Parallel Paths: Beware of a Too Full Plate

Recently I was sitting on yet another airplane, on my way to visit a company getting ready to implement Executive S&OP. I recalled that a year ago this company was in a place where many companies find themselves today: with a full plate of work already, not counting this new opportunity called Executive S&OP.

After an Executive Briefing a year ago, they wisely decided that they had too much going on to give Executive S&OP the necessary time and effort. In addition to running the business (which required 110% or more of everyone’s time), they had two other major initiatives going on: a plant closing, and a once-in-a-lifetime marketing opportunity.

Facing this circumstance, they had two choices:

•    Find a way to carve out a “parallel path” and thus provide resources for Executive S&OP, or
•    Defer their work on Executive S&OP until their resources of time and energy freed up

They discussed and debated the alternatives, then determined that their decision to postpone was not a form of procrastination. Rather, it was a sincere desire to do Executive S&OP right, rather than do it sooner and wrong. They had to “clear the deck” by completing the two major initiatives already underway, in order to focus on Executive S&OP and give it the priority it deserved.

The effective implementation of Executive S&OP is never all that a company has to do. What every company must do is find a way to have parallel paths for Executive S&OP and preexisting efforts and projects, so that appropriate resources can focus on Executive S&OP. If this can’t be done, then in order to be successful they must defer and clear the decks before they start. I call this “setting the conditions for success.”

The reason for this approach is found in the following keys to success:

•    Understand that for most companies Executive S&OP requires a difficult change in organizational behavior
•    Understand the amount of work it will take to make the necessary changes
•    Have sufficient resources – the company’s own people – to get the work done
•    Be able to apply those resources to the tasks at hand as a high priority

To state the obvious: it's far better to do Executive S&OP later and correctly, rather than sooner and wrong!!