Have you had enough of the unforeseen and unexpected coming at you? The single most common comment leaders have said is “I wish I knew better what the future holds.” (of course when did we ever ‘know’ what the future holds?)There are ways to deal with the unexpected and unforeseen that almost nobody is doing well. It starts with contingency planning. What are your contingency plans – personally, for your family, and your organization? While it may have been hard to see a pandemic coming your way, the quality of your contingency planning is showing in an unflattering way.
When you’re responsible for guiding your family, team, or organization into the future, it pays to consider the “what if’s” before they hit you in the face. The best time to do this is when you have time to think in an open, considerate, unpressured way. Of course that is the best way and time to do any important planning.
The simplest form of contingency planning begins with establishing the time frame you are looking to consider – 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, etc. You can start with questions as simple as:
- What is the most likely case scenario for us?
- How does that affect what I/we need to focus on now and plan for in the short and longer term?
- What is a best-case scenario that we would like to see happen?
- How does that affect what I/we need to focus on now and plan for in the short and longer term?
- What is a worst-case scenario of issues we may need to face (i.e.: a pandemic, losing your best client, losing your top performers, etc.)?
- How does that affect what I/we need to focus on now and plan for in the short and longer term?
For a number of reasons, contingency planning has been anywhere from a lost or forgotten practice to something that ends up on the back burner for too many people and leaders.
May all of your scenarios turn out to be best case successes you can be proud of.
