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Pivot Complete. Now What?

Planning Through the Pandemic to a Sustainable Future
Delivered June 3, 2020
Presented by James Downey, Vice President for Planning & Institutional Effectiveness, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary | Nicholas Santilli, Senior Director of Learning Strategy, SCUP, and Former Provost, John Carroll University
Planning Types: Continuity Planning

Higher education has become accustomed to a volatile environment. Volatile environments create significant degrees of ambiguity, complexity, and uncertainty. How do institutions navigate through this volatile environment? Scenario planning.

Scenario planning generates multiple well-crafted contradictory narratives about the future to anticipate possible outcomes of environmental forces with the potential to impact an institution. It is important to note that scenario planning does not seek to predict an uncertain future. Instead, engaging in scenario planning provides an institution with the capacity to plan for potential outcomes that may interrupt institutional progress.

Learning Outcomes:

  1. Overview of the planning discipline of scenario planning including a definition of the planning methodology, how it differs from other forms of planning, and why scenario planning is an important component of successful institutional planning.
  2. Discussion of the role of environmental scanning in scenario planning using the SCUP Trends for Higher Education report.
  3. Hear strategies of how institutions may use scenario planning to keep their institutional strategic plan nimble and change ready.