Scenario Planning Training

In times like this, you don't just need new thoughts. You need the tools to think differently about the future. We think that everybody should be able to use the techniques that we use. We usually offer this on-site. But in an age where travel is restricted and teams maintain contact through video conferencing and Whatsapp, this is not possible. So we are offering our Scenario Planning training online.

During the course, we will dedicate ourselves to teaching you how to scenario plan. We will dedicate our time to helping you construct scenarios, research trends, and probe new ways of thinking about the future. And we will give you the tools to do it right away.

Given the urgency of the situation, we are making ourselves available to give this training 24/7. We will minimise the Powerpoint, and maximise the activities that you will work on collaboratively with your teams.

This training is perfect for:

Policy teams trying to anticipate what will come next
Strategy teams who are trying to make sense of it all
Innovators trying to see how they fit into the new reality
Teams looking to reskill or boost their futuring capabilities

What you will learn

This course will give you an introduction to some of the theory behind scenario planning, its basic concepts, and give you and your team experience of applying them. We minimise the Powerpoint, and maximise the activities that you will do as a team.
The areas that you will cover are as follows.

Learn the theory

To start with, you will understand some of the underlying principles behind foresight and futures, as well as public participation. You will learn the difference between visions, scenarios, and objectives, and how they result in different types of strategies and policies. You will learn how public participation can add value to a strategy development exercise that is over and above what is required by law.

The role of participation in foresight and futures

We will then learn of examples of how public participation exercises have been deployed in foresight and futures studies. Taking what worked and what didn't from those examples, we will then take part in a group exercise that will plan out how the public could be engaged with on an example transport strategy. This is based on a real life case study.

Analysing trends

We will then take the outcomes of this first exercise, and use it to help us research trends. This is after you are shown what the differences are between trends, megatrends, drivers, and uncertainties, and how you can tell them apart. You will be shown the methods that you can use to gather evidence of all of these, and you will be given the opportunity to rapidly deploy them through a group exercise. Trend researching tools will be provided as part of this exercise.

Creating Scenarios

A scenario is a story of a future state, and you will learn what makes for a great story. You will start by learning about the building blocks of a good scenario, such as cross-impact analysis and axes of uncertainty. You will learn about the key elements of a good scenario, such as a consistent narrative, important trends influencing that scenario, and a compelling title of course. You will learn techniques for co-writing scenarios with a wider audience, to improve their robustness and get wider buy in. You will then put this into practice, by writing your own scenarios.

Moving into strategy

Now that you have created some scenarios, you will learn about the options available to you to take these from a narrative into a useful decision making tool. You will also learn how your public engagement exercises can be used not only to test the robustness of your scenarios, but to build empathy with others and how they see these different futures.

The benefits of our approach

Accessible learning

We are available 24/7 through your favoured video conferencing service. You are also given the tools to take away and use right away, for free.

Learn by doing

The course touches on theory, but focusses on practical action. These sessions can be tailored to your circumstance.

Rapidly deploying learning

We give you the tools that you need to deploy what you learn quickly. The way that we deliver is also flexible to your requirements..

How it works

Contact us using our contact form.
We will then contact you to arrange a 30 minute call. We will discuss your requirements, including topics of most interest to your team, the tools you are most interested in, and scheduling the training itself. We will schedule the training to start as soon as possible for you.
Our preference is for in-person training, though we can also do the training remotely if that suits you.

We have two options for delivering the training. We can either do it over two full days (consecutively or spread over a couple of weeks), or four half days over four weeks.

The costs that we charge are fixed, but vary between private sector, public sector, community and voluntary sector.

"I had a great day. Importantly, I can see how scenario planning is relevant to what I do in my policy work. Not to mention you taught us how do it. Would recommend!"

Abigail Nichols, Buckinghamshire County Council

"This will really help us out with our LTP. Thanks!"

Lisa Simmons, East Sussex County Council

"You made the scenario planning relevant to the projects I am working on. Thank you."

Ian Bruce, SYSTRA