A software start-up CEO made the unilateral decision to invite his top clients to a week-long all-expenses-paid session to obtain their feedback and comments on his companies product&period; As a small international company&comma; this meant flying in clients from all over the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The staff of the software company could not understand why the CEO had planned this event&period; The software’s target was the hospitality industry&period; The company had a deep knowledge base&period; There were numerous experienced industry professionals on staff&period; Sales and helpdesk staff were already gathering relevant data from their interactions with clients&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">From the perspective of the staff&comma; this event was a waste of money&period; However&comma; from the CEO’s viewpoint&comma; he was gathering valuable information for outside-in business planning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Was there a better way that this information could have been gathered&quest; Do you think there is a lesson that can be learned from this situation&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Takeaway<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When employees understand the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;why” behind planning decisions&comma; they are much more likely to feel invested in making business plans work&period; Whether you are a boss or an employee&comma; understanding the perspectives of your co-workers can help you to manage change&comma; make a point or understand the bigger picture&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;