Introducing Foresight

Some pre-requisites to know about before you start using foresight.

Recognising the need for foresight is unlikely to emerge from routine and embedded strategic planning processes where the status quo is being maintained implicitly. A trigger to force the introduction of foresight in organisations is useful and this is one time when a crisis may be a good thing. When existing ways of making decisions or dealing with change fail, people are often more open to thinking about new ways of doing things. Without a crisis, the invitation to enter an organisation to use foresight usually comes because one person understands its value and has convinced the organisation to ‘give it a go.’ This doesn’t mean that the organisation is ready for foresight and that there is support for its use. The door is open however, and that is enough to get started.

Here are a few lessons that I learned during my 20 years of applying foresight in organisations.

Support from the Top

Support from the CEO is a prerequisite when introducing foresight. As a strategic activity, foresight…