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Hard to believe it’s almost a decade since I wrote my dissertation on The Role of an Organizational Futurist in Integrating Foresight into Organizations. I teach the ideas at the University of Houston Foresight program. And I still occasionally do consulting work on this topic for organizations. I had a nice conversation on the topic with Maggie Grayson, one of our friends of foresight. We were talking about the initial set-up. She was thinking about how to help the champions of futurists. They “bring in” foresight because they see a need, but they are typically a bit fuzzy on what to expect. My work primarily focused on the futurists themselves; what should they “promise” to the sponsors. [BTW, I think focusing on advising the champions is a really innovative and cool idea]. Two things to share:
- Basic set-up ideas for the conversation on what to expect in general
I shared some of the basic set-up ideas from Let’s Talk about Success: A Proposed Foresight Outcomes Framework for Organizational Futurists. We offer up three main foresight outcomes that we can deliver on.
- Learning: We can guarantee they will become more informed about the future
- Deciding: We can help make more informed decisions about the future
- Acting: We can help implement actions regarding the future
The outcomes conversation can be tailored to align with the interest of the champion. Let’s say the champion wanted to “make better decisions about the future.” The table gives some examples.
- In your back pocket …
My sense was the champions would have some specific expectations. I want you to develop a future strategy, future-oriented innovation concepts, train my leaders to be better future thinkers, etc. The futurist should indeed deliver on this. No question. BUT, I think the futurist has to bring or develop some ideas or even an agenda of their own. You are the expert on the future. You, to some degree, will know what they need regarding the future better than they do. So, don’t wait to be told to do what you know they should do. Do it! It may take some time to figure out your agenda. You have to sniff around and see what’s happening in the organization and look for your opportunities. Don’t forget to deliver on what’s asked, but don’t forget that in almost all cases you will know more than your champion does and don’t be afraid to leverage that . – Andy Hines
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