Aim
The ultimate aim of using strategic foresight to advantage is to provide challenging visions of alternative futures which can be acted upon today in order to shape the best possible tomorrow.

Engagement
Strategic foresight programs and projects might mean:

• a single person working on a particular issue
• a team constructing an organizational strategic plan
• systematized organizational trend spotting and action planning
• groups of organizations undertaking large-scale enquiries

Needs range from addressing specific one-off challenges or focusing on delivering continuous intelligence and strategic thinking to provide agility and resilience in the face of increasing uncertainty.

Common objectives
While the aims and goals of each individual programmeprogram or project may differ, they all share certain common objectives.

• challenging existing assumptions and paradigms
• developing new visions, values, strategies
• informing decision making
• expanding collaborative planning
• increasing organisationalorganizational foresight capabilities

They are delivered using systematic thinking frameworks.


Driving forces
They typically examine all the global, regional, and/or national driving forces associated with making organisationalorganizational decisions including:

• political
• economic
• social
• technological
• legal
• environmental
  
  

Action oriented
Excellent Foresight programmesprograms and projects are:

• action-oriented
• open to alternative futures
• collaborative
• Interdisciplinary
• multi-dimensional, not mono-polar

A Foresight programmeprogram or project must have all these elements to create the best assessment of "what’s next?" and "how to cope with it?"


Further reference

• Are you fit for tomorrow?
• Case Studies
• Discover the Future

Next: Future Assumptions Back: Futures Outcomes To: Shaping Tomorrow

Copyright: Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.