Foresight projects are almost always collaborative. Maximizing the breadth and depth of inputs to a project or program and communicating the outcomes successfully to all stakeholders is an essential ingredient for success.

Stakeholder engagement
Active, widespread, and highly valued involvement of the various stakeholders throughout the project or program will bring enormous learning and heighten the possibility for a hugely successful outcome.

High and continuous participation is a determining factor in the final outcome.

The more stakeholders are engaged in steering the project or program from the agreement of objectives, through the planning of activities, to the determining of methodologies to be adopted, the management of operations and the dissemination of results, the better. This enhances the results of Foresight projects and programs because it gives stakeholders a sense of ownership. The more actively they engage with the process the more likely they will use the analysis and results to choose the most appropriate actions to prepare for the future.

Organization-wide consultation during certain phases of the process, where instruments, such as panels, forums, questionnaires, workshops, and public meetings, are used is important to:

• get "out of the box" thinking
• enhance the visibility of the exercise
• avoid domination by any one particular group
  
• confer wider ownership over the outputs of the exercise
  
  
  
  

One highly effective way to inspire and engage stakeholders is through asking two simple, and open-ended, questions (Competing for the Future, Prahalad & Hamal 1994):

• How will the future be different?
• What should we be doing about it?

Making this anoynmous and continuous, and encouraging every stakeholder from the cleaner to the executive and your suppliers to your shareholders, will reveal many previously hidden signals of change, cheaply and efficiently. And, other benefits can be achieved such as:

• knowing people's fears and doubts ahead of communicating strategy
• conducting further prioritization rounds of questioning using Delphi survey techniques
• demonstrating to your Board the wide consultation that has taken place

[This process is essentially an internal scan of your organization, and complements what you already know about organizational processes and culture. The analysis of this data is critical, and requires someone who can synthesise a large amount of qualitative data and prepare a report that identifies common patterns, themes, and issues of concern to staff.

Never underestimate the power of the online survey as a scanning tool, and never underestimate your staff – the quality of responses is usually high and provides some clear indications of what matters to staff. This provides you with signals about what you need to pay attention to in your strategy development process, to help ensure its successful implementation. (Of course, what matters to staff may not necessarily be a critical issue for your strategy exercise, but explore and address these concerns before dismissing them). Source: "Environmental Scanning: What It Is and How To Do It," Maree Conway, 2009.

Challenges
Challenges you are likely to meet when running a Foresight project or program include:

• ongoing communication
• inspiring, engaging, enabling participants
• achieving targets
• continuously adapting to new opportunities and risks
• disseminating and maximising the learning
• interacting with stakeholders
• communicating outcomes and processes

Communicating the project or program
To promote the project or program it is useful to have a continuously updated public website. We can provide an out-of-the-box solution for you. Just contact us using the free-form message below.

Another method to communicate the project would be a well designed brochure, or overview, describing the main features of the project or program such as the objectives, approach, expected outcomes, etc., early on. The brochure, or overview, could, for instance, be based on the scoping document that is produced during the design phase.

Various tools can also be used to promote the exercise such as:

• publications and traditional communication tools (database, flyer, newsletters, etc.)
• forums and participatory events (hearings, seminars, conferences, workshops, meetings, etc.)

Many of these are integral to this website.

Further reference

• Social Network

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