The Outsider’s view of the Inside Futures
As a consultant, one of the great puzzles I consistently discover is the mindset many clients hold with regard to their own abilities to conceive of and pursue, their own approach to futures thinking. I know this is not an issues restricted to futurists as where some clients have a ‘not invented here’ approach to rejecting ideas, many others hold the ‘can’t invent it here’ view of their own capabilities. And that means that
a lot of my time working with clients is invested in showing them how much they do know and that they should have confidence to be able to do much (if not all) of their chosen activities without outside intervention.
In writing for the innovation magazine Fast Thinking a few years ago I took the same approach with the idea of innovation generation and processes – suggesting that in all likelihood, most organisations DO HAVE the skills they need to run their own innovation programs without outside intervention. A fellow writer and innovation consultant took me to task in the subsequent issue saying that wasn’t true.
On a strong personal note, I believe in ‘skills transfer’ – the idea that with a little bit of guidance and an effective model, the client organisation ought to be able to do their own futures work once I have left. I’ll always be available should they feel they prefer some outside assistance BUT overwhelmingly my aim is to provide them with a platform that gives them confidence to be able to do a thoroughly good job.
Which brings us to the Insider’s Approach to Futures:
a) You do have the skills
b) You may need a process or two to run with
c) An Outsider should be used to help with momentum for a futures project, not to develop ownership of it
d) Appreciate that timing matters – some people will get on board earlier than others and as such, the kinds of conversations that you have with people may seem repetitive to you, but will be likely new to them. So keep having them
I’ve worked with a lot of different clients – Large Corporate, Large Goverment; small businesses; Not for Profits; international, local; and everything in between. I am yet to experience a ‘dumb client’. Quite the contrary – almost every client I’ve worked with has held high levels of intellectual capacity. The one element missing is a model that helps them expand their Breadth of awareness; the Depth of information and the Distance of the forward view. Once they have that model, the pathways toward their desired futures are many and often clearer than they were.
The Outsider’s view of Inside Futures then is that you probably do have the skills you need. A good process will help bring that all together into an effective package
Sometimes when you look at enough assorted pieces of information a clear pattern emerges. In a previous role I was tasked with looking at the Future of Education, a topic I delved deeply into for almost 3 years. And in 2003 in a piece titled ‘The Future of Commercial Education’ I predicted that by 2015,…
Read More >Tomorrow I’ll be at the State Library of Victoria as part of the #V21 Digital Summit. In my futurist, pragmatist role I’ll be presenting few ideas about why ‘Your Future is NOT an App’, then later in the day facilitating an onstage debate about Disruption’s role in Innovation. And if it is anything to go…
Read More >I’ve been having a think lately about whether the use of Interest Rate movements by the Reserve Bank is actually too clumsy an instrument for effective economic management. The potential weakness has emerged only in recent times as the signs of a world-wide economic melt down have begun to expose one of the limitations of…
Read More >There’s a few problems with the successful leadership lists that bounce their way around the internet. In my opinion they lack context – the reality check that only comes by having a full appreciation of an individual organisation’s particular circumstances. Unfortunately many of these lists of ‘required leadership behaviours’ offer shallow quick fix advice that…
Read More >There’s no doubt that coal has a legitimacy problem with large swathes of the public around the world. Once a darling of energy and still in relative abundant supplies, Coal provides significant levels of energy per gram consumed. Yet the end outcome is now known to be incredibly harmful to localised communities needing to breathe…
Read More >At almost every stage in a shift in the way societies and organisations operate, there comes a period of extreme ‘unsettled-ness’. This period may show itself in the form of the doldrums (where things seem unusually calm but nothing seems to be happening) or in busyness (where there’s lots of activity but nothing seems to…
Read More >Sometimes when we have the chance to say something, we don’t. About two years ago one of my uncles died and I should have spoken at his funeral. This personal post is what I should have said to the public gallery that attended ‘Hi everyone. I’m Marcus and Jim was one of my three uncles.…
Read More >I’ve just posted a quick overview on LinkedIn called The ‘Loud Secret’ – Underestimating your internal skill sets which you can find at the link below The ‘Loud Secret’: Underestimating Your Internal Skill sets. If you have any troubles accessing the story let me know and I’ll see what I can do
Read More >Health Care costs in Australia are rising and are likely to continue doing so as our population both grows and ages. Which means attempts to address this issue are warranted. Equally warranted is an assessment of the impacts for addressing or ignoring the issue. If, as has been mooted, the Australian Government introduces an $8…
Read More >We’ve been getting far more effective at understanding the way our brains work especially as they relate to the idea of ‘mind’. Simply, the idea that we make decisions based on our conscious understanding, appears limited at best and highly flawed at worst. And now, the step towards longevity, perhaps even the fountain of youth,…
Read More >