Preface

In our fast-changing world, and in the best of times, annual business planning can feel like betting on a game of roulette. Landing on all the desired outcomes a year later carries long odds.

In the midst of an ongoing global pandemic, business planning covering 12 months into the future takes on an air of unreality. Perhaps not since the last global public health crisis a century ago have operations been so at the mercy of externalities beyond any one organization’s control.

Third waves, variants, vaccine nationalism, supply chain issues: there is no limit to the uncertainty accompanying the fight against COVID-19. A year into dealing with the pandemic, we don’t have enough letters in the alphabet to label all the Plan Bs.

Yet without a business plan, there is no roadmap to the desired future state, no signposts of success in meeting annual goals. Even if the route has to be constantly revised, or the outcomes recast to reflect new realities, a well-crafted business plan provides an operational touchstone through the year.

Today, more than ever, business planning must consider the depth of agility, flexibility and resilience required to navigate the year ahead. And all of that has to be accompanied by a dose of humility about the ability to predict the future.

Here is an excerpt from the 2020-2021 Business Plan, prepared two months after the onset of the pandemic in Ontario:

As this is being written, the gradual reopening of Ontario businesses and services has begun as new infections decline. The government is slowly expanding the list of what can be offered in a variety of in-person formats. Postsecondary education has not yet been given permission to return to campus, but we expect a positive decision soon.

At that moment, talk of a second wave in the fall was muted by the hope that we could strike that fine balance between freedom of movement and infection control in a return to some semblance of normalcy. We lost that battle, badly. However, as this is being written, optimistic talk about a better summer and a more open fall are punching through the extended gloom of a locked down winter.

Have we learned the lesson of the second wave? Seneca has.

Welcome to Challenge Accepted: The Sequel.