Eng. Mohammed Saad Al-Banna
Senior Consultant – Kaizen Consulting
In today’s world, uncertainty becomes a formidable enemy to our organizations when it is ignored or treated lightly.
While recognizing and addressing uncertainty is no longer a matter of great debate—thanks to the rapid advancements in futures studies, foresight, risk management, and predictive analytics guiding decision-making—the greatest challenge for our organizations may well lie in the presence of a strategic mindset capable of adaptation and driving change.
Nearly three decades into my professional life, I still recall the struggles faced by early strategists, who for years worked in environments focused solely on day-to-day operations, with no thought beyond fulfilling production orders from clients. They also faced an uphill battle convincing leaders, consumed with operations and reactive responses, to think about the future.
Today, the concept of strategy itself is no longer the greatest challenge. The idea has expanded, and the culture of strategic planning and performance has spread widely enough to entice many from new generations to dive right into it—often without experiencing the grease of manufacturing machines or the flames from operating furnaces.
Yet, the widespread adoption of strategic planning over the past decade appears to have doubled the challenges organizations face in a near and mid-term future marked by increasing uncertainty. Most schools of strategic planning, aiming for a primary output called the strategic plan, have modeled their work to such a degree that they left little room for the flexibility and agility needed to adapt to uncertainty’s impact.
It is truly disheartening to realize that our strategic plans have become mere projects focused on fixed outputs—leaving no space for the possibility that the future may bring heavy and unexpected burdens, capable of shaking even the most precise and well-crafted strategies.
Unsurprisingly, a significant number of passionate organizational leaders—some of whom I have worked closely with—have grown unconvinced about the value of so-called strategic planning. One major reason is that when we plan solely based on past and present information, without considering the potential future effects of uncertainty—both as opportunities and challenges—we inadvertently waste resources and dissipate energy. This, without a doubt, is something no wise leader would find acceptable.
As always, I invite my fellow visionaries and changemakers to pause, reflect, and reconsider—so that we may reach a shared understanding and move forward together.
