For an organisation to grow rapidly, Futurecasting is necessary to ensure its people are moving towards a common purpose. It is the foundation for innovation, creativity and imagination, and if done well it can open the door to new opportunity, new markets and better growth results.
A recent study conducted by the Institute for the Future in the United States, found that for most people, the hurdle of future thinking is too difficult to consider. The study found that 53% of Americans rarely or never think about the future. 21% reported imagining their future less than once a year, while 32% said it never crosses their mind. Similarly, future casting to 10 years from now is only thought about less than once a year by 19% of respondents.
If you asked most people “what do you want” the answer is usually “I don’t know”. The reason is that understanding what you want deep down is challenging, it involves our values, beliefs, and experiences, which contribute to what we want. If there is any inkling that it’s not right for us, then we will work against ourselves, ultimately never achieving our goals. A vision has to be accepted, appreciated and moved towards through every intention.
If the vision is intrinsic to the organisation’s strengths, then it will need less energy to move towards it. So, it’s important that the process includes the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation, departments/teams and the individuals.
Removing friction is to remove the obstacles that stand in the organisations path towards the vision. Friction can be internally in the offering, communication, operational systems and processes, or amongst employees. An offering issue could be something to this affect eg. If the price of the products and service don’t’ meet the consumer value, then acquiring customers will take more energy and education, therefore creating friction.
Strategic planning needs to be ongoing to ensure that the organisation has set and reviewed the goals necessary to move towards the vision and reduces the energy going off on tangents.
Successful planning needs to incorporate corporate culture. Culture bonds the organisations people, departments and teams, helping them to belong to an idea far greater than themselves. If the culture is identified and it becomes deeply engrained in the people, then it can influence our approach, attitude and behaviours which helps improve personal satisfaction and in turn improved performance.
Our team can empower you to realise your organisations true potential through futurecasting, create internal synergy with a focussed vision and open the doors to new markets and new revenue opportunities.
