I am pleased to have achieved my certification as a Foresight Practitioner at the Institute for the Future, USA. It was something I have wanted to do for some time and the ‘stars aligned’. The ability to look beyond just the ‘now’, to the ‘future’ and gain insight is critical to ensuring you are responding appropriately to the ‘next’. In their model, Prepare, Foresight, Insight, Action. I am hoping to bring my extended portfolio of tools and practices to the organisations and people I work with to expand their foresight and strategic thinking. For more information about the Institute for the Future please click on https://www.iftf.org/home/
A little bit about IFTF. It has been around for over 50 years, and was formed as a Not-For-Profit ‘…by spinoff from RAND Corporation with original support from the Ford Foundation. The founding articles of incorporation state that “it is imperative that society acquire the necessary tools, methods and research capabilities to identify and cope with socio-economic questions before they become tomorrow’s critical problems.” This was a revolutionary call-to-action at a tumultuous time in history—a call for a more rigorous systems approach to the future that would help people find agency in their own expertise to be better prepared in uncertain times.
IFTF is the world's oldest continuously running futures research and educational organisation. They believe people can harness the power of “if”—the power of imagination to awaken a sense of agency in their future and drive change in themselves and their organizations—and our tools and programs are designed for exactly that.’
This course was run for the Asia Pacific time zone, which I was immensely grateful for. It was very well paced, thought-provoking, packed with evidence-based research and well-structured education method for adult learners. The program was run over six weeks, with at least two online sessions weekly that were highly interactive. One session being an hour or so, the main session being 4+ hours. There was homework, about 2+ hours a week, more if you wanted more depth in the field of strategic foresight.
The team was lead by Lyn Jeffery, https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynjeffery/ who is the Director of the Foresight Essentials program. I was exceptionally impressed by her knowledge, insight, understanding and humility. The other members of the course faculty included Quinault Childs, https://www.linkedin.com/in/quinaultc/, Research Director, equally talented; Lir Wang, https://www.linkedin.com/in/chengtongwang/ Research Manager, and the local amazing Aussie, Sami Mäkeläinen https://www.linkedin.com/in/smakelainen/ IFTF Research Affliate, with key support from Andy and Amber from IFTF as well. So as you can see, for a course of 18 participants we were very well supported.
In addition to the course materials there was additional information in the Recommended Reading list comprising articles, books, journals, detailed methods and videos. I’ve learnt so much just from the recommended readings alone. I will do some reviews of the books, and articles, though I’m still getting through them.
The books I would recommend for all of you in leadership roles are:
The Nature of the Future, Marina Gorbis
Leaders Make the Future, Bob Johansen
The New Leadership Literacies, Bob Johanse
Get There Early, Bob Johansen
Full-Spectrum Thinking, Bob Johansen
Reality is Broken, Jane McGonigal
The Second Curve, Ian Morrison
Imaginable, Jane McGonigal
These books have changed my understanding, leadership practice, strategy, and strategic foresight.
Foresight, in my understanding, is like a sequence of work that generates advanced scenario analysis and works back to what you need to do today in response to the insights you generate from future scenarios. The work of foresight is not to predict the future; far from it. Bob Johansen says in “Full Spectrum Thinking”, and I paraphrase, ‘If someone tells you they can predict the future, don’t believe them! Particularly if they are from Silicon Valley.’ which is where IFTF is based. The intent of strategic foresight is to use an evidence-based approach to imagine a number of different future scenarios based in reality and fact, internally consistent and taking practical steps today to address those futures, whether they be positive scenarios we want or negative scenarios we want to avoid.
I was pleasantly surprised by the use of data and evidence to generate these future scenarios and the methods and tools utilised in this process. For standard strategic planning, foresight is a complementary tool. It doesn’t replace it; it only adds to the richness.
Chat GPT summarises it quicker than I can… Strategic foresight is a systematic approach to anticipating and preparing for potential future events, trends, and developments that may impact an organization, industry, or society. It involves using a combination of research, data analysis, creativity, and critical thinking to identify potential scenarios, challenges, and opportunities that may arise in the future. The primary goal of strategic foresight is to enable organizations to make informed decisions and develop long-term plans that are resilient to change and uncertainty.
Strategic foresight is not about predicting the future; rather, it's about exploring a range of possible futures and understanding their implications on the organization or society. By doing this, organizations can proactively shape their future rather than merely reacting to external events as they occur.
Some of the key elements of strategic foresight include:
Environmental scanning: Gathering information and data about the external environment, including social, technological, economic, environmental, and political factors, to identify trends, events, and emerging issues that may affect the organization in the future.
Scenario planning: Developing various future scenarios based on identified trends, uncertainties, and driving forces. These scenarios can help organizations understand the potential implications of different situations and prepare appropriate strategies and responses.
Visioning: Creating a clear and inspiring vision of the desired future state for the organization, which can help guide decision-making and strategy development.
Strategy development: Using the insights gained from foresight activities to develop strategies and plans that align with the organization's vision and goals while remaining flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances.
Monitoring and evaluation: Regularly reviewing and updating the organization's foresight activities to ensure they remain relevant and useful in guiding strategic decision-making.
Overall, strategic foresight is a valuable tool for organizations to proactively navigate change and uncertainty, build resilience, and create a sustainable competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving world.
I learnt a heap, it generated a lot of questions for me, and I have only begun to apply some of these advanced skills. Looking forward to the journey and the future. To the IFTF team, a big thank you and I hope our paths continue to grow…. how about a second associate in Australia? :D