For enterprises to manage the global-uncertain environment that makes painful a steady growth, businesses need to develop new alternatives or scenarios to guarantee a better future. Scenario Planning is an efficient tool that tries out strategies or roadmaps to align them to what businesses want to achieve, to find out what is not working that needs to change to do better.
What is Scenario Planning?
Scenario building means a story based on the analysis and understanding of current/historical trends and events. It includes a consistent description of possible future situations, to helps to identify potential pathways towards a vision of the future.
Different scenarios working on a collaboration with stakeholders to target uncertainties can be developed to change buyer’s behaviour, transportations or logistics services, as it allows you to see the future of your business by considering critical variables to the goals in your industry.
HOW? By identifying several scenarios that "could" exist, according to constant issues detected. Then, examining those issues and their consequences to finally, to incorporating them into your strategic plan.
Scenarios are not predictions. They are better assumptions to give us new perspectives and opportunities to imagine different futures by preparing several plans on how the industry can manage multiple disasters affecting your business future, and making targets leading to achieving your objectives.
Oil and Gas groups are implementing Scenario Planning to developed different scenarios of the future on how the world would face a disruptive event of any kind, such as oil crisis, social disturbances, changes of governments, or natural disasters.
Scenario Planning gives us a robust framework to work; education, prevention and preparations are vital to anticipating any catastrophic scenarios. This tool would work great if your company counts on an efficient managing team aware in advance of possible outcomes,
Differences between Scenario Planning and Strategic Planning
The purpose, process, and benefits of each approach have differences to look at carefully. Both Strategic Planning and Scenario Planning try to foresee the countless variables that might get in the way of the organisation growth.
Strategic Planning
The primary objective of Strategic Planning is to ensure business growth from top to bottom by measurable-targets; leaders begin with a full understanding of the mission, vision, and values of the business; then analyse variables through the traditional method. The main purpose of this approach is to create a reasonable path to both short and long-term successful growth. It requires resources and timelines to execute it. Senior-level leaders involved in the process share corresponding accountabilities; it focuses mainly on specific variables: strengths/weaknesses, threats/opportunities, and data obtained are used to inform the decision-making process.
Scenario Planning
The Scenario Planning objectives are to develop strategies foretelling the barriers companies must surpass to move forward, and to identify what the future would bring ahead. It offers a way to prepare for different difficult situations as a result of disruptions to the industry environment or other external forces. One way to develop future scenarios is to set apart and evaluate trends most probable to arise, as those most essential for enterprise achievement; it can help the company travel toward a successful future.
The initial trend analysis sets the grounds for considering which scenarios need the most in-depth planning. Scenario Planning ends with the vision aligned to the situations most likely to occur, and adjust accordingly.
Final comments: Scenario Planning might be a better option, as it could operate in combination with other simulations. Leaders require to build an action plan to address those scenarios; these actions could be assimilated into one long-term strategical planning, maybe as long as ten years. Do you have it clearly in your radar?
Dave Food
Prophetic Technology
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