#CIO, Practical guide to strategic planning. Scenario planning.

??? Strategic planning defines the actions and investments necessary to achieve long-term strategic objectives. Discover how to successfully carry it out.

Proven strategic planning, even in a highly volatile context

??? Only minority of strategy leaders believe their companies are adjusting their plans quickly enough to cope with disruptive events. Where does the problem lie? This observation often stems from unclear objectives, inadequate strategic planning processes, and a lack of commitment from business leaders.

Use this guide to:

• ??? Transition more rapidly from strategy to action
• ??? Eliminate sept common strategic planning mistakes
• ??? Document and communicate your plans using an exclusive one-page model

The four essential points to consider in strategic planning:

1. What is strategic planning?
2. Strategic assumptions
3. Scenario planning
4. Adaptive strategy

??? Especially in a context marked by significant disruptions, it's essential to understand what strategic planning is, what it enables, what assumptions to consider, and how to leverage adaptive strategy and scenario planning.

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3° Scenario planning

???Scenario planning as a tool for strategic planning for services

???Scenario planning allows leaders and their teams to understand and evaluate plausible potential situations to strengthen strategic plans and make them more resilient. Market volatility and disruptions related to pandemics have shown the importance of leveraging multiple scenarios to redefine business strategy and strategic plans.

???Commonly used by strategy leaders at the company level, the scenario planning process at the service level is equally valuable. Many service managers have little experience in strategic scenario planning, even though they regularly participate in budgetary and forecasting scenario development with their CFO. Managers who can become familiar with scenario planning and apply it to strategic planning can help their company cope more effectively with volatile and dynamic conditions, especially in areas such as the supply chain, where disruptions remain significant.

???Developing scenarios allows you to determine action plans or strategies suitable for different potential contexts. This enables understanding how to respond to a specific situation and which series of measures would be most appropriate, regardless of the conditions that arise.

???For team managers in certain services, developing scenarios and their underlying assumptions is itself a useful exercise to corroborate or challenge strategies, evolve them, or update them.

???The goal of scenario planning is to ensure the implementation of an optimal immediate solution while preparing appropriate alternative action plans, depending on the situation's evolution. To respond quickly to risks and opportunities, you need to proactively agree on both short-term operational decisions and long-term strategic plans. This can help your service anticipate, rather than reactively endure, the negative effects of a major event or crisis.