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Future-Proofing Your Strategy with Scenario Planning
Harvard Business
JULY 28, 2020
A conversation with consultant Peter Scoblic on scenario planning lessons from the U.S. Strategy Strategic planning Forecasting Crisis management AudioCoast Guard.
Scenario Planning Related Topics 
Scenario Planning - build alternative futures.
Management Craft
OCTOBER 3, 2011
BTW, I was looking at Thomas Chermack 's book, Scenario Planning in Organizations. Do you use scenario planning? Here is how Tom defines scenario planning (from his website): "Scenario planning is a discipline for building alternative futures in which decisions can be played out for the purposes of changing thinking, improving decision-making, fostering individual, team, and organizational learning, and improving performance.
CIOs: Scenario Planning Can Save Your Job
Harvard Business Review
AUGUST 23, 2013
It''s the rare CIO who applies scenario planning to the business of IT. Yet, in a function driven by innovation and the uncertainties surrounding the application and implication of future technologies, not using scenarios is tantamount to management malpractice. Scenarios can help IT organizations create more resilient plans, practice for business climate changes, and better drive innovation. Creating More Resilient Plans. Scenarios and Innovation.
Exploring Alternate Futures Can Help Identify Future Leaders
N2Growth Blog
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016
Scenarios and scenario-based planning are widely recognized as valuable tools in setting organizations’ visions and strategies. Shell is the most famed for their scenarios and their process for developing them and using them. In their annual survey on the management and planning tools used by thousands of companies around the world, Bain and Company show a consistent and deserved popularity of scenario planning.
Five Leadership Lessons from the Garden
Lead Change Blog
APRIL 4, 2016
Scenario planning, a strategy first employed by Royal Dutch Shell, brings experts from a wide range of fields together to discuss actions if different scenarios take place. Scenario planning allows you to think out—in advance—various options. The flowers that are in full bloom are wonderful. The weeds that have taken over one corner are terrible.
Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most
Leading Blog
NOVEMBER 23, 2018
Engaging in scenario planning or gaming is not to make accurate predictions, but “the very act of trying to imagine alternatives to the conventional view helps you perceive your options more clearly.” L IFE GIVES US CHOICES, and we make decisions.
Mindfulness as a Management Technique Goes Back to at Least the 1970s
Harvard Business
MAY 2, 2018
It first influenced business decades ago, through the development of an unmistakably hard skill that senior managers must master: strategic planning. Leaders today would be wise to learn from the past and to view strategic planning and mindfulness together. Pierre Wack, who was head of Group Planning at Royal Dutch/Shell in the 1970s, studied meditation extensively with teachers in Asia and, later, with the famous 20th-century mystic G.I.
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Crisis Management: The Ultimate Test of a Leader | In the CEO.
In the CEO Afterlife
SEPTEMBER 12, 2011
You’d think a company drilling on the ocean’s floor would be adept in risk management planning. Whether Hayward was a part of a risk management plan or not, the guy failed at the moment his employees, his shareholders, his fellow human beings and the planet needed him most. Advance planning is very important, however, as you know, it’s impossible to know every crisis that may come your way. In the CEO Afterlife. Main menu Home. Leadership. Branding.
How to Think Like a Futurist
Strategy Driven
JANUARY 8, 2019
It’s about coming up with possible scenarios for the future given these developments. Futurists use tools that systematize these recommendations including scenario planning, environmental scanning, Delphi surveying, and individual software programs like Fibres, Futures Platform, and Athena. Practices for Professionals business management futurist Strategic Planning strategydriven
Business Model Generation : Blog | Executive Coaching | CO2 Partners
CO2
JANUARY 2, 2011
The Empathy Map looks like this: In this chapter the authors walk you through processes to arrive a enhanced design like Customer Insights, ideation, providing an introduction to the value of visual thinking, how to use prototyping, story telling, and Scenario Planning. RSS Feed Schedule a Call Free E-Book Assessment Test Coffee Schedule Coaching Lunch About Us CO2 Story Our Approach Our Successes Our Executive Coaches Gary B.
