What are the knowns and the unknowns?

“We don’t know what we don’t know” can be attributed to Donald Rumsfeld who was United States Secretary of Defense a few moons ago.

The above statement may be true, but it is good to determine initially at least what we do know, what we can assume and what are the unknowns that will affect our decision making and direction of travel when writing a strategy.

I developed this question shortly after COVID with a series of organisations who were in different phases of recovery. Everybody had been in reaction mode for a good few months and the uncertainty of everything was in danger of creating a paralysis for forward thinking and being proactive.

This question helped the organisations I worked with to unpick what was assumption or fear, and what was reality. When you see something as reality rather than an assumption, it is easier to do something about it. And in the years after that, these questions are still relevant.

The knowns

A community charity might notice that there is a % rise in the people they work with using foodbanks. On the plus side there has been a % rise volunteers signing up to work with them.

It might know that it has 7 months left of funding, and two staff are retiring in three months time.

A food business might reflect that there is a % decrease in sales, with customers spending longer in the facility but buying less.

Recruitment has struggled difficult since COVID.

The point of this question is to allow everybody to input their own knowledge, and to build the foundations of a strategy based on fact. It helps to illustrate the environment as it is now and to help understand what pitfalls or highs might be on the road map.

The unknowns

Will there be another lock down? Will there be more or less sector specific funding? What will the government priorities be over the next five years? What does the post COVID world look like? What continued effects might Brexit have?

The point of this question is to leave it hanging, not to try and solve it. There will always be uncertainties and its good to voice them.

These might be the pot holes on the roadmap, but at least if they are highlighted they are less cavernous pot holes and diversions could be built on the way.