Consultancy urges leaders to adopt an 'outside-in' approach
A consultancy firm is urging corporate leaders to adopt a new mindset for value delivery by looking beyond traditional methods.
Consider Solutions, a London-based consultancy firm, is championing a shift in approach to business operations to enhance efficiencies and cost savings. Dan French, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Consider Solutions, has observed a tendency among executives to address operational processes without first understanding the underlying rationale. He emphasises the importance of understanding the "Why, What, and Who" before progressing to "How".
"We all tend to habitually see our world from inside-out, focused on the machinery related to our role in our organisation unit or team - our own performance measures, activities, standards, and vocabulary," says French.
He advocates for an "outside-in" approach, which he believes is more effective. "Thinking and behaving outside-in is the most effective strategy because it answers the ultimate question, why - why does this process exist, what value does it deliver to whom, what is the customer experience, plus why are we trying to transform or improve? Being clear on these questions is a powerful platform for everything that follows and the metaphor we use is Think like a CFO," French explains.
According to French, adopting a Chief Financial Officer's perspective offers significant benefits when prioritising process improvements and technology projects. This shift encourages executives to focus on pressing business concerns such as profit and loss impact, working capital implications, and the timeline for results.
"Think like a CFO also means that everything should contribute to at least one of the following in a measurable way - driving profitable and cash-generative growth for the company, increasing operational efficiency (better, faster, and cheaper), plus strengthening financial resilience and risk management," French states.
This perspective supports strategies for improvement, such as the dual operating model, which urges businesses to view services both from an internal and external lens, optimising end-to-end processes like supplier sourcing or accounts payable.
French also introduces "Shift left thinking", which identifies inefficiencies by tracing issues to their roots in earlier stages of processes. He advocates for enhanced empathy and communication skills to address these issues effectively.
Highlighting the importance of collaboration, French discusses "The trust equation", which involves creating a coalition across different corporate functions and stakeholders, including external customers and suppliers, to align on objectives and process excellence.
He also points to "Stakeholder extension and expansion", stressing the need to consider each stakeholder's benefits to gain support for any significant change. Creating an attractive case for change may require innovative thinking, French notes.
On execution, he warns that great ideas often fail due to poor planning and follow-through, advocating for shorter-term projects that provide immediate tangible benefits to the balance sheet.
French concludes, "Driving meaningful change at pace requires practical steps to implement or refine an effective end-to-end process and deliver clear economic value. However, the hardest question to answer about anything complex is 'what does good look like?'"
"It might seem obvious at first, but the answer is nuanced and in reality is a very delicate balance. Remember that the essential, existential need to understand and agree what good looks like is for all stakeholder and participant segments. Don't even start thinking about KPIs until you are clear on this. There is no single KPI that measures what good looks like for an end-to-end process, as any CFO worth their salt well knows," he adds.