4 Signs That Your Focus Is Holding You Back at Work
Harvard Business
AUGUST 30, 2017
And since imagining future events involves tinkering with information stored in various brain regions from past experiences (to create novel associations and scenarios), this requires the brain’s unfocus circuit to be activated. When you focus too much, you turn off your brain’s imagining circuits, which can impact your brain’s planning to reach your goal. For example, you may be strategizing on a project that requires scenario planning.
Is Your Company Ready to Protect Its Reputation from Deep Fakes?
Harvard Business
NOVEMBER 8, 2018
An obvious scenario, one that some companies might find themselves dealing with in the not-too-distant future, is a faked video of their CEO making racist or sexist comments, or bribing a politician. t_kimura/Getty Images.
How Organizations Can Thrive in the Digital Economy - SPONSOR CONTENT FROM KORN FERRY
Harvard Business
MARCH 28, 2017
Agile businesses run planning and execution in parallel, investing in scenario planning so they can act promptly when opportunities arise. This means streamlining reporting lines, engaging a wider group of stakeholders from the outset, sharing ideas and plans before they’re fully formulated, and seeking input along the way. Image courtesy of Korn Ferry.
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The Big Picture of Business: Putting Budgeting Into Perspective, The Bigger Picture of Strategic Planning
Strategy Driven
NOVEMBER 2, 2012
Budgets get more attention than the umbrellas under which they rightfully belong: Strategic Planning and Visioning. By itself, Budgeting does not constitute full-scope planning and business strategy. Questions to follow in Budgeting as part of Strategic Planning and Visioning processes include: Does this process increase your accountability to funding sources and to the public? Does your strategic plan adequately describe what you do?
The Death of Supply Chain Management
Harvard Business
JUNE 15, 2018
Similarly, a steel company built a customized scenario-planning tool into its control tower platform that increases supply chain responsiveness and resilience. But when planning, purchasing, manufacturing, order fulfillment, and logistics are largely automated, what’s left for supply chain professionals? Alistair Berg/Getty Images. The supply chain is the heart of a company’s operations.
A Better Approach to Infrastructure Planning
Harvard Business Review
JULY 10, 2014
But in terms of their objectives and planning horizons, there is often a yawning gap between these private and public sector players. It is not hard to see why the two sides find it challenging to confer about infrastructure needs – much less participate in each other’s planning processes. It’s difficult for the public sector to coordinate planning across regions and modes. This makes scenario planning an effective approach for long-range freight transportation planning.
The Big Picture of Business – Achieving the Best by Preparing for the Worst: Lessons Learned from High-Profile Crises, part 4 of 4
Strategy Driven
OCTOBER 25, 2013
Next comes Crisis Planning. What-if scenario planning is similar to the processes utilized in overall company strategic planning and visioning. The crisis plan must be part of the bigger process, not an adjunct or afterthought. Crisis planning and strategies should be intertwined with security issues, financial goals, workforce empowerment and many other corporate dynamics. Have a plan in force, and be sure that every employee has a copy.
Make Your Strategy More Agile
Harvard Business
OCTOBER 31, 2016
Sure, the value of an in-depth discovery phase; comprehensive, quantitative, and qualitative research; stakeholder interviews; scenario planning; and alignment are undisputed. And how often have you crafted a meticulous three-year strategic plan, only to have it become obsolete after a few months, or even weeks? Can you run fast and go deep at the same time?
Create a Strategy That Anticipates and Learns
Harvard Business
OCTOBER 6, 2014
The restaurant chain, Olive Garden, uses predictive analytics to guide its food buying and retail staffing plans. This isn’t a retread of scientific management , nor is it an updated take on scenario planning. Scientific management and scenario planning, while forward-thinking, rely on information that’s in the rear view mirror. The company uses these insights to drive—and adapt—strategic plans for new device and service offerings (e.g.,
Mindfulness Can Improve Strategy, Too
Harvard Business
MAY 2, 2016
Practically speaking, can organizational leaders integrate mindfulness practices into strategic planning processes? As UCLA’s Richard Rumelt, a leading expert on strategic planning, writes in his book Good Strategy, Bad Strategy , one of the quintessential components of good strategy is the ability to take a step out of the internal storyline and shift viewpoints. So how can organizations bring more space to strategic planning? FERIDUN AKGÜNGÖR.
