Or is it Bottom Up? 

What is the difference between Top Down and Bottom Up planning and how can you leverage the concepts to improve an asset management initiative?

When it comes to strategic planning, a majority of companies still use the Top Down approach.  In the simplest form of this method, the Owner, the Board, and/or Executive Management determine the strategies or strategic plan and Staff can only moderately control the short term tactics.

In Bottom Up planning (again, keeping it very basic), the staff is able to contribute directly to--and even help build the strategies or strategic plan which they then submit to the Owner, Executive Management or the Board for approval.

In what ways does your corporate culture approach planning? How successful is the process in gaining buy-in from the various people within the company?  How about the effects of current planning methods on your clients, customers or other non-company groups?  What steps could you take, right now, to adjust the process and make it more productive?

Try this: Make a list of the pros and cons of the existing asset management strategic planning process.  Prioritize the issues you have listed according to how intense the change would be to accomplish the best return on process improvement.  Now, look for the "low hanging fruit".  These would be the simplest adjustments that return the best results with the least cost or disruption.

Go after the easy pay-offs first--the so-called low hanging fruit. Track your change methods, then quantify and document the precise improvements. Use these figures to communicate with management and justify additional changes.

How does it work in the Real World? Fewer than 10% of employees are aware of the strategic plan for their companies. How can these individuals possibly contribute effectively to the enterprise when they are so frequently kept in the dark?

Want to discuss this in more depth?  Let us know and we'll follow up.

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