8. Reviewing (Adjustment thinking)
Key Practice Specialties and Communities for Adaptive Foresight
- Auditing & Change Management – Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). Since 1941. Certifications and conferences. Auditing is a critical skill that tells leaders if their accounting and metrics are accurate. Many firms neglect it; Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP). Since 2009. Standardizing and promoting the discipline of change management, which seeks to diagnose problems and turn around firms. Seven Chapters. Annual conference (900 attendees).
- Benchmarking & Quality – Benchmarking, or determining best practices (“quality”, at the firm level) by looking at the competitive environment, is a key step in organizational strategy. The Benchmarking Network (BN) lists a variety of industry benchmarking associations. A good starter is the Balanced Scorecard Institute (BSI). Since 1997. Balanced scorecards are a well-respected benchmarking tool. Certifications. 5,000 practitioners; American Society for Quality (ASQ). Since 1946. Promoting the practice of performance feedback and continual quality improvement (TQM, Lean Six Sigma, etc.). 80K members. Various certifications and conferences. Eight magazines and journals.
Key Reviewing-Associated Practitioner Methods
Balanced Scorecards
Performance mgmt. report with a mix of financial and non-financial key performance indicators (KPIs).
Change Management
Methods for individuals, teams & orgs. to do big strategic change. See Kotter, Leading Change (2012).
Critical Foresight/Futures Studies
Using critical inquiry from social sciences to deconstruct systems. See Slaughter, “Critical FS,” (1996).
Criticism Solicitation
Gaining frank critical feedback from clients and fellow foresight practitioners.
Dashboards (Management Information Systems)
A easy-to-read, single report or interface with real-time feedback on critical performance numbers.
Enterprise Feedback Management
Software and processes to centrally manage feedback survey authoring, deployment and analysis.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Key management-chosen measurements of business performance, varying by department.
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
Simple, transparent objectives (goals) and key results (how, when, what you’ll do to accomplish them).
Premortem
Leader proposes why a current team project has failed, asks for reasons for failure. Prevents groupthink bias.
Quality Assurance
Methods to make a product fit for its purpose, and right the first time, as determined by client feedback.
Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma
Techniques and tools for process improvement using quality management and statistical methods.
Total Quality Management and Total Productive Maintenance
Methods and systems to ensure continuous quality improvement (TQM) and asset productivity (TPM).
Theory of Constraints
Management methods that seek out and mitigate the rate-limiting constraints on org. performance.
Turnaround Management
Methods (performance reviews, auditing, root failure analysis, etc.) to save troubled firms.
Unlearning
Finding bad assumptions, methods, and habits—and changing them by CBT and behavior modification.
Again, these methods lists aren’t complete, but rather a sample to get you started. Find out which methods matter most to you in employing each of the Eight Skills, do regular self- and advisor-assessments of your abilities in each skill, and keep your Do loop as fast and efficient as you can, so you can keep learning and adapting and executing in your environment. Good foresight is really as simple as that, but no simpler.
Job Hunting Tip: If you are looking to make a foresight career and already have particular skill or interest in any of the methods above, each can be used, along with other foresight terms, in a LinkedIn, Google Scholar, or general web search to find companies and people who value them. Every