Navigating the Complexities of Doing Business in Russia
Harvard Business
MAY 29, 2017
This will likely continue to make business planning even more difficult. These can be laid out in scenario plans with specific mitigation actions assigned to help businesses react quickly if necessary. Despite the turmoil in Russian-Western relations, having a plan to respond quickly can help multinationals weather, manage, or even capitalize on political developments. Jennifer Maravillas for HBR. From the conflict in Ukraine, to Russian meddling in U.S.
An Exercise to Get Your Team Thinking Differently About the Future
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 23, 2015
A way around this fallacy, we’ve found, is a speed-dating version of scenario planning, one that takes hours rather than months. The high-speed scenario workshop involved three steps: 1) Identify key story elements or drivers of the STEM talent “story” to be explored; 2) conceive a plausible future by combining the elements; and 3) explore this future to understand its implications for their businesses.
How Multinationals Should Be Planning for Brexit
Harvard Business
MAY 15, 2018
Only a minority of firms is well ahead in planning and preparing a UK market strategy. At the recent Brexit Workshop we held for clients — in this case, 19 UK heads of some of the world’s largest multinational firms — 10 of them had not started or had only just begun planning for Brexit. But that doesn’t mean companies shouldn’t start the work required to come up with a plan. How to Plan for Brexit. Understand possible scenarios.
Persevering Through Extreme Uncertainty
Harvard Business Review
OCTOBER 25, 2012
Scenario planning is impossible. What does it take to be a corporate trailblazer? I recently found an answer to this question in an unexpected place — talking to three Afghan women in downtown Kabul. The first woman founded a large Afghani news agency several years ago. Her home was subsequently bombed multiple times by those who would prefer that the country's reality not be presented to the world. She has also escaped acid attacks and death threats.
Create a Strategy That Anticipates and Learns
Harvard Business Review
OCTOBER 6, 2014
The restaurant chain, Olive Garden, uses predictive analytics to guide its food buying and retail staffing plans. This isn’t a retread of scientific management , nor is it an updated take on scenario planning. Scientific management and scenario planning, while forward-thinking, rely on information that’s in the rear view mirror. The company uses these insights to drive—and adapt—strategic plans for new device and service offerings (e.g.,
Be Prepared for What You Don't See Coming
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
To minimize their negative impact, there are two steps that managers can take: Plan ahead (as much as you can). One way to reinforce this assumption is to engage in scenario planning before pulling the trigger, preferably by engaging people who will be affected by the change. For example, my firm once worked with the operations executives of a large company that planned to shift some of its factory employees from an hourly to a salaried pay program.
The G-20 is 2011's Biggest Political Risk
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 6, 2011
For example, when it comes to preparation for a possible showdown involving North Korea, there has been no discussion or scenario planning between American and Chinese top brass — not a recipe for good crisis management. David Gordon is the head of research at Eurasia Group and former director of policy planning at the U.S.
What a Good Moonshot Is Really For
Harvard Business Review
MAY 14, 2013
They''re a keystone of what we call a "future-back" approach to strategy, which unlike the "present forward" nature of most strategic-planning processes, doesn''t operate under the assumption that tomorrow will be pretty much like today, and the day after pretty much more of the same. At the heart of the future-back process is a consensus view of your company''s desired future state.This isn''t scenario planning, where you consider a range of possibilities.
Reimagining the Boardroom for an Age of Virtual Reality and AI
Harvard Business Review
APRIL 3, 2015
It would be an antidote to the insularity that so many boards are criticized for, and a useful complement to the simulations and war-game tools that help with scenario planning and anticipating competitors’ moves. Boards challenge their executives to get with the digital age — but many haven’t followed their own good advice.
China’s Slowdown: The First Stage of the Bullwhip Effect
Harvard Business Review
SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
The essence of the phenomenon is the fact that each stage in the supply chain plans its capital projects and operations, including inventory levels, based on its future expectations. Demand forecasting may become more challenging as demand patterns change, and companies may be advised to look into forecasting methods based on scenario planning rather than historical patterns.
Living in a Radical State of Uncertainty
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 23, 2011
The kind of thinking generated by scenario planning, video/war-gaming, and design thinking need to move from the margins of corporations and government organizations to core strategic positions.
ExxonMobil’s Shareholder Vote Is a Tipping Point for Climate Issues
Harvard Business
JUNE 7, 2017
Such a move might create inertia for some companies and investors if they see it as evidence that “business as usual” is now the most likely climate scenario. We witnessed a monumental event in a shareholder resolution calling on ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest publicly listed energy company, to disclose the impact on its business under a 2-degree scenario. Last week the world listened as Donald Trump announced, ‘We are out,’ proclaiming the U.S.
The Potential and Pitfalls of Doing Business in Cuba
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 16, 2016
Under such a scenario, multinationals would see expanded opportunity across diverse sectors. These scenarios are not a given. The key to winning in Cuba will be to prepare with rigorous scenario planning in order to avoid being left on the sidelines once the market begins to bloom.
The Olympics as a Story of Risk Management
Harvard Business Review
AUGUST 13, 2012
A terrorist incident, a breakdown of the London rail system, power blackouts, volcanic ash clouds , flooding, an outbreak of infectious disease—the London organizing committee (LOCOG) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) spent years thinking about every scenario they could imagine. Simulations of security incidents were rehearsed, and contingency plans for mass evacuations or emergency situations were put in place.
Six Classes Your Employer Wishes You Could Take
Harvard Business Review
SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
Scenarios. Scenario planning is as essential for strategy formulation as it is for the design of next generation technologies and industries. Thinking in terms of scenarios forces people to rigorously examine fundamental assumptions and unexpected risks. Scenarios demand expository and analytic, as well as literary, skills. What serious employer doesn''t want to hire someone who can envision and articulate scenarios describing the future(s) of the enterprise?
What Research Tells Us About Making Accurate Predictions
Harvard Business Review
FEBRUARY 2, 2015
Interestingly, a smaller group were trained in scenario planning , but this turned out not to be as useful as the training in probabilistic reasoning.). “Prediction is very difficult,” the old chestnut goes, “especially about the future.” ” And for years, social science agreed. Numerous studies detailed the forecasting failures of even so-called experts.
Setting Strategy in Egypt's (and Other) Shifting Sands: A Four-Part Approach
Harvard Business Review
FEBRUARY 14, 2011
Consultants came to their assistance with solutions to short-term concerns ranging from moving out cash to halting expansion plans. Instead, managers should develop their strategic responses to political transitions using a four-step process: First, managers need to develop transition scenarios for the countries in which operate — even relating to the unlikely or low-probability events. In terms of scenario planning , firms would think about alternative paths.
What a Changing NAFTA Could Mean for Doing Business in Mexico
Harvard Business
JUNE 20, 2017
While consumer spending has proven resilient, with same-store retail sales rising 6% YOY in April , most multinational corporations are developing contingency plans to mitigate risks to their businesses and reassessing the country’s role in their global market portfolio and supply chains. Most Mexico country managers believe one of the following scenarios is likely: A long period of populist-driven uncertainty.
Get Ready for the New Era of Global Manufacturing
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 31, 2013
For example, in a world of rising and complex risk, they will need to adopt planning systems that don't rely on point forecasts, but use scenario planning. The global manufacturing sector is on the threshold of a dynamic new phase that will provide renewed opportunity for manufacturing firms — and a host of new challenges. Incumbents who can rise to the challenge — and upstarts who may find lower barriers to entry — could do very well, indeed.
4 Strategies for Women Navigating Office Politics
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 14, 2015
Let planning trump politics. An intrepid energy industry executive we know takes a novel, planning-based approach to managing politics, and we’ve taught the same method to many female executives over the years. To inject some predictability into the most crucial of organizational interactions, he uses scenario planning to map out strategies. For example, he attends an annual planning meeting that is fraught with politics.
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