1. Diagnosis first
Outside-In
Value is defined by the receiver, not the provider
Use when
Writing a people strategy, or pressure-testing one that reads as an HR wish list
- 1
Start outside
Customers, investors, regulators, labour market, not the programme list
- 2
Name the receiver
Which external stakeholder is this for, specifically
- 3
Define their value
What they need from the organization, in their words
- 4
Work back to practice
Capability that delivers it, then the people practice that builds it
- 5
Measure their outcome
Stakeholder result, not HR activity
“If every metric in the plan is an HR metric, the plan was written inside-out.”
How to use it
HR value is not what HR does, it is what stakeholders outside the function receive. So a people strategy starts outside the organization and works inward to practice, rather than starting from HR's own programme list and looking for a business rationale. It is the sharpest available test on any people plan. Watch-out: outside-in can be used to dress up cost programs as stakeholder value; the discipline holds only when the external stakeholder can be named, and asked.
Card details
- Model type
- Sequence
- Origin status
- Established
- Content last reviewed
- 28 July 2026
Origin
EstablishedDave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank, Jon Younger and colleagues; HR from the Outside In, 2012, developing The HR Value Proposition, 2005.