Create the Future with Scenario Planning

It’s one thing to see the future from afar. It’s another thing to make that future a reality.

Perhaps you have found yourself in the following predicament: your company has a bold, exciting plan for the long-term future of the business. However, as time wears on it seems like the vision will never be realized amidst all the short-term fires that have to be put out. 

Think back to what your business plan looked like right before COVID-19 hit.  My guess is that it was all about “growth”. And now, chances are, depending on industry, you’re recasting the plan to “maintain”, “recover”, or “survive”. 

Things change, and without proper planning and decision making now, the long-range outlook of the company could atrophy into nothing more than a pipe dream.

If only we had a way to know the future.  Enter: scenario planning… again.

Scenario planning not only gives you a glimpse into the potential future of your business, but it also empowers you to decide and COMMIT to making that vision a reality.

Why is this so important? Because business is a messy venture! There will be frequent disruptions, (we don’t have to look far for major examples of business disruptions!) and whether you make decisions in-spite-of or in-support-of a long-range plan could depend on whether you leverage scenario planning properly.

Scenario planning helps defeat old habits that have prevented past growth. Often, it is present-day decisions that destroy the long-range plan, not volatility, disruption, or uncertainty.  Read that again!

This is crucial. Scenario planning allows your company to see ahead toward what is coming, so that current issues do not distract you or prevent you from realizing larger future goals!  Your ability to make the right decisions now, relies on you having a glimpse of the future.

It's like Peter Drucker (or Abraham Lincoln, depending on who you ask) once said:

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Scenario planning is the first step in actively creating the future of your business. With a strong scenario planning framework in your business’s arsenal, you can commit to the future you have set out for rather than settling for a mosaic future patched together by one issue after another.

When you have planned the work out ahead of you, your company will know that your long-term plan is credible and worth fighting for.