By using the future as a starting point for strategy work, decision-making is based on future possibilities and alternatives - not just on what has worked in the past. Forward-looking strategy work makes the strategy more sustainable.
Book a debate on the role of the future in your strategy work.
Strategic choices are made that will have an impact for years to come. If a strategy is built too heavily on the present and on historical knowledge, it may prove fragile as the environment changes. Decision-making based on the future is inherently stronger than decision-making based only on what has worked in the past.
Future as a starting point for strategy work means systematically examining decisions in relation to different possible futures, making visible the assumptions on which the strategy is based and consciously building the desired future.
Looking to the future as a starting point for strategy work does not mean passive preparedness, but conscious direction. It reinforces the ability to influence the future the organisation is building. Through strategic choices based on an understanding of the future, an organisation can steer development, take advantage of disruption and build competitive advantage before others. Foresight provides the necessary perspective and a common language.
Forward-looking strategy work helps:
In this way, the strategy does not remain reactive, but acts as an active tool to set a direction.
Each strategy is based on assumptions about how the environment will evolve: what customers will be like in the future, how markets will work, and what technology or regulation will drive business. But often these assumptions remain implicit.
Future as a starting point for strategy work means making strategic assumptions visible and daring to challenge them. Foresight helps to ask questions:
This improves the sustainability of the strategy and reduces the risk of building the future on too narrow a vision.
Scenarios are a key tool for forward-looking strategy work. They do not offer a prediction of what will happen, but alternative and plausible descriptions of future worlds.
Scenarios can be used to identify strategic issues, opportunities and threats even before the strategy is formulated. Once the strategy is in place, scenarios are an effective way to test its performance in different possible futures and to strengthen the organisation's preparedness for the future. Scenarios are also a good way of outlining what kind of future the organisation wants to be creating and what needs to be done to get there.
Scenarios allow strategic decisions to be considered in different futures:
In this way, scenarios support decision-making when there is no certainty and help you make bold but informed choices.
By taking the future as a starting point for strategy work, the strategy is not just based on what has been true, but on what can be true. This makes for better quality decision-making, more sustainable choices and a genuinely forward-looking strategy.
Strategic foresight helps organisations make better decisions in a world where uncertainty is a permanent feature of the business environment.
Constant anticipation keeps your business alert to change. It brings future knowledge into everyday thinking and decision-making.
The review helps ensure that decision-making is based on an up-to-date understanding of the environment, not on outdated assumptions.
Forward-looking sales combines foresight and sales work. It helps sales to stand out, make an impact and build long-lasting customer relationships.
