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It’s been great to see the rise of Communities of Practice in the Foresight field. They are popping up both within individual organizations as well as in industry or sector-based communities coming together — with the Federal Foresight Community of Interest being one of many examples.
I’m happy to share my experience in helping to build a community practice with my colleagues at the CDC. The full article, Establishing a Strategic Foresight Learning and Action Network (SF-LAN) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is available to subscribers at World Futures Review. [I also have a pre-publication draft available here.] It is near and dear to me, as I see a key part of our mission at Houston Foresight is introducing people and organizations to the future!
The SF-LAN (the name of the Community of Practice) was right at the center of the introduction of foresight. The article chronicles the experiences and lessons learned from our experience in establishing strategic foresight. It should be useful to futurists who might be helping a client start up a foresight capability. It should also be of interest to organizations who are thinking of taking the plunge and bringing foresight in.
I’d like to call out a portion of the article regarding the introduction of foresight. As part of my dissertation, I came up with a Foresight Integration Model to map out a “typical” pathway for how foresight gets introduced. It captures common patterns in introducing foresight into organizations as well as offering recommendations on a best practices. In the article, we describe the CDC journey through the model.
In the model itself, the “journey” begins with futurists out in the world talking, writing, and working regarding the future. Someone in an organization stumbles into this, and says “we need that.” And they launch the journey. It is also notable that there are two places, 4A and 4B, where the work is evaluated. In between comes “positioning” where the capability is strategized … this could come earlier, but typically there is an experimental period where the learning from early activities is used to develop a longer-term plan for where to take the capability.
One key insight for me was that foresight is very often introduced by someone in the middle or upper middle of the organization. It is typically not senior leadership – they bless or tolerate, but rarely introduce. So if you are a champion, wherever you are, go for it! – Andy Hines
Always enjoy the posts. The COP makes very practical sense. Foresight professionals need to be able to provide foresight skills, knowledge, and competencies in the marketplace within corporations that have significant potential impact on our future. The Foresight Integration Model is a great exemplar that is straightforward and compelling to stakeholder/readers that want to ready themselves for the future.
thanks for the kind words — much appreciated!