Many organisations plan for the future – or, at least, for a future that they believe or hope will happen. Often, this future is based on ‘best’ or ‘worst’ case projections of current trends.

This approach works best for organisations that operate in stable, predictable environments. But most of today’s businesses, are facing greater uncertainty and experiencing more change than ever before. They need an approach that helps them make sense of what is going on, spot new trends and events that are likely to affect them in future, and, perhaps, make significant changes to what they do and how they work.
Here come the Scenarios as a tool that organisations – and policy makers – can use to help them imagine and manage the future more effectively.

The scenario process highlights the principal drivers of change and associated uncertainties facing organisations today and explores how they might play out in the future. The result is a set of stories that offer alternative views of what the future might look like. Organisations and policy makers can explore what they would do differently in each scenario. They can identify success criteria, suggest new ways of working and define new relationships.