Future Thinking: designing your own story is possible!

Spending lines commenting on the speed of reality, the speed at which changes happen, and the unpredictability of what may happen, would be spinning around something that everybody already knows and strives to face every day.

That is why this time, we want to focus on proposing a tool to deal with that context.

What would you think if we told you that the success of your company depends on the way you and your teams face that volatility, that uncertainty, that complexity?

We want to bring Future Thinking to the table because we are certain that it is an important tool  to take your company to the next level. 🚀

What do we mean when we talk about Future Thinking?

The future does not exist…

Don’t be scared! We don’t have such an apocalyptic vision 😅. What we mean is that the future is not yet determined. This means that it depends on the decisions we make in the present and the design we make of it.

That’s where the proposal of future thinking comes in: the future is not a unique, linear, and much less predetermined thing. This prospective view invites us to consider the future as if it were something multiple and open, and that, therefore, we can build.

Having a future open to a wide range that encompasses numerous possible futures, it would be a waste not to try to design the future we want. Don’t you think so? 🤩

Leaving reaction behind, moving to action

Attending to the roller coaster that the last years have been at the local, regional, and global level (which implies life in general), we got used to reacting (or even passively waiting) to changes, managing crises, putting temporary patches; thinking all the time about urgencies, and leaving the future aside.

But if we want to avoid the obligation to be permanently managing the urgent, it is absolutely necessary to develop the culture of anticipation.

The prospective vision implies abandoning states of passivity and reactivity, and replacing them with a state of proactivity that involves not only preparing for changes but also acting to provoke the changes we desire. 💪🏼

For those of us who adopt this perspective, it is not enough to describe or predict the future, but we seek to have an active role in the transformation.

Future Thinking 

Like any process, Future Thinking can be divided into different phases:

• Exploration and Diagnosis Phase: this instance involves analyzing and exploring signals and trends in the present that may indicate the different probable future scenarios.
• Futurization Phase: creative process to imagine possible futures. Once we detect all those future indicators, we have more tools to imagine possible futures. Contemplating all the options helps us prepare for both positive and not so positive changes.
• Design Phase: moment  of co-creation. Now, taking into account the explored future alternatives, it is time to distinguish which future is desirable for my organization. While we prepare for all possible futures, we put our energy, tools, and willingness into building the path that leads us to achieving the one we desire.

Why is Future Thinking important for companies?

For any organization seeking to be successful, we consider it essential to take on the mindset of Future Thinking in order to:

• Anticipate changes and not be surprised by them.
• Make thoughtful and balanced transitions.
• Provoke desired changes.
• Have an active role in transformations.
• Improve the quality of decision-making.
• Undertake actions in the present that lead towards the desired future.

Taking responsibility for our future is a great challenge, but it is worth the effort when the result is the design of our own story.

Are you on board? 💫