SCENARIO PLANNING

Scenario planning is a structured way to think about the future and ask “what if? It is also the most widely used foresight tool. According to Bain & Company, in 2006, 70% of the corporate sector had used scenario planning (The Economist, September 1st, 2008).

Unlike single point forecasting, scenario planning explores a range of multiple futures and perspectives. As a learning process, this helps:

• Sensitize leaders to future changes and provide better perspective on the present.
• Improves the quality of decision-making and mental agility of leaders.
• Builds new knowledge, innovative ideas, and awareness of different possibilities.
• Creates a platform for a robust strategic conversation within a group or organization
  or community about the future.

An end product of scenario planning is an early warning indicator system (EWI). This helps monitor and scan how the future is emerging, and thus enables leaders to anticipate and adapt to key changes and improve an organization’s resiliency and agility.