Decision-Making: Impact Over Time
This template supports individuals and teams to create transparency on the impact of decisions on people, planet, prosperity to make a sustainable decision by fostering a big picture understanding of their environment and dependencies.
Why
Futureproof your decision today. Resilient teams and organizations are the key to success – and so are their decisions. Enable a collaborative process, bring in every perspective and expertise, and take the decision co-creatively.
Angles & perspectives
In order to create the full picture overview it is crucial to understand implications, including pros and cons, on as many levels and stakeholders as possible. Therefore, two main angles are incorporated into this template.
Time & opportunity cost
What would be the result if you did not take this decision? Are there historic decisions made that now lead to the situation you are currently deciding about? Same for today and the near future, but also looking ahead into the mid- and long-term future. This is why the core of the template consists of these three views:
Historic view or opportunity cost 🕒
Today and immediate effect 🔥
Mid- and long-term future 🔜
Impact areas
Looking at the decision from multiple angles and its (potential) impact and resulting consequences is something to incorporate and to be prepared for. The template brings some general key elements to the table:
People 🧑🤝🧑 (e.g. your team, communities, clients)
Planet 🌎 (e.g. environment, guidelines, laws, regulations)
Prosperity 💼 (e.g. profit & business)
How to Use
Filling every element provided by yourself might be hard or impossible. Use this as a conversation-starter with your team-members and incorporate experts for a field. Come back to the board once you have taken the decision to recap in retrospective if all gathered data, assumptions, and impact is developing as expected.
Stay lean and agile in your actions and decision-making as the big picture will develop over time and come back to adjust.
Tips
You can adjust the perspectives to your needs. Add or remove parameters based on your needs.
Combine this with Futures Thinking for best results.
Bring experts to the table.
Collaborate. Co-create.
Take your time filling in information. Update it during your learning process.