Executive S&OP’s Soft Benefits enable the Hard
                            Benefits

Hard benefits – measurable in numeric terms – are not directly achieved. They result from the soft benefits, which include such things as:

•    Enhanced Teamwork
•    Better Communications
•    Better Decision-making Processes
•    More Focused Accountability
•    Greater Control
•    A Window Into the Future

While these soft benefits cannot be measured with numbers, they’re very real in companies using Executive S&OP successfully. The presence of soft benefits can be seen on the faces of the people doing the work, and felt in the tone of discussions that take place. Common characteristics in successful Executive S&OP-using companies include:

•    The atmosphere tends to be informal, comfortable, and relaxed, in spite of the serious decision-making at hand.
•    All departments understand that disagreement is not only OK, but also necessary for good decision making, openly explaining why they disagree while other people listen intently.
•    As such, conflict resolution brings on positive, not negative, energy. People have learned how to disagree without being disagreeable.
•    Because of the defined and disciplined cross-functional practice within Executive S&OP, everyone begins to see the business through the other person’s eyes, causing them to realize this is a team sport.
•    As a result when action is taken there are clear assignments made and accepted.
•    The organization is as concerned with maintaining the quality of the cross-functional process as it is with the outcome. They evaluate their process performance routinely for improvement.

By giving people the opportunity to influence the outcome, Executive S&OP aligns human energy into one set of actions that have common goals. One executive put it this way, “We had a significant win right out of the gate, just by getting all the cross-functional team members in a room hashing out the details and conflicts on a regular basis, with fact-based analyses . . . ”

Executive S&OP is the means to achieving these kinds of soft benefits. And the soft benefits are the means to the end: hard measurable benefits. Without it, your chances are diminished.

Good luck,
Bob Stahl