Planning assumptions identification involves determining the key assumptions that will guide the strategic planning process, such as market conditions, resource availability, and risk factors. This process helps establish a foundation for strategic decision-making by clarifying the context and conditions under which the strategy will be developed and implemented.
Importance – Identification of planning assumptions is essential for several reasons:
- Clarity: This work provides a clear and shared understanding of the context in which strategic decisions will be made.
- Risk management: By explicitly stating assumptions, an organization can better identify and manage potential risks to its strategy.
- Flexibility: Understanding key assumptions allows for more agile strategy adaptation when those assumptions change.
- Alignment: Shared assumptions help ensure that all stakeholders are working from the same baseline understanding of the organization’s environment.
How We Do It – Our team of experienced strategy consultants employs a structured approach to identifying planning assumptions:
- Stakeholder engagement: We engage key stakeholders through interviews and workshops to gather diverse perspectives on potential assumptions.
- Assumption formulation: We synthesize our expert perspective with the gathered information to formulate clear, specific, and testable assumptions.
- Assumption validation: We work with your team to validate and refine the identified assumptions, ensuring they are relevant and actionable.
- Documentation and communication: We document all identified assumptions and communicate them effectively to all relevant stakeholders.
Output and Results – The planning assumptions identification process will result in the following work products:
- Planning assumptions document: We produce a comprehensive document outlining all identified assumptions, their rationale, and potential impacts on the strategy.
- Assumption monitoring framework: We develop an approach for tracking assumptions over time, including triggers for when assumptions may need to be revisited.
- Risk assessment matrix: We produce an analysis of potential risks associated with each assumption and strategies for mitigating these risks.
- Scenario planning guide: We develop a guide for using the identified assumptions in scenario planning exercises to test strategy robustness.
- Executive presentation: We produce a summary presentation of key planning assumptions, their implications, and the next steps for the strategic planning process.
By leveraging our planning assumptions identification capabilities, your organization can build a more robust, flexible, and well-informed strategic plan that is grounded in a clear understanding of the current and potential future operating environment.
