Exploring the Future to Create Pathway Opportunities That Empower Students

Strategic Foresight

While it is true that it is not possible to predict the future, IHEs should not view themselves as victims of an uncertain future. Strategic foresight can help IHEs gain insights about the future that they can use to make decisions and take action in the present. “Strategic Foresight tools enable you to discover which potential futures are possible (for instance, by extrapolating from emerging trends and pockets of the future which are already happening today). And then to decide which one(s) you would prefer” (Lustig, 2015, Location No. 244). Another description of strategic foresight highlights its “ability to create and maintain a high-quality, coherent and functional forward view and to use the insights arising in organisationally useful ways; for example: to detect adverse conditions, guide policy, shape strategy; to explore new markets, products and services” (Slaughter, 1997, p.1).

Strategic foresight helps people and organizations discover what futures are possible. Futures, the plural of future, is intentionally used to indicate that it is not possible to predict the future. The idea of considering multiple plausible futures also recognizes that, “plans that enable us to navigate diverse futures are more robust than plans that are cemented to a single version of the future” (Educause, 2020, p. 32). Slaughter’s (1997) use of the adjectives “high-quality” and “coherent” reflects the rigor that comes with employing strategic foresight; it is not about taking a guess or fortune telling. His use of “functional” and “organisationally useful” suggests that strategic foresight produces insights that are useful for organizations by informing strategy development, planning, and decision-making. Lustig (2015) highlights one way to determine which futures are possible by identifying “emerging trends” and “pockets of the future,” both of which can be identified from our position in the present. She also highlights the idea of a preferred future, which is the depiction of the future to which the organization commits to achieving. This links back to Slaughter’s (1997) view that strategic foresight should be useful for organizations by suggesting that strategic foresight can help organizations identify the direction they want to pursue. Strategic foresight can also help IHEs test current and proposed strategies against futures that may be undesirable yet possible.