Red Teaming

Overview

Red Teaming is a technique used by militaries and intelligence agencies to stress-test the underlying assumptions in a plan or strategy. The essence of it is to attempt to see a problem or issue from the perspective or a competitor or customer and thereby cast a different light on the issue.  

Red Teaming does not have to be a labour intensive exercise or require a significant commitment of time and effort.  Its success will largely be determined by set-up and facilitation; it can have a benefit disproportionate to the commitment of resource.

Exact delivery is highly sensitive to the specific client brief but is likely to involve some or all of:

• Scene setting and methodology
• Applied phase
• Review

Essential Details

Who’s it for: Teams working on major strategic or planning initiatives

Time: 1-2 days, dependent on context and client brief

Benefits:

• Stress-test the underlying assumptions in a plan.
• Simulate high-consequence decisions in a low-risk environment.
• Identify knowledge gaps, new risks and further actions required.
• Better understand the wider context of actions, and thereby synchronise activities and make better collective decisions in the allocation of scarce shared resources.