Ever since March, we have lived in a much more uncertain world, which has changed the way we look to the future and the way we plan.

How do you plan with such a greater level of uncertainty. Make bigger assumptions? Realize you have greater risk or just not plan at all, because things will change again next week?

We have been using scenario planning more and more since Covid-19 impacted our lives and businesses this year. It is so much easier to deal with issues when you have all the possible good and bad possibilities spelled out and with ways to deal with each of them.

It’s a little like how our mental state changes before and after a visit to the Dr. We make an appointment because we don’t feel quite right. After all the tons of paperwork, we finally get to see the Dr. and tell them the symptoms and they ask questions. They may do a physical exam and then will deliver the possibilities and maybe prescribe some medication. When we leave the Dr’s office our mental state is usually much better. The symptoms or the cause of the symptoms haven’t changed, but we now know what we are dealing with and some action is being taken to make us better.

It’s the same with scenario planning. Just by addressing all the possibilities, good and bad, we are forced to deal with potential outcomes and also what action we will take depending on each situation.

Uncertainty breeds fear, and fear is usually the biggest reason for procrastination and lack of action. We have seen it during these troubling times of crisis. Some leaders of businesses have dealt with their “scenarios” and realized that in many cases they have to change the way they do business simply to survive and in many cases grow even stronger. Others have just hoped that things will get better, and as several people have famously said, “hope is not a strategy?

We usually feel much better when we are in control of things, and if we can’t be in control of everything, then what IS it that we CAN control. We often find in difficult circumstances, that there are more things that we can control than we thought there were.

Scenario planning puts us back in control, removes much of the uncertainty, and therefore fear, and allows us to move forward with confidence.

What experience have you had with scenario planning and how has it helped you?

 

Need a kick start with scenario planning? Only too happy to help. Call or e-mail me.