{"id":1357,"date":"2017-05-03T13:20:55","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T13:20:55","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-01-16T19:37:18","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T19:37:18","slug":"getting-executives-out-of-the-weeds-to-focus-on-the-business-insights-from-oliver-wight-s-robert-hirschey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/uncategorized\/getting-executives-out-of-the-weeds-to-focus-on-the-business-insights-from-oliver-wight-s-robert-hirschey\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Executives Out of the Weeds to Focus on the Business \/ Insights From Oliver Wight\u2019s Robert Hirschey"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

I often come across executives who are frustrated and exhausted \u2013 from firefighting, from running meeting to meeting only to get detailed updates on what happened yesterday, from a seemingly endless barrage of data, and on and on.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been there. It seemed like being the bearer of \u201clate breaking news\u201d or able to quote detailed facts and figures was the name of the game. Is this really what executives should be doing? Is this really helping company performance and creating value?<\/p>\n

Only occasionally did I have the chance to put the information in perspective, and get into \u201cstrategy mode.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was stuck in the weeds. I needed to get out. I needed to see the \u201cbig picture!\u201d<\/p>\n

When I run into executives trapped in the same \u201cdetail dysfunction,\u201d I tell them, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to get out of the weeds.\u201d Staying in the weeds isn\u2019t helping anyone.<\/p>\n

My epiphany? The realization that no matter how much time I spent in the detail, it was not going to do much good if there was an error in the aggregate. In other words, it is really tough, if not impossible, to \u201cshort term\u201d your way to strategic\u00a0 success. Trying to address long-term, strategic and business issues by focusing on short-term detailed information was folly!<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, detailed planning is extremely important for making things happen at the sku level over the coming weeks. And it\u2019s important to figure out what will be sold and therefore what needs to be produced and shipped over the next three or four months<\/p>\n

But in addition to detailed planning, executives need to be supported by an aggregate planning process. Aggregate planning enables executives to assess multi-year projections of revenue, margin, demand, and capability based on product or service groupings. That\u2019s why executives implement Integrated Business Planning. And that\u2019s how they get out of the weeds and focus on the business.<\/p>\n

Detailed planning and aggregate planning are two different processes, skill sets, and mindsets. Detailed planning is what managers need to execute the aggregate plan, business plan, and company strategy and respond to orders. Aggregate planning is what executives need to \u201cright-size\u201d the business and ensure the right strategies, resources, and capabilities are in place to grow the business profitably.<\/em><\/p>\n

As Vice President, Strategy, for a $2 billion global business, I led the effort to implement Integrated Business Planning. We learned the mindset of aggregate planning. Seeing the \u201cbig picture\u201d helped us sustainably improve our business performance. We finally had the time and information to make the decisions needed to ensure that business goals and strategies would be executed.<\/p>\n

I have recently authored a white paper on my experience with aggregate planning. To learn more about Aggregate Planning, download my whitepaper on \u201cAggregate Planning: How to Overcome the Mindset and Perils of Detail Dysfunction.\u201d https:\/\/www.oliverwight-americas.com\/system\/files\/private\/resources\/wp_aggregateplanning_hirschey_0.pdf<\/a>\u00a0or consider attending our webinar on this topic:https:\/\/www.oliverwight-americas.com\/event\/webinar-keep-executives-%E2%80%9Cout-weeds%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-how-overcome-mindset-and-perils-detail-dysfunction<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
Getting Executives Out of the Weeds to Focus on the Business \/ Insights From Oliver Wight\u2019s Robert Hirschey<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I often come across executives who are frustrated and exhausted \u2013 from firefighting, from running meeting to meeting only to get detailed updates on what happened yesterday, from a seemingly endless barrage of data, and on and on. I\u2019ve been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10684,"featured_media":1358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/06-aggregateplanningblog.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2832,"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions\/2832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/design.brafton.com\/oliverwight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}