Future scenarios for Vechtdal Wonen

In 2023 we were just emerging from the pandemic, in the middle of the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, with the world in turmoil and unrest and unease brewing in Dutch society. How quickly the world can change was made painfully clear. Housing corporation Vechtdal Wonen faced the task of drawing up a new Corporate Plan in this uncertain context. How do you make a stable, good contribution to the region's housing and societal tasks when the world around you is so changeable? How do you make a robust plan for the future? And how do you take your staff and your stakeholders along in that process?

Jester Strategy supported a team from Vechtdal Wonen in developing external future scenarios: extreme pictures of what the world around Vechtdal could look like in 2030. These scenarios were first used at the annual staff gathering to facilitate the conversation about the future. The scenarios were then used for a broad stakeholder session. Both sessions produced all kinds of interesting ideas, many of which were included in drawing up the Corporate Plan. Once the Corporate Plan was ready, the scenarios were also used by the management team and the Supervisory Board to stress-test the end result on future-readiness and make it sharper and more robust.