The management team and forward thinking - how to look to the future

Tuesday at 8.15 a.m. The Steering Group meets. Calendars are full. Coffee is cooling in the mug. Production and financial figures are reviewed, sales forecasts are updated, one acute major customer complaint demands attention and takes up more than half the meeting time.

Everything is important and urgent. At some point, however, a small question may arise: are we still talking about as a management team the future, or just yesterday's and today's fires?

In many organisations, the management team focuses on day-to-day operations. At the same time forward thinking takes a back seat, even though it is the key to long-term success.

Why does the management team need forward thinking?

The traditional management team focuses on efficiency:

• How do we achieve our goals here and now?
• How do we improve performance here and now?
• How do we ensure implementation here and now?

All critically important, but in a changing world this is no longer enough. According to studies companies using strategic foresight are 33% more profitable and grow 200% more than the average company.

Forward thinking brings a new dimension of profitable growth to the management team - the ability to identify changes early, the ability to react before competitors and the courage to make decisions in the face of uncertainty.

Future thinking as part of the work of the management team

Forward thinking is not about making predictions, but about thinking and identifying what needs to be done to ensure current and future success, regardless of the future (scenarios).

Forward thinking can mean, among other things, identifying and acknowledging different scenarios and assumptions, i.e. the management team stops to ask questions:

• What are we not yet seeing in world development?
• What do we take for granted?
• What if we are wrong?

When forward thinking becomes part of management team work, discussions deepen and move from reactive to proactive, decision making improves, and strategic management will be strengthened.

Scenario work as a tool for the management team

Scenario work, which is one aspect of strategic foresight, helps to prepare for several futures.

For example, the management team can build three scenarios:

• Optimistic developments
• Realistic development
• Challenging developments

For each scenario, we stop to think about the future and reflect:

• What does this mean for our business/how will it affect us?
• What do we need to do now to ensure future success?
• What kind of work is needed, despite future developments?

A practical model for a proactive management team

Set aside 15-30 minutes for the future for each management team, as well as longer moments, e.g. quarterly or bi-annually.
Discuss the agenda through 70-80 % forward (forward thinking). Make strategic foresight, such as scenario work with a professional and link the identified impacts to (strategic) decisions.

A successful management team does not just focus on the present, but actively builds for the future.

Is your management team the place where the future is created or the place where it is reacted to?

New formula for profitable growth = forward thinking + doing!