PEST Analysis is a futurospective activity that helps a group of people better understand the Political, Economics, Social and Technological factors and how they impact in their business in the future. It is typically used for a team strategic planning.
Running the activity:
- Draw the four areas on the board: Political, Economics, Social and Technological
- Explain each area:
- Political: What is the political situation? how can it affect us?
- Economics: What are the prevalent economic factors?
- Social: What are the determinant social attitudes, trends, and behaviors? How much does these affect us?
- Technological: What technological advances and innovations we should be looking at?
- Give the team time to write down notes for those areas.
- Group discussion.
I have learned this activity from my colleague Matheus Tait. It is very useful for fostering strategic conversations and aligning leadership teams on very important aspects for a business. The activity is based on the PEST analysis.
A common variation is to add Legal and Environmental factors, converting it from PEST analysis to PESTLE analysis.
- Legal: What are the legal factors, limitations or upcoming changes that affect our ability to operate?
- Environmental: How might environmental changes help or hinder our strategy?
Remote-team advice: This activity works well for remote teams. Use a remote board of your choice.