When was the last time you and your team laid out the future threats and opportunities to your organization along a simple set of time horizons? Let’s say, something as simple as Near-Term, Mid-Term, and Long-Term? Have you done that recently?
There’s a curious thing that trained futurists will often note when working with clients. When teams first do this simple exercise, it’s common to see a number of issues in the Near-Term, a smaller number in the Mid-Term, and maybe one or two in the Long-Term. This is curious simply because, conceptually, there are obviously far more possible threats and opportunities over the mid- and long-term than there can be in the short term. It’s curious, and of course completely understandable.
The “future” is an expanding range of possibilities. The further out we are thinking, the more possibilities there are. Good foresight is partly about looking out beyond the immediate, beyond those issues we have already identified. Ideally, your team’s array of future threats and opportunities is a little long-term heavy, or at the very least a bit more balanced from near-term to long-term.
Is it time to rebalance your team’s view of the future threats and opportunities for your organization? If it is, then reach out to us and we can discuss mapping more of the emerging landscape of the future with you.
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