Events
Understanding the role of Futures work in Strategic Planning
Thursday 3 November 2011
Most organisations appreciate, if not understand that the process of Strategic Planning has little to do with the document that is the final 'output' of the planning process, and much more to do with the thinking that developed the plan and the execution of the stated intentions contained within the plan. The hundreds of organisations that have attended our Strategic Planning workshops understand explicitly that the 'plan' is merely a capture of the concise thoughts that have emerged in thinking about how the organisation will move closer to its stated Vision - the future it wants to have or create. Yet a single challenge remains - how do you tie Futures Thinking to the Strategic Planning process?
Answering this question is simple enough though the application of the answer requires far more effort. First up, let me remind past workshop participants of one of our core slides - an organisation's leadership team has NO RIGHT to expend ANY of the organisation's resources on any activity that is not deliberately aligned to moving an organisation towards that organisation's desired future.
This requirement places front and centre, the need for any business to think about the type of future it wants to have. There are a myriad of tools to assist you in thinking about the future - scenarios, Visioning; Emerging Issues Analysis and many, many more.
But to connect Futures thinking to Strategic Planning, some core steps are recommended:
First - Look around. Conduct a thorough and grounded Environmental Scan to gain insight into current and emerging signals of change and stability
Second - question your assumptions. We all make them, but if your assumptions aren't valid, your expectations of the future will not be met. Scenarios, Causal Layered Analysis, Porters Five Forces and other methods will help you test your assumptions and therein build a more effective understanding of potential
Third - Put a line in the sand. If you know what you want for your future, set a date for when you will have it. This creates the energy inside your organisation to drive toward the type of future you would prefer to have, or feel you need to create
Fourth - Backcast from then, to now. The SINGLE BIGGEST step missed by most organisations undertaking futures work is Backcasting. This is the phase that links your futures work to your operational outputs highlighted in your Strategic Plan. Without Backcasting, your futures work will remain theory at best and your Strategic Plan will not take into account, your future assessment
Five - maintain ongoing awareness of progress by seeking out signals for change and signals of your organisation moving forward.
Undertake those five steps and you'll leverage the benefits of Futures Thinking into your Strategic Planning
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Events
Monday 2 April 2012
We recently held a Strategic Planning session just out of Christchurch in Lansdowne in New Zealand on the 31st of March. Many of us had a chance to spend some time in Christchurch and look at the sad state of the city only a year on from the devastating earthquake. There's still much to do and both civil and strategic planning is high on the agenda of businesses across the region.
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Monday 30 January 2012
I've had a good opportunity to study all sorts of organisations up close and personal so take this as one person's informed view as to the barriers to getting change to happen and to stick. There's lots of talk about internal competencies, about getting people on board, about clear direction and good communication of what is planned. But in the end my experience working across industry sectors leads me to pick one, above all other barriers to change - permission.
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Thursday 19 January 2012
Founder of The Australian Strategic Planning Institute and Director of Looking Up Feeling Good, Marcus Barber has written an article highlighting the commonalities across doing well and doing poorly organisations which you can download for free via this link:
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