Participation level:

Full paricipation

Innovation level:

High (Innovative)

Facilitator skill level, and other support required:

Medium. It is good to have at least one trained facilitator, but people have done this by reading the book.

Can be used for:

Creating a solid foundation for a new organization or community building effort
Getting everyone involved in a shared issue working well together
Moving an organization or community in relation to a "stuck" issue
Discovering common ground
Developing organizational or community capacity for inclusion and collaboration
Developing action plans that really get done
Building alliances, affecting mergers

A future search conference helps a group of people discover a set of shared values or themes called common ground and agree on a plan of action for implementing them. Because participants from all sectors of the community or organization are included in the process, it builds strong ownership and a powerful shared experience. A common vision of the organization that can withstand time is built. As a result, dynamics are established which encourage effective and self initiated implementation. The resistance to implementation and change that occurs when plans are rolled out from the "top" or from a group of "experts" is avoided In this case, it is the discoverers and creators of the vision that are implementing it. They own it and become advocates for it. It provides a fiine foundation for any community or organization looking for a common framework for moving forward, desiring to implement a plan or mandate, building a shared culture from a merger of cultures, organizing and managing change, confronting a difficult or challenging issue and many other challenges.

Deeper ownership tends to support good implementation. Where decisionmakers - such as elected officials or board members - are involved in an issue, they are included in the process and thus become advocates as opposed to needing to advocated to. Where the group manages its own destiny, self-organization and full ownership are outcomes of the process. Because voices from all sectors of the organization or community are involved, there is an opportunity to affect its shared values and beliefs. For example, a group may discover, following a future search process, that new qualities, such as inclusion or collaboration, have become part of its ordinary language where they were missing before. New relationships are built which change the way a group or organization operates. People aquire an understanding of the way different parts of their organization or community, think, operate or believe, demystifying each other and reducing projection and misunderstandings. Incentives for working together effectively are established. People learn that community also involves allowing for the existence of strongly held disagreements and that this does not need to prevent it from being and acting as a community. They learn that it is not necessary to resolve all such disagreements in order to move forward. It helps people dispell these common held fantasies.

The future search conference is about discovering common ground.
It is useful in identifying issues at any stage of a project or process.
It supports people in discovering where their common foundation lies.
It is powerful for integrating civerse cultures, such as in a merger of several groups.
It is very affective in situations where people have been stymied by conflict.
It helps people see and understand the reality they face, including conflicts, but focuses finding a common foundation.
It is an open system process that includes everyone affected by, who can affect or who has information about the issue at hand.
It often includes people outside of the traditional boundaries of an organization or community.
It empower individuals and the group through full full participation resulting in a sense of ownership and buy-in.
Works with gorups of 60-90 people, though parallel future searches can accommodate many more.
Logistics are straighforward and much simpler than other conferences of its size.

Organizing Future Search

How many people to organize?

Planning team of 12-15 people
One or two logistics staff

Time required:

6 weeks-6 months from planning to implmentation
Can be much less or much more

Cost:

Ranges (room, several meals and snacks for 2.5 days) depending on what is paid for and what is volunteered
The Future Search Network can provide trained facilitators who will charge for their services according to an organization's capacity
Full facilitators fee is 5-6 consulting days.

Identify sponsor.
Engage planning team.
Hire a facilitator.
Identify task and stakeholders.
Invite and brief participants on the aim, objectives and level of commitment required for participation.