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We love Drucker's view on the future when he says, "the best way to predict the future is to create it." We say the best way to predict the future is to prepare for it.
The i2a: Future Forum process is a way to quickly assess the changing environment, identify and prioritize the top trends to watch (and why), and draw a line of sight to your current strategic plan. You will develop insights and create a shared understanding around changes that need to be made to deal with the rapidly changing world. Your team will have "prepared for the future" by dealing with the trends they see on the horizon which will allow them to deal with the future from a position of strengths and positivity. They will be preparing in much the same way as athletes, first responders, and even military ops as they see the possible future scenarios they may encounter.
Engagement - Alignment - Inspiration - Commitment - Action!
The i2a: Future Forum process creates a structured conversation about changes in the environment and what it means to your organization, both now and in the future. The process engages your team, creates alignment through shared understanding and agreement, and inspires them to action. The Future Forum is based in our i2a: Insights to Action - Strategic Thinking System and is perfect when you need to assess changing trends and issues against your existing strategic plan.
The Future Forums starts with the "Sight" phase and asks the question how is the world changing? Using future trends research, industry trends, and any context you select, we get your team to "see" the trends and identify the most important. You can think of this as "crowd-sourcing" the future with your team actively participating.
Next we use the wisdom of your team to filter the trends for the "Top Trends to Watch" where we "vote" on the trends that matter most to your organization and the time to address is now. We "unpack" those trends for implications and strategies to look for opportunities.
Finally we draw a line of sight back to your existing strategic plan or priorities. This can result in a recalibration of your plan with changes and new opportunities to deal with the new trends identified.
The i2a system is the result of a strategic collaboration between Tom Hood (CEO, Business Learning Institute - an affiliate of the Maryland Association of CPAs) and Gretchen Pisano (Owner, Sounding Board Ink). It has been used around the globe and across industries - businesses, non-profits, and deep inside the CPA Profession (CPA firms and corporate finance teams).
Recommended format: four (4) to six (6) hour format customized to fit our "clients needs" including a design session to identify our "clients" needs
Case Study:
A national professional association wanted to create a grassroots engagement process to re-calibrate its vision from 1998. They engaged BLI to develop and customize a set of i2a: Insights to Action templates and a process to hold a series of future forums all across the US.
Our design objectives were as follows:
- Identification of the most important trends facing the profession in the future (2025)
- Crowd-Filtering of the trends and prioritizing those that the time to address is now
- Creating our Vision for 2025 by revisiting the Vision 2011 created in 1998 and recommending any changes including Vision, Purpose, Values and Top 5 Services and Top 5 Competencies.
- Insights to Go – Your takeaway of insights back to your organizations or to use with your own career – a takeaway to help you strategically think about the future.
- Results: Over 500 people engaged in future forums across the US. The process and format worked as planned. The participants were engaged and the discussions were inclusive and everyone participated. The results reflected the “wisdom of the crowd” and they are looking forward to seeing the results and the report. Many asked about the “communicate” and “inspire to act” phases of our i2a: Insights to Action framework
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