Foresight in Government: How to Build In-House Foresight Capabilities in Public Organizations
With public institutions operating in increasingly complex contexts, being future-fit in today’s environment requires an increasing amount of resources.
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Many governmental institutions have realized the necessity and benefits of building in-house foresight capabilities. Compared to one-off foresight consultancy workshops or exercises, building internal foresight capacities helps institutions place foresight at the very core of the organizational culture and integrate futures thinking into their everyday work.
In the first part of this blog series, we’ve examined why having a government foresight program is necessary to deal with the increasingly complex problems that cut across different governmental departments.
In this sequel, we walk public institutions through some practical considerations on how to build internal foresight capacities and encourage dynamic decision-making procedures that factor in complexity and uncertainty.
1. Build foresight based on collaboration and co-creation
Collaboration in strategic foresight enables different perspectives and helps organizations identify multiple plausible and desirable futures. As building inclusive futures is inherently a team effort, collaboration and co-creation need to be placed at the heart of the foresight efforts right from the beginning.
Adopting a horizontal approach is an ideal first step to building internal foresight capabilities and practising foresight in government institutions. What this would mean in practice is to decentralize the foresight efforts across departments and employees.
For instance, one of our clients, a government department, started their process of building internal foresight capabilities by appointing what they called futures agents from different positions and levels across the organization and gave them introductory training in foresight.
These futures agents functioned as foresight advocates across the institution. Building a multidisciplinary team of futures agents will help organizations address knowledge gaps and blind spots that may otherwise be difficult to overcome within homogenous groups.
Discover more about this government department’s journey into building foresight capabilities. Download the case study here.
2. Build it sustainably with a foresight tool for government organizations
Building in-house foresight capacities is a long-term goal that takes time and effort, and it is necessary for organizations to truly invest in the process. An institutionalized team effort can ensure the sustainability of the program and help organizations leverage the full potential of strategic foresight.
Focusing on the sustainability of an internal foresight program will also ensure that strategic foresight work is not limited to one-off foresight workshops or exercises. A systematic approach to foresight will embed futures thinking into the everyday work of employees and give public institutions the flexibility they need to navigate uncertain futures.
From a practical level, however, it may not be so easy to place continuous foresight on top of all the other responsibilities employees have. This is where a digital foresight tool for government organizations can come in handy.
Having access to a comprehensive library of research will not only help organizations save time but also help them filter through and make sense of future changes from their point of view.
3. Build larger foresight communities to enrich your government foresight program
Another essential step in practising foresight in government institutions and building in-house capabilities is to form larger foresight communities. These communities can include stakeholders, subject-matter experts, and even the public.
Having a co-collaborative approach to foresight will allow public organizations to look beyond their operational environment and also examine the contextual surroundings. Building stronger networks with other governmental agencies and private sector professionals also help look at policymaking from a broader perspective.
For instance, the governmental institution mentioned above built a community of external stakeholders and professionals from periphery industries to make their foresight work transcendent of sectors. Practices such as visualising future changes also ensured that these cross-disciplinary discussions were accessible to every participant.
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These two disciplines play distinct yet complementary roles in strategic decision-making, both essential for success in today's volatile environment.