Future conference learning map: More success through multiple teams
The "Future Conference" is a dialog, planning and strategy meeting. It is held with a group of 60 to 100 people and enables different interest groups to define common goals. In this process, mutual understanding is promoted and actions are optimally coordinated. Whereas in the past it was exclusively experts who were responsible for solving problems in organizations, today entire systems are on the way together.
Marvin Weisbord first mentioned the term "Future Search" in his book "Productive Workplaces" in 1987. Since then, the "Future Conference" has proven itself worldwide as a participative method in the areas of "organizational development" and "shaping the future". The method is based on a variety of theoretical findings and experiences. Two important sources go back to the social scientists Eric Trist/Fred Emery and Eva Schindler-Rainmann/Ronald Lippitt.
Common ground thanks to an overarching goal
As early as 1960, Eric Trist and Fred Emery made the astonishing discovery during a merger process of two motor plants that people find common ground more easily if they have a task that goes beyond their own concerns. In the 1970s, Eva Schindler-Rainmann and Ronald Lippitt held large conferences on the future of the community with broad sections of the population.
They also recognized that designing an ideal future generated significantly more positive energy among those involved than trying to solve old problems. Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff drew on this experience and incorporated it into the four most important basic principles of the "Future Conference":
1. bring the whole system into the room.
Representatives from all areas of an organization come together for 2 1/2 days (18 hours). This includes all hierarchical levels, but also external partners, suppliers, strategic partners, customers, product developers, marketing experts. In short: all people who have a connection to the system.2. explore the "whole elephant".
This principle goes back to a parable of blind men who were asked to describe an elephant: "I think the elephant is like a tree" said the blind man with his arms around his leg. "No, the elephant is like a snake" said the one with the trunk. "No, the elephant is a rope!" said the one with the tail. The story shows: We think the whole system is an enlargement of the part we have in view. Only when we examine the "whole elephant" together does the whole reality become visible.3. focus on the future.
In the future conference, everyone drafts a desirable future, an ideal state. Any problems, differences and conflicts that arise are not ignored, but are seen as useful information about the views of those involved. Solving past problems is not part of the agenda. The focus is on what is possible in the future and on the cooperation required to achieve this. This concentration releases a lot of energy. The participants are creative, look to the future and their actions are coordinated.4 Encourage personal responsibility.
In a typical "future conference", ideally 8 representatives from 8 different interest groups (64 participants) work together. Two facilitators accompany the process. The participants identify with the results because they were significantly involved in their development. Self-developed strategies are more effective and of better quality than predetermined strategies because they integrate the perspectives of many people.
