A Futurespective Method Technique

So I've not invented this or anything - there are a lot of techniques out there for Futurespectives and I've taken this one from "Funretrospectives" (thank you!) and tweaked it a bit - so this is my edited version.

Find the Future

This is a great team building activity that focus on creating a common goal.

Running the activity:

What is our Bright Future?

It is very interesting to see how this simple question gets the participants very engaged, and then aligned. This activity is a great first step towards preparing the path for going Back to the Future.

1. Write the words Bright Future on the top right corner of the canvas.
2. Break the team into smaller groups of 3 or four people each (if needed)
3. Ask each group to write a short sentence to describe the bright future at a set time distance forward (e.g. 1yr, 2yrs or 3yrs)
4. Each group presents their short sentence describing the bright future
5. Create one common sentence defining the bright future (maybe use a group of sentences if there are different stakeholder groups in the session)

Back to the Future

This is a follow on activity from the one above.

1. Draw a timeline on the canvas back from the bright future to today having the word today on the left most side.
2. Write down major events or time periods on the timeline relevant to the company/project (e.g. Christmas holidays, Fin. Year end’s etc)
3. Ask the participants to write post-it notes for the steps and activities towards the path to the bright Future (basically break it down) and stick them on the right-hand side under the Bright Future
4. Ask the participants to move the post-it notes around (to the left) to form up the path to the Bright Future. Encourage a lot of discussion and different people to be moving post-its around.
5. Run a group conversation on the path that has been formed – drive this to capture action items onto the path (stick them up on the timeline with post-its - use a different post-it colour)

Result.

There should be a road-map of sorts on the wall – constraints will have been discussed throughout, as those tend to surface as soon as you say, “why can’t we do this today?”
You should have some actions from the session.
You should have people a lot more focussed on where they are going and why.