Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Resource Planning: How To Do It?

Resource allocation, and who gets to go to which project, can be a tricky puzzle to solve. Two key approaches often come into play: top-down and bottom-up resource planning. As the working culture has evolved to be more agile and people-first, many companies have adopted a more bottom-up approach, giving people more chance to affect their future projects. Let's explore how to have a mix of autonomy and business critical thinking in your resource allocation process. We call it The Operating Way of doing things, or The Grown-Up Approach.

Top-Down Resource Planning

In a top-down approach, the company enforces how resources—particularly consultants—are allocated to projects. Management, sales, or resource managers make the decisions, often based on high-level goals and their understanding of the business landscape. This approach has its advantages:

• Strategic Alignment: Sales and management teams have more information at hand. They know the client's needs, project demands, and long-term company goals, which allows them to assign the right team for the job.
• Consistency and Control: Centralized decision-making ensures that resource allocation aligns with the company’s overall strategy, making it easier to balance workloads, manage capacity, and meet business objectives.

However, a purely top-down system can certainly feel outdated in more modern organizations, and we don't recommend resorting to it. It can feel rigid to consultants, especially when it doesn't take into account their skills, career aspirations, or preferences. This can lead to dissatisfaction and higher turnover, and as the competition for talent is tough, that's not something companies want. And let's face it, if you want to have a self-organizing and thriving culture at your workplace, you should really try to introduce other ways of handling the challenge.

Bottom-Up Resource Planning

On the other end of the spectrum, bottom-up resource planning gives consulta autonomy in choosing their projects. In this approach:

• Empowerment and Ownership: Consultants can align projects with their strengths, interests, and career goals, leading to higher job satisfaction and engagement.
• Flexibility: When individuals have the freedom to choose, they are often more motivated to perform well, as they’ve opted into the challenge themselves.

But bottom-up planning can create inefficiencies. Without the bigger picture, consultants might select projects that don’t match the company’s strategic needs. It can also result in unbalanced workloads and skill gaps across teams.

The Right Way: "The Grown Up Way" or "The Operating Way"

Nothing in this world is black and white. The most effective resource planning is neither strictly top-down nor entirely bottom-up—it’s a blend of both approaches. Here’s why:

• Sales and Management Insights Matter: Sometimes, sales and management know better than an individual consultant which type of team is needed for a project. They have access to broader information, such as client expectations, deadlines, and long-term organizational goals. Leveraging that insight can ensure the right mix of skills and experience is allocated to projects.
• Consultants' Skills and Career Goals are Crucial: While top-down decision-making is necessary for big-picture alignment, it’s equally important to take consultants' skills and career aspirations into consideration. Assigning projects that don't align with their professional growth can lead to disengagement or even cause talent to leave the company.
• Transparency is Key: A transparent process helps consultants understand why certain decisions are made. If everyone has visibility into the company's resource pool—skills, experience, margins, and allocations—it's easier to explain why a specific consultant might be the best fit for a project. This also opens the door for the discussion about future opportunities.
• Learning Happens in Tough Projects: It’s not always the easiest tasks that make better consultants. Challenging projects often provide the most valuable learning experiences, helping consultants grow their skills and gain critical experience. Highlighting this aspect ensures that team members see the benefits of taking on difficult work, rather than avoiding it.

The Operating Way, or the grown-up approach to resource planning, implies that companies should be pragmatic, transparent, and straightforward about how decisions are made. Too much enforced control, or conversely, being naively idealistic, are not part of that. Reality is complex, and being transparent while always engaging in dialogue is the solution.

The Importance of a Transparent, Inclusive Process

To truly balance top-down and bottom-up planning, the process must be transparent. When consultants see how decisions are made—based on a clear understanding of company needs and personal development goals—it builds trust. This clarity makes it easier to explain why one consultant might be a better fit for a specific project, or why certain assignments may help them grow in ways they hadn't considered.

By involving consultants in the decision-making process, while also leveraging management's strategic view, you can find that sweet spot where business needs are met without sacrificing employee engagement or development.

It should be a dialogue!

Conclusion: Finding the Right Balance

In the end, the best resource planning approach is one that takes the strengths of both top-down and bottom-up planning while minimizing their weaknesses. Sales and management can guide resource allocation with their strategic insights, but it’s vital to consider individual skills, preferences, and career growth. A transparent, balanced system allows both the company and its consultants to thrive, resulting in better project outcomes, higher employee satisfaction, and ultimately, long-term success for the organization.

Finding this balance isn’t just about allocating resources—it's about creating a culture where everyone understands and trusts the process, leading to stronger teams and more effective project execution.