Strategic Foresight

Open enrolment and in-house options available

Our course on Strategic Foresight will introduce you to a unique portfolio of frameworks and concepts that support predictive reasoning. You will be shown how to scan your operating environment for macro, meso and micro trends, how to amplify and analyse weak signals, and how to anticipate and capitalise on future challenges and opportunities.

There are currently no dates planned for this course. Register your interest for future dates or enquire about in-house options.

Course Outline

Strategic Anticipation and Issue Identification

Strategic Anticipation

  • Sensing the future: how and why
  • The four levels of proactiveness
  • Outside in vs. inside out thinking
  • Understanding the dynamics of change

Scanning the Future

  • Environmental scanning
  • Trend analysis
  • Impact assessments
  • Identifying critical uncertainties

Cultivating Foresight

  • Perspective taking
  • Mapping your uncertainty
  • Precision questioning and answering
  • The role of constructive confrontation

Working with Weak Signals

Identifying Signals

  • Weak signal identification
  • Weak signal amplification

Analysing Signals

  • Weak signal analysis
  • Establishing hypotheses
  • Identifying key risk indicators

Monitoring Signals

  • Identifying intelligence sources
  • Defining a monitoring strategy
  • Maintaining a watchlist

Analytic Techniques for Strategic Foresight

Analytic Tools and Techniques

  • Backcasting
  • Shell’s seven questions
  • What if analysis
  • The futures wheel
  • Consequence trees
  • The Lidoli abacus
  • Impact / probability analysis
There are currently no dates planned for this course. Register your interest for future dates or enquire about in-house options.

Course Details

Who is this Course For?

This course is intended for experienced analysts, as well as for those working in the domains of horizon scanning, strategic analysis and futures research.

How You Benefit

On completion of this course you will have the ability to:

  • Establish strategic foresight as an institutional / operational capability
  • Identify, analyse and monitor weak signals and other change indicators
  • Apply a range of foresight techniques to explore risk / crisis scenarios
  • Think critically and creatively about future challenges to one’s organisation

What You Receive

  • A full set of course slides in PDF
  • An index of analytic techniques
  • Templates to support the application of the techniques taught
  • Six months of post-course support

Course Prerequisites

We recommend that participants first complete our Intelligence Analysis: Foundations course before undertaking this program. This is to ensure they understand our approach to descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analysis.

Course Requirements

Please bring a Windows or Mac laptop with you. Please also ensure you have a Gmail account to access the course materials.