ABSTRACT

The purpose of a Workshop is often to achieve shared agreement on the nature of a plan. This may be a longer-term strategy in broad terms, a very complex Business Plan, or simply a few steps that the team wish to take to address a more immediate challenge. In any event, it is sensible to begin by considering anything that is going on that could have an influence on the plan, or which could affect decisions about what goes into the plan. This chapter provides several tools that enable the facilitator to set the scene for plans and decisions. They are taken from the conventional literature about good planning, management and decision-making. The chapter presents several diagrams and models that often lend themselves to discussions by groups at a Workshop. Use PEST alongside other Strategic Thinking Tools, for example, 'Stakeholders and their expectations', so that plans that emerge are based on a shared agreement of the facts of the situation.