Framework Foresight & APF Competencies | Hinesight....for Foresight

We at Houston Foresight are very excited by the publication of APF’s Competency Model. As teachers of Foresight, we need to update our approach to synch up with the field as it evolves. Thus, we’ve updated our Framework Foresight process. The good news for us is that the changes are relatively minor. The foundation of the Competency Model Team’s thinking was the original “Thinking about the Future” framework, which after was developed in part with the APF back in 2007. The original six steps have been slightly modified.

Framing is still Framing, with the addition of sub-competencies include domain mapping.
Scanning is still Scanning, with the addition of “research” as a deliverable. This has always been a tricky one in the sense that scanning include research. For the sake of simplicity we call it Scanning, but it would probably be more accurate to call it research and scanning
Forecasting is now Futuring. In developing the competency model, the Europeans advocating strongly for this change, citing confusion with more tradition forecasting. While this has been less of a concern in the US, we wanted the competency model to be as globally appealing as possible.
Visioning is still Visioning, with a more explicit nod so sense-making, which in Framework Foresight is implications analysis.
Planning is now Designing. This may be the most significant change and reflects the growing influence of design on foresight. Prototyping is identified as a sub-competency to acknowledge the importance of bringing the futures to life.
Acting is now Adapting. It includes sub-competencies that used to be part of planning as well as sub-competencies that were part of acting, such as identifying and tracking indicators.

One immediate influence on the Houston Foresight curriculum is a second offering of a Design Futures elective this summer put together and taught by Cindy Frewen. We’re hoping that we may able to include that as a regular offering.

It also means editing a lot of presentations, but this minor inconvenience is well worth the benefit of having APF agree on this new competency model. – Andy Hines

About Andy Hines

Dr. Andy Hines is Program Coordinator at the University of Houston’s Graduate Program in Foresight, bringing together the experience he earned as an organizational, consulting, and academic futurist. He is also speaking, workshopping, and consulting through his firm Hinesight.

Before that, he was Managing Director of Social Technologies/Innovaro, and served as an Adjunct Professor with the university since 2004. Hines enjoyed earlier careers as a consulting and organizational futurist. He was a partner with Coates & Jarratt, Inc., a think tank and consulting firm that specialized in the study of the future. He was also Futurist & Senior Ideation Leader at Dow Chemical with a mission of using futures tools and knowledge to turn ideas into new business opportunities. Before that, Hines established and ran the Global Trends Program for the Kellogg Company.

Hines is motivated by a professional hunger to make foresight practical and useful, and he believes that foresight can help deliver the insight that is so needed in today’s organizations and the world. His goal, he says, is to infect as many change agents as possible with this message. Thus, he has honed a skill set designed to make foresight more actionable in organizations.

In this pursuit, he has authored five books: Teaching about the Future: The Basics of Foresight Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012); ConsumerShift: How Changing Values Are Reshaping the Consumer Landscape (No Limits Publishing, 2011); Thinking About the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight (Social Technologies, 2007); 2025: Science and Technology Reshapes US and Global Society (Oak Hill, 1997); and Managing Your Future as an Association (ASAE, 1994) and has another in the hands of publishers: Teaching about the Future: The Basics of Foresight Education. He has also authored dozens of articles, speeches, and workshops, including the 2003 Emerald Literati Awards’ Outstanding Paper accolade for best article published in Foresight for “An Audit for Organizational Futurists” and the 2008 award for “Scenarios: The State of the Art.” He has appeared on several radio and television programs, PBS Houston, KRIV-26 News, and the CBS “Early Show.” He also co-founded and is former Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists.

About Andy Hines

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