Scenario Planning Has Never Been More Important: Insights on Integrated Scenario Planning for managing through and recovering from a crisis

By: Pamelyn Lindsey, Chris Groven, and Robert Hirschey

“We’ve never been in this situation before,” observed the chief executive officer of a client company, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indeed, no one has ever experienced a crisis like this in our lifetimes. There are very few wisdom keepers to consult. “It feels like we’re flying blind,” the same CEO lamented.

Our experience has shown: The greater the unknown, the more important scenarios become to informing decisions on business survival and recovery.

In this white paper, we provide insights on how to best utilize Integrated Scenario Planning as a decision-making tool for agile response and rapid recovery during and after a crisis. We discuss:

  • The right mindset for determining how to best manage in today’s crisis. Business leaders cannot afford to be indecisive.
  • The need for a scenario planning framework. There’s no time to waste reinventing the wheel for every scenario.
  • Best practice principles for creating credible, actionable scenarios. Trusted analysis is paramount to sound decision making.

This white paper covers principles that apply to managing any crisis. It does not cover everything you need to know about scenario planning during the current pandemic. We realize that time is of the essence for managing through this pandemic and the new normal that will follow. We encourage you to contact us with your questions and challenges. We will respond as quickly as possible.