Realizing The Future First

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"As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it." Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Three essential phases, or fundamental threads. Like in a triple helix, they occur simultaneously throughout the process, in varying forms and degrees. In all three, the future is first and foremost in mind.

1. INVENTION:
Every goal setting process starts with an intention to change direction, either as a response to the market or as a desire to create beyond what is predictable. This thread is about creating the future 3 to 10 years hence, that the organization REALLY wants – not the best case it thinks is likely or feasible – and, it’s about creating the milestones back from the desired future to the present. This thread creates a set of “generative statements” for the organization. Continue. . .

Typically Missing: Part of what makes the typical strategic plan an insufficient rallying cry for the organization is that the new goals are arrived at as an extrapolation of the past rather than as a “creation” of something that is really wanted, a set of outcomes that will call for action no matter what the obstacles are.

2. IGNITION:
This thread is about inventing the steps and actions for generating inclusion, participation and commitment in the organization at large, as well as in key people outside the organization. It is about informing, inspiring, involving, enrolling, and engaging the organization and its key stakeholders, and having people step into aligned action.

It is not a top-down command and control process, it is a process of inclusion, of participation, of intelligent committed people acting together for a common purpose. Without sufficient ignition, the realization of the bold goals will not succeed. Most change processes fail because of an insufficiently robust ignition thread.

Typically Missing: Organizations typically fail to sufficiently include, inform, and generate people’s commitment. They often regard efforts to do that as a waste of time, or something they do not have time to do. This failure stops their ability to move with speed and be successful in the realization of their Bold Goals.

3. IMPLEMENTATION:
This is the phase that most executive think they understand – “after all that’s what we do, that why we are called executive, we execute, we implement strategies and plans” – but don’t necessarily do well.
Continue. . .

Typically Missing: In the process of implementation, the default operating model for organizations is to become “reasonable”: they rein back breakthrough projects that they now view as “not feasible”, rather than rise to the challenge and generate new solutions. They want to maintain the experience of “control” which means they suppress initiative, creativity, experimentation and enthusiasm, rather than be "driven" by the future they are committed to. As a result, the BOLD goals cannot be achieved.