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Team-based forecasting

Overview

Use the team-based forecasting when your view of the future is fairly certain. Responding to corporate guidance, the team needs to motivate its group, focus on your customers and align around a specific goals. Each year, you update your assessments, forecast for the next few years, and prioritize to prepare your budget.

If you see the market changing quickly, you reconvene, adapt and shift resources. You want you key players to be able to manage their organizations with a comprehensive understanding of where the business his headed in the future.

Your view of the future is clear. The key players and one or two highly innovative folks are on the team. The issues are first, how much stretch is needed and if things don't go well, when does the team need to step back and rethink the strategy. The planning horizon usually includes expensive, capital improvements.

You want everyone to understand big picture and their role in it. You want to present your strategic focus with a few key ideas, to motivate and inspire.

Most government strategic planning - local, state and federal - is team-based forecasting.

Skip ahead to go to the Meeting Chapter for process details.