THE FRAMEWORK

A workflow you can plan with.
A game you can argue with.

Neither promises to solve wicked problems. Both help you work inside them — reflexively, with stakeholders at the centre, and with the standing question built in: what if we're wrong?

Framework and model are the same system —
this page explains it; the model lets you test it.


01 — THE WHAT IF WORKFLOW

The What If workflow

Linear if-then logic models assume the world holds still. It doesn't. The What If workflow replaces prediction with reflexive scenario-thinking across four temporal phases.

T0
Map

Baseline & strategy

Map stakeholders, surface assumptions, identify paradoxes — then plan to navigate them, not erase them.

T1
Watch

Short-term signals

Monitor immediate responses with openness to surprise. Document what you didn't expect.

T2
Read

Mid-term patterns

Read evolving trends and stakeholder shifts — including the patterns that contradict each other.

T3
Reckon

Impact & value

Distinguish what changed (social impact) from what it meant to those affected (social value).

Organisation inside-out
  • purpose
  • capabilities
  • culture
  • decisions
outside-in  → ←  inside-out
Stakeholders outside-in
  • publics
  • partners
  • society
  • ecosystem

Good strategy works both ways. Check your assumptions. Test your alignment.

02 — THE MODEL

The same system, working.

Not a second framework — the framework, made operable. It opens on its own screen so there is room to work: put a real problem through T0–T3, test your assumptions, and take the record away with you.


Read the peer-reviewed article: “A metamodern public relations workflow for the polycrisis” — Public Relations Review (2025)