The concept of scenario building is not new, but a tried and true tool to have in your tool belt when you’re stuck at a crossroads, setting personal goals, or setting strategic objectives for your business.
Here are some steps and key questions to ask when Scenario Building:
Identify: What is the main problem that you are setting out to solve or your desired end result that you lack clarity on right now?
Brainstorm: List out ALL possible avenues to get there, don’t limit the amount of initial solutions, enlist another trusted counsel to generate your scenarios - outside perspectives can sometimes turn the model on its head and come up with ideas that we can’t.
Rank: Put numbers next to each scenario in order of your most desired outcome.
Roadblocks: This is the most important step - the practice of “calling into account” the things that stand in the way of you reaching your desired outcome and from there designing solutions for those roadblocks will bring clarity to your map.
Underlying Dynamics: Ask yourself - what is holding me back (or the company back) from going with my most desired scenario and outcome? (fear of failure, fear of appearance, fear of man)
Practical Holdbacks: Resources, tools, time, or manpower
Solutions: Brainstorm a list of solutions to meet the underlying dynamics (potential solutions can look like journaling through fear, simulating the “worst possible scenario” and what that looks like and seeking outside counsel to talk through that fear) and practical holdbacks listed above and rank them in order of feasibility - compare this with all possible avenues to reach your desired outcome.
Create and Move: Create an action plan from here that includes the necessary steps to achieve your desired outcome, including any steps to work through the underlying dynamics first - this will create a strong baseline to create a map full of the freedom to move forward.
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