--- title: "S&OP: why your solution may be the problem!" description: In his brilliant book “Leading without Commanding”, Filip Vandendriessche describes how managers often create their own problems. By managing on input rather than output, they create resistance rather than buy-in. image: https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/Blog%20images/Overzichtspagina/Outputmanagement-316x197_450px-wide.png --- - [English](https://articles.involvation.com/sop-why-your-solution-may-be-the-problem) - [Nederlands](https://articles.involvation.com/nl/sop-waarom-oplossing-misschien-wel-probleem-is) [![logo involvation](https://articles.involvation.com/hs-fs/hubfs/logo_Involvation_payoff_en.png?width=234&height=48&name=logo_Involvation_payoff_en.png "logo involvation")](https://www.involvation.com/) - [Consultancy & Implementation](https://www.involvation.com/consultancy-implementation/) - [Supply Chain Network Design](https://www.involvation.com/nl/advies-realisatie/sc-network-design/) - [S&OP/IBP](https://info.involvation.com/sales-and-operations-planning) - [Supply Chain Resilience](https://info.involvation.com/supply-chain-resilience) - [Resilience Quickscan](https://info.involvation.com/resilience-quickscan-how-resilient-is-your-supply-chain) - [Forecasting & Inventory Management](https://www.involvation.com/consultancy-implementation/forecasting-inventory-management/) - [Production & Process management](https://www.involvation.com/consultancy-implementation/production-control/) - [Learning & Development](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/) - [The Value Chain Academy](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/the-value-chain-academy/) - [Serious gaming](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/serious-gaming/) - [Our training approach](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/approach/) - [Our areas of training](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/our-areas-training/) - [Interim Management](https://www.involvation.com/interim-management/) - [For Interim Managers](https://www.involvation.com/interim-management/voor-interim-managers/) - [For Clients](https://www.involvation.com/interim-management/voor-opdrachtgevers/) - [Our assignments](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/) - Per area - [Supply Chain Strategy & Design](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/sc-strategy-redesign/) - [S&OP/IBP](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/sop/) - [Forecasting & Inventory Management](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/stock-control/) - [Production & Process management](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/production-control/) - [Learning & Development](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/learning-development/) - [Interim Management](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/interim-management/) - [Demand Driven SCM](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/demand-driven-scm/) - Per industry - [Mechanical engineering](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/mechanical-engineering/) - [Construction](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/construction/) - [High tech & automotive](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/high-tech-automotive/) - [Energy & Utilities](https://www.involvation.com/energy-utilities/) - [Chemicals](https://www.involvation.com/chemicals/) - [Pharma & life sciences](https://www.involvation.com/pharma-life-sciences/) - [Agri business](https://www.involvation.com/agri-business/) - [Consumer products & retail](https://www.involvation.com/consumer-products-retail/) - [Customer stories](https://articles.involvation.com/tag/customer-stories) - [About us](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/) - [Who we are](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/who-we-are/) - [How we work](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/how-we-work/) - [Partner team](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/partnerteam/) - [Job Vacancies](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/job-vacancies/) - [Contact](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/contact) - [Publications](https://articles.involvation.com) - [Articles](https://articles.involvation.com) - [Downloads](https://info.involvation.com/download-overview) - [Events](https://info.involvation.com/event-overview) # S&OP: why your solution may be the problem! ![S&OP: why your solution may be the problem!](https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/Blog%20images/Overzichtspagina/Outputmanagement-316x197_450px-wide.png) In his brilliant book “Leading without Commanding”, Filip Vandendriessche describes how managers often create their own problems. By managing on input rather than output, they create resistance rather than buy-in. This simple observation also holds important lessons for S&OP. In a process where people make the difference, input management kills creativity and commitment. S&OP practitioners generally are middle to senior managers that are more than capable of figuring out how to get things done. By micro-managing them, the organisation risks losing their drive, valuable input and most likely over time their participation in the process. ### ![Outputmanagement Engels](https://articles.involvation.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Outputmanagement-Engels-150x150.png?width=150&height=150&name=Outputmanagement-Engels-150x150.png) ## Vision and inspiration required So how should it be done? S&OP is a process that requires vision and inspiration more than explanation. Easier said than done, but fortunately Vandendriessche gives us a number of useful recommendations: - Ensure consensus about the problem. Why does your organisation need S&OP and what problems should it address? What is the business value and what’s in it for all participants? - Make an explicit distinction between input and output. Then manage on output and leave the “how” to the practitioners. If they ask for guidance on how to run an effective S&OP process, the S&OP manager should obviously listen and support wherever he/she can. - Define goals and objectives that are verifiable. - Ensure that incentives are aligned with these objectives. “An organisation does not achieve what it wants, but what it rewards”. - Keep asking the question whether the business performance is acceptable and whether the current S&OP process is still effective in addressing sub-standard performance. Adjust the process and participation when necessary. ## Business process S&OP is a business, not a supply chain process. Ideally it should be owned and driven by the commercial functions, right? Maybe, but practice shows that in virtually all companies, S&OP is owned and driven by supply chain, not by sales. In fact, getting non-supply chain functions truly engaged proves to be the main challenge in all but a few instances. Surely, sales managers have less internal / process focus than supply chain managers on average. But it may also have something to do with supply chain’s process bias when talking about S&OP. By trying to input-manage sales, supply chain probably reduces sales’ buy-in to the process. In other words: by focusing on “their” solution rather than on the intended output, supply chain may very well create their own problem! ![](https://articles.involvation.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Authors/Hans-van-der-drift.jpg?width=100&height=100&name=Hans-van-der-drift.jpg) [By Hans van der Drift ![](https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Involvation_March2021/images/Capture.png)](mailto:h.vddrift@involvation.com) ## Related items Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler ![einstein](https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/einstein.jpg) **Albert Einstein** ### Contact --- Emmalaan 5 3732 GM De Bilt T +31 30 - 2217766 E [info@involvation.com](mailto:info@involvation.com) ### Website --- - [Home](https://www.involvation.com/) - [Consultancy & Implementation](https://www.involvation.com/consultancy-implementation/) - [Learning & Development](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/) - [Our assignments](https://www.involvation.com/our-assignments/) - [About us](https://www.involvation.com/about-us/) - [Publications](https://articles.involvation.com) - [Login](https://simcurve.involvation.nl/) ### Online games --- [Inventory Game](https://inventorygame.involvation.com/en) [Beer game](https://www.involvation.com/learning-development-2/serious-gaming/beer-game/) © 2026 Involvation  ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Hans van der Drift", "url" : "https://articles.involvation.com/author/hans-van-der-drift" }, "dateModified" : "2023-05-01T14:23:46.731Z", "datePublished" : "2017-01-14T23:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "S&OP: why your solution may be the problem!", "image" : [ "https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/Blog%20images/Overzichtspagina/Outputmanagement-316x197_450px-wide.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://articles.involvation.com/sop-why-your-solution-may-be-the-problem", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://articles.involvation.com/hubfs/logo_Involvation_payoff_nl.png" }, "name" : "Involvation" } } ```