How to use these Scenarios

How to use these scenarios

These scenarios are intended to help INGOs explore some big strategic questions about their future in a world and sector undergoing significant disruption and change. 

There are lots of creative ways to use these scenarios, but here we lay out one possible session to run with your leadership team or Board. You can do this online, in person or as a hybrid session.

An example session 

First, take people on a trip through time to 2038 and give them time to explore the scenarios. It is important to let people explore more than one scenario - ideally all of them - as this enables them to see the range of possibilities.

Think about how you want to lay out the scenarios. If in person, you might want to set up a small break out room or desk for each scenario, print them out and perhaps also add some photos, pictures or quotes to bring them to life. The more immersive the better - and generative AI tools could help you to create these images. You might also want to add a recording of someone reading the scenario - or even create some ‘artifacts’ from the scenario like an ID card or a diary entry of someone in a CSO - be as creative and as playful as you like to help people ‘time travel’ into 2038.

As people explore the futures, some useful questions to think about might be: 

• What is your organisation doing?

• Who is it working with?

• Who is it funded by?

Then, bring people back to the present and give them time to reflect on how these possible futures made them feel. Some of the futures are scary and some very hopeful and people may well have a strong emotional reaction.

Then, you can ask people what this time travelling has made them think about what your organisation needs to do NOW? What can it do to make the positive aspects of the future more likely to come true and the scary parts less likely? You can do this using a simple exercise, asking people what they think your organisation needs to:

• Stop doing

• Start doing

• Do more of

• Do less of

This conversation can help you to develop a list of practical ideas that you can then feed into your wider strategic thinking and planning.

Get in touch to explore further

We have used scenario and futures thinking with lots of organisations over the years to help them with writing strategies, developing new programmes or exploring their impact measurement approach. 

There is also a wealth of resources from other organisations and futures experts that can help you to catalyse your thinking. We have included a few select resources we love here.

We would be very happy to chat to explore how we could work with your organisation to use these scenarios as part of a wider strategy or design process. Please get in touch with us if you'd like to explore the options. 

Now get ready to time travel into 2038 and explore four possible futures...