What I learned by Attending a Course on Futures Thinking

What is futures thinking and why is it important?

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the term “Futures Thinking”?

The image that I thought off when this term was thrown around back in policy school was a group of nerds gathered in a room trying to predict the future while randomly spewing out crazy predictions filled with your favorite sci-fi references that would fit perfectly in a Black Mirror episode.

In hindsight, I think I actually got it half right. The OECD defines the field of futures thinking as…

In simple English, futures thinking is a method to predict what could happen in the future using multiple tools and techniques.

Wait a minute… isn’t that what strategic plans are for? Don’t we all think about the future when drafting our annual business plans?

As someone who’s spent the last decade translating strategy into implementable action plans, the idea of “imagining the future” seemed like complete fluff to me.

To get some answers, I enrolled in a four-day program on futures thinking and boy was it an eye-opening experience for me.

Over the course of the program, we were taught a host of practical tools and techniques by a team of expert foresight practitioners (yup, that’s what they call themselves), who also shared with us their experiences in implementing futures thinking projects in the public and private sectors.

Aside from learning a host of new foresight tools and techniques, I left the program with four specific takeaways.

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