THE QUESTION: I have to run a workshop for a top management team that has recently adopted a new highly matrixed structure. As a result, there is a challenging amount of interdependence and ambiguity. While they have an understanding of the structure, very little work has been done on how it will operationalize, what operationalizing it will mean etc.

One of the activities I want the group to undertake is a scenario building exercise where they will build potential scenarios that will arise in the future, and then based on the scenarios, evolve in advance, an appropriate response to the scenario.

I have never run a Scenario Building activity before. Would appreciate if you could share:

a. A process for how to run it
b. Tips/Techniques
c. Do’s/Don’ts
d. Any other advice/input

Thanks in advance!

Gurprriet Siingh

THE ANSWER: The ‘highly matrixed structure’ you describe, Gurprriet, is in fact one small subset of a much more complex environment in which this management team will perform — and that is the Networked World. Because of the fluid, incredibly complex nature of these networks-within-networks, it is both impractical and impossible to run scenarios that can accurately predict any particular outcome. By the time you have created the scenario, run the scenario, analyzed the outcomes, then ratified and codified the outcomes, the environment will have changed, rendering the results irrelevant and passe’.

So what does Gurprriet Siingh do? The esteemed Mr. Siingh teaches his management team how to improvise! Improvisation techniques enable any team of collaborators like your management team to arrive at spontaneous and original solutions to problems. These techniques, developed over the past eighty years, invite full and authentic participation by all the players, honor individual contributions while respecting the group dynamic, and explore themes that are consistent with the organization’s brand.

Do not try to anticipate ’scenarios that will arise in the future’. Instead, focus on shared objectives, and, using improvisation techniques, give your group the confidence in their ability to collaborate successfully no matter what scenario arises. It is not a group’s ability to perform in expected ways that generates wealth…it is a group’s ability to perform in phenomenal and anticipated ways that brings fresh perspectives and fresh value to the brand.

Do ave the group study the first 100 pages of Viola Spolin’s book Improvisation for the Theater. There are also many other worthwhile books about improvisation in business, including my own, GameChangers — Improvisation for Business in the Networked World, but Spolin’s book is where it all begins. The tips and techniques in these books will change the way your team views the very nature of work, and how wealth is created in the new edge economies.

Do begin with the fundamentals of improvisation — games and exercises that break communication down to its most elemental levels. Do encourage the team to communicate on three levels — Cosmetic, Emotional and Meta. Do create an environment for learning rather than trying to teach anything specific. Don’t script. Don’t judge. Don’t try to do it yourself — bring in an improvisation coach or theater director to help you! d. Be playful, but be serious about it. People can have fun and learn a lot at the same time. Good luck!