FUTURISTIC PLANNING

Submitted by Grace G. Nezortado on Tue, 04/08/2014 - 02:27
I remember the first time that I heard this phrase from my gradeschool teacher, “a person who fails to plan plans to fail”. My mind was set to think for a future and organize all the steps for our goal to be achieved.
 
Futuristic planning means looking ahead and chalking out future courses of action to be followed. It is a preparatory step. It is a systematic activity which determines when, how and who is going to perform a specific job.
In educational futurism, the term scenario was emphasized. It is a statement of assumptions about the operating environment of the system to be studied.It is a brief description of the future situations which could arise by the continuing interaction of a number  of socio-economic, political & other trends which can be identified currently.

 
The graphic shows the five basic steps involved in scenario planning. The basic steps are:
Stage 1:  determine a focal issue or critical decision to ‘anchor’ the process,
Stage 2:  identify and analyse the internal and external driving forces after the decision (these drivers are usually categorised into ‘predetermined elements’, those which we have a good idea about how they will play out over time – for example, demographics, and ‘critical uncertainties’, those which we have no real understanding of how they will develop into the future),
Stage 3:  build scenarios (using inductive or deductive approaches),
Stage 4: identify robust potential strategic options and implications, and determine strategic options, and
 Stage 5: identify drivers and other issues that need to be monitored over time (these are often called ‘early warning signals’ – to see whether something identified in a scenario is ‘coming true’ or is less likely to happen).  This last step is often neglected, but it is critical in terms of embedding strategic thinking in the organisation.
 
Eric Trist diagrams the various planning modes as a result about planners attitudes about past, present and the future. 
 
Inactive planners always goes by what is happening today, and therefore plays by its ear, always waiting and seing. Reactive planners always looks back at past event or past precedence to make decisions- if there are no past examples or precedence, then he says it cannot be. Pre-active is so futuristic even for his own good, always predicting and preparing but paying little heed to lessons of the past or scarcities of the present. Inter-active planner looks at past, present, and future in a neutral way and instead prepares to focus on making things happen. 
 
This diagram will help you to plan strategically:

I’ve been fascinated of having a “to do list”until such time that I realized that I am tired of doing it. I started to retain my long term plans and free the entire daily plans that I have. I came to a point that I am not worried on the things that will happen in the future and what important is to enjoy my life in the present. That was the point that I achieved the majority of my plans. And only means that if I did not think of it before, I will not achieve the success that I have right now. And I realized that we should never stop planning. “The past determines the present, and the present is determined by what we want the future to be.”
 
What is your plan for the future? Futuristic planners foresee our life on 2020. Would you want to watch your day on our future society with high technologies? Try to click the link below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OptqxagZDfM .
 

About the Author:

GRACE NEZORTADO is currently working as Work force Specialist in Infosys BPO Limited and taking her Masteral Degree in Educational Management at Rizal Technological University. The article was based on the requirements by Prof. Jensen Manebog, in Advanced Curriculum Development.

 

References:

Liam Fahey and Robert Randall, Learning from the Future, Competitive Foresight Scenarios,  New York: Wiley, 1997.

Mats Lindgren, Hans Bandhold, Bruce Pilbeam, Scenario Planning: The Link Between Future and Strategy¸ Palgrave: Macmillan, 2003.

Gill Ringland, Scenario Planning, Managing for the Future, John Wiley and Sons, 1998.

Ged Davis, Scenarios as a Tool for the 21st Century, Shell International, 2002.

 

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