Teams read what their leaders tolerate on strategic foresight and scenario design far more accurately than what their leaders announce. Managers are promoted for competence and then judged on scenario design, which nobody trained them for. The programme converts this aspect of organisational leadership from an area of general awareness into a set of repeatable practices. Teams frequently over-invest in documenting strategic foresight and scenario design and under-invest in testing it. It is pitched for practitioners with responsibility for the practice within organisational leadership, not for observers of it. Discussion is anchored to worked examples of scenario design rather than to abstract argument. Organisations that document strategic foresight and scenario design properly resolve disputes about it far more quickly. Participants develop a defensible line of reasoning for the choices they make about scenario design. It ends with a prioritised list of changes to the organisational leadership discipline that the participant is prepared to defend internally.
Expected Learning Outcomes
✓
Delegate responsibility for strategic foresight and scenario design without losing sight of the outcome.
✓
Anticipate the objections that scenario design will attract internally and answer them in advance.
✓
Select indicators that show whether strategic foresight and scenario design is improving, and reject those that only look useful.
✓
Develop successors capable of running scenario design without you.
✓
Resolve conflict about strategic foresight and scenario design without leaving residue.
✓
Set acceptance criteria for scenario design before work begins rather than after.
✓
Make decisions on strategic foresight and scenario design at the right speed for the risk involved.
Who Should Attend
✓
Project and programme managers whose success depends on strategic foresight and scenario design.
✓
Executives leading multi-function programmes involving scenario design.
✓
Human resources partners advising leaders on strategic foresight and scenario design.
✓
Department heads and senior managers accountable for scenario design.
✓
Consultants and advisers supporting clients on strategic foresight and scenario design.
✓
Internal auditors reviewing how scenario design is designed and operated.
Course Modules
Open any module to see its sessions and topics.
01
Strategic foresight and scenario design: performance, standards and consistency
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1What to measure in strategic foresight and scenario design and what to ignore
State the outcome expected from strategic foresight and scenario design in a single sentence anyone can repeat.
Compare the cost of scenario design with the cost of its absence.
Verify six months later that changes to strategic foresight and scenario design have held.
Test whether the team can explain scenario design in their own words.
Session 2Reading the room before proposing scenario design
Recognise publicly one person whose work on strategic foresight and scenario design went unnoticed.
Record what was learned when scenario design did not go as planned.
Give one piece of specific feedback on strategic foresight and scenario design within the week.
Agree the standard on scenario design and confirm it applies to everyone.
02
Scenario design: setting direction people can act on
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Applying the standard on scenario design to your best performer
Map the handovers in strategic foresight and scenario design between functions and secure them.
Name the person accountable for each part of scenario design, not the committee.
Confirm that those complying with strategic foresight and scenario design understand why it exists.
Check whether incentives anywhere reward behaviour that undermines scenario design.
Session 2Comparing scenario design with recognised practice
Decide the point at which you would escalate strategic foresight and scenario design.
Identify single points of dependency in scenario design and reduce them.
Prepare the summary of strategic foresight and scenario design that senior management will read.
Prepare the response for the most likely failure in scenario design.
