We understand that a successful consulting relationship requires listening to and understanding the client’s needs, then customizing an approach that best matches the particular situation. Our goal is always to build your organization’s own foresight capacity so that the benefits are truly lasting. Some of the services our experts bring to the table include:

Mapping the future

We often begin the consulting process by creating a futures map. This involves, first, determining your organization's mental model of its preferred future and then conducting research to define the competitive landscape and potential roads—and roadblocks—ahead. A futures map is an invaluable starting point for strategic conversations and ideation.

Workshops, immersions, and retreats

Our consultants conduct workshops, immersion programs, and retreats to bring the future to life. Depending on your organization’s needs, they can be conducted on- or offsite, scaled for small or large groups, and be issue-driven or designed to expand understanding. In every case, your decision-makers will walk away with a deeper insight into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats your industry will be facing in the years to come. [See Event services for more.]

Leadership training

Our consultants have trained hundreds of leaders in the future-focused areas of foresight, strategy, and innovation. We are effective because our focus is always on what will endure. In the end, leaders are able to establish a strong foundation about what they want to leave to future generations. We approach our training program in a variety of ways:

• Visioning—From experience, we know that leaders need a depth of ideas and depth of involvement to make a vision relevant, actionable, and bold enough to keep you focused on the big picture amid the swirl of short-term priorities.
  
• Technology transfer—Although it can be challenging to stay abreast of relevant advances in science and technology, doing so is simply essential to your organization’s competitiveness. Our Technology Foresight multiclient program makes it both efficient and affordable to identify, evaluate, and apply relevant advances—or to understand where they may imply new threats and opportunities.
  
• Scenario planning—Once a strategic vision is established, scenario planning is a powerful tool for determining its business implications.
  Scenarios serve several purposes, including:
  • strengthening strategic conversations
    
  • raising aspirations
    
  • challenging assumptions
    
  • educating managers and employees
    
  • inspiring new market and product development
    
  • sparking innovation