How do you assess risks and opportunities in your plan?

1 Identify your objectives and assumptions

The first step in assessing risks and opportunities is to clarify what you want to achieve and why. You need to define your specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives, and identify the key assumptions that underpin them. Assumptions are the beliefs or expectations that you have about the internal and external factors that influence your plan, such as market conditions, customer needs, stakeholder support, or resource availability. You need to make your assumptions explicit and test their validity, as they may turn out to be inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated.

2 Analyze your strengths and weaknesses

The next step is to evaluate your own capabilities and limitations in relation to your objectives and assumptions. You need to conduct a SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths are the internal factors that give you an advantage or support your plan, such as skills, assets, or relationships. Weaknesses are the internal factors that hinder or challenge your plan, such as gaps, flaws, or dependencies. You need to leverage your strengths and address your weaknesses, as they may affect your ability to execute your plan effectively and efficiently.

3 Explore your opportunities and threats

The third step is to examine the external factors that may create or reduce opportunities for your plan, or pose or mitigate threats to your plan. Opportunities are the favorable or beneficial situations or events that may arise or occur in your environment, such as trends, changes, or innovations. Threats are the unfavorable or harmful situations or events that may arise or occur in your environment, such as risks, uncertainties, or disruptions. You need to exploit your opportunities and avoid or minimize your threats, as they may affect your chances of achieving your objectives and assumptions.

4 Prioritize your issues and actions

The fourth step is to rank the issues and actions that emerge from your analysis according to their importance and urgency. You need to use a prioritization matrix, such as the Eisenhower matrix, which divides the issues and actions into four categories: important and urgent, important but not urgent, not important but urgent, and not important and not urgent. You need to focus on the important and urgent issues and actions first, as they may have the most impact on your plan. You need to plan for the important but not urgent issues and actions next, as they may have the most value for your plan. You need to delegate or outsource the not important but urgent issues and actions if possible, as they may distract you from your plan. You need to eliminate or postpone the not important and not urgent issues and actions if possible, as they may waste your time and resources.

5 Develop your scenarios and contingencies

The fifth step is to create alternative scenarios and contingencies based on your prioritized issues and actions. Scenarios are the possible outcomes or situations that may result from your plan, or from the changes or events that may affect your plan. Contingencies are the backup plans or measures that you have in place to deal with the scenarios, or to prevent, mitigate, or recover from the changes or events that may affect your plan. You need to develop at least three scenarios: the best-case scenario, the worst-case scenario, and the most likely scenario. You need to develop contingencies for each scenario, as well as for the changes or events that may trigger them. You need to consider the costs, benefits, and risks of each contingency, and how they align with your objectives and assumptions.

6 Monitor and review your plan

The final step is to track and evaluate your plan and your scenarios and contingencies on a regular basis. You need to use key performance indicators (KPIs), which are the metrics or measures that you use to assess your progress and performance against your objectives and assumptions. You need to use feedback loops, which are the mechanisms or processes that you use to collect, analyze, and act on the information and data that you gather from your KPIs, your scenarios and contingencies, and your environment. You need to use adaptive management, which is the approach or method that you use to adjust, improve, or change your plan, your scenarios and contingencies, and your actions based on your feedback loops. You need to monitor and review your plan regularly, as it may need to evolve or adapt to the changing risks and opportunities that you face.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?