Stories capture the attention of people and propel them to a time and place outside of their reality. Each and every weekend people flock to their local theater in order escape for a couple of hours into a story that seems more fantastical, maybe simpler or idealistic, or even similar enough to explain their own life situations in a different light. Stories are an enlightening tool for mankind to understand life.
This is one reason why scenario analysis is so effective. Scenario analysis provides a vehicle for increased communication and shared learning, allows for idea-sharing, allows new ideas to surface, and builds alignment and performance among various groups of people (Brummel & MacGillivray, n.d.). Scenarios can be broad in their focus emphasizing long-term trends of key variables in various areas (Brummel & MacGillivray, n.d.) of human life. For those looking to build a better tomorrow, there is no tool more suited for the success of that endeavor than scenario analysis because of the nature of storytelling and creating a narrative reality of possible outcomes of these various trends. Scenarios take into account several views, focus on qualitative change, take an objective stance, are open-ended by nature, and are focused on the relevancy of the situation at hand (Brummel & MacGillivray, n.d.).
Despite how well-suited scenario planning is for developing foresight perspectives, they must be undergirded with strong leadership willing and able to present these scenarios in such a way that people catch the vision and buy-in to the hope for an ideal future. Leaders are tasked with the responsibility of influencing people of diverse origins towards a common goal or ideal future (Winston & Patterson, 2006). Scenarios are a tool to be wielded by quality leaders, but they don’t influence on their own.
References
Brummel, A., & MacGillivray, G. (n.d.). Introduction to Scenarios. Scenarios to Strategy, pp. 3–5.
Winston, B. E., & Patterson, K. (2006). An Integrative Definition of Leadership. IJLS, 1(2), pp. 6–66.
