Future search is an innovative planning conference used world-wide by hundreds of communities and organizations. It meets two goals at the same time, (1) helping large diverse groups discover values, purposes, and projects they hold in common; and (2) enabling people to create a desired future together and start implementing right away. Many sponsors have used future search to transform their capability for cooperative action in a relatively short time.
Future search is especially helpful in uncertain, fast-changing situations. Participants need no prior training or expertise. People build on what they already have. Conferences focus on a wide range of purposes in schools, hospitals, churches, communities, government agencies, voluntary networks, foundations, business firms, and non-profits in every sector. Because future search is largely culture free, it has been adopted with success by people from all walks of life in North and South America, Africa, Australia, Europe and South Asia.
A future search usually involves 60 to 70 people--large enough to include many perspectives and small enough that the full group can be in dialogue at each step in the process. This makes possible a shared picture of the "whole elephant." (For larger groups, conferences may be run in parallel or in sequence.) The optimal length is about 2 1/2 days. When people stay engaged in a task for that long, they are more likely to make a notable shift in their trust of each other and in their capability for action. The task is always The Future of _________(fill in the blank).
Copyright 2010 by Future Search Network. Permission granted to reproduce if Future Search Network's address appears.
Taken from http://www.futuresearch.net Used with permission.