“Short-termism is rapidly becoming
an existential threat to humanity”
- borrowed from the Long Time Project
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TOMORROW’S SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND IN THE FUTURE
What if we can deliver innovative solutions that deliver positive outcomes today, and far into the future? Yesterday’s science fictions are today’s solutions. In other words, to develop tomorrow’s solutions, we need to step into the future. Futures thinking is a skill we can all develop to help us achieve this!
🔮 TRANSCENDING LIMITATIONS OF THE PRESENT 🔮
By using the future as a starting point for innovation, we unleash our imagination -- we transcend the limitations of the present. Immersing ourselves in the future and bringing back insights to the present, builds our resilience – and inspires bold ideas and even bolder actions.
RESOURCES FOR YOU
Workshops
We've put together two Futures Thinking workshops you can sign up for. For custom futures session for your team, reach out to Claudia.
An intro to Futures Thinking /
Scenarios of the Future
For anyone!
(1 hour)
What? | A mini time travelling experience that makes the future personal and invites you into 2 or 3 scenarios of the future, while introducing you to the concept of futures thinking.
Why join? | Learn a new skill: futures thinking. Explore your own future. Build resilience for what’s ahead.
Future of Work
For people & culture / HR /
leadership teams
(2 hours)
What? |Step into the future of work by learning about mega trends impacting the way we work and build culture, immerse yourself in a scenario of the future of work (it may include robots) and explore jobs and skills of the future.
Why join? | Learning about future of work trends and scenarios, reveal insights to help us develop future-proof people initiatives. You’ll also feel more ready for what’s next in the world of work.
Ready-to-use resources
Designed specifically so that you can easily integrate future thinking tools into your upcoming meetings and events.
Easy-to-use Future Thinking Tools
Easy-to-use Future Thinking Tools
to integrate perspectives from the future into
your next big decision or idea.
We have put together our four favourite Futures Thinking Tools. Made so that you can simply integrate them into your next meetings.
For example, we introduce how you can keep an ‘empty chair’ for future generations in your next sessions to include their perspectives when making big strategic / long term decisions. We also propose bringing in the topic of legacy and suggest some provocative legacy questions to invite long term thinking, decision making and action taking.
Ready-made Future Scenarios
Ready-made Future Scenarios
to take you into possible futures and help you and your team break out of your usual ways of thinking. These scenarios inspire innovation and build resilience for what’s ahead.
We have curated six Futures Thinking Scenarios with facilitator notes for your own use! Scenarios currently available: Earth as a stakeholder | The Great Disconnection| Sensory Techtopia | The Extreme Weather Forecast | Don't Face Search me | Climate Challenge Time.
Example: Imagine you wake up 10 years from today and receive an emergency alert notification from the Department of Homeland Security saying there will be a total shutdown of internet and cellular services for 14 days, you only have 10 minutes before shutdown.
How do you feel? What do you say to whomever you are with? What actions do you take?
Do you have any topics you would like to see future scenarios on?
Contact Claudia at cricaurte@wwfint.org
Go on a trend tour
Not developed in-house, but very mind-opening nonetheless are the Future 100, an annual report describing 100 trends impacting the year ahead. Find it here. Or the daily trends by trendwatching.com which you can enjoy here.
How can you use these trend resources? You can select 5-10 trends relevant to your team’s work and bring them to a next meeting as a conversation starter to spark new ideas. You can use trends to get unstuck with current challenges, for example by picking a challenge and mixing it with various trends to explore what solutions it invites. You can bring trends to strategic planning workshops to future-proof existing ways of working, or ensure 3-5 year initiatives are more ready to adjust to what’s ahead.
For any further guidance on how to use trends, contact us.
Hungry for more of the future?
Time-traveling pandas: Introducing futures thinking at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Time-traveling pandas: Introducing futures thinking at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
How do we prepare for a world of uncertainty and change? Wendy van Leeuwen (Innovative fundraising enabler) dives into this question in this fascinating article, exploring how imagining diverse futures helps us innovate boldly for conservation today.
Enjoy the resources of the Institute for the Future (IFTF) | World’s leading futures organization. Pioneers on strategic foresight, helping businesses, governments and organizations navigate complex change and develop world-ready strategies.
📚Some of our favourite readings on the topic:
Imaginable: How to see the future coming and be ready for antyhing by Jane McGonigal (book) | In Imaginable, Jane McGonigal draws on the latest scientific research in psychology and neuroscience to show us how to train our minds to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable. She invites us to play with the provocative thought experiments and future simulations she’s designed exclusively for this book.
Full-Spectrum Thinking: How to Escape Boxes in a Post-Categorical Future by Bob Johnson |The future will get even more perplexing over the next decade, and we are not ready. The dilemma is that we're restricted by rigid categorical thinking that freezes people and organizations in neatly defined boxes that often are inaccurate or obsolete. Categories lead us toward certainty but away from clarity, and categorical thinking moves us away from understanding the bigger picture. Sticking with this old way of thinking and seeing isn't just foolish, it's dangerous.
““It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards”
Lewis Carroll.
If you require support to deliver these resources
in your offices contact:
Claudia Ricaurte |cricaurte@wwfint.org
Photos from some of our in-person workshops
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