Often, nonprofit leaders are keenly aware of external conditions or changes that could affect their organization. For example, shifts in policy and funding are on the minds of many of our clients. Having incomplete information and multiple variables to consider only increases anxiety around all the possible "what ifs."
Scenario planning can be incredibly helpful when your organization faces a high degree of uncertainty. It's a structured process for naming the conditions in flux and imagining alternative futures, how they might affect your organization, and how you could respond. Not only does the exercise promote risk mitigation, but it can also help leadership teams decrease their collective anxiety and even spot potential opportunities created by disruption.
But before you Google scenario planning and assemble your leadership team, it's essential to answer a few important questions:
- Is your leadership team and/or Board also feeling the pain of uncertainty?
- Are they ready and able to dedicate the time and energy to this series of conversations?
- Are they prepared for open dialogue, wrestling with ambiguity, and conversations about potential change?
Good scenario planning requires a team to take the long view, recognize larger outside forces affecting the organization, take on multiple perspectives, imagine emergent futures, and develop corresponding strategies. Orienting the group to the process and its objectives before starting will help you collaboratively envision and plan for a future that hasn't arrived yet.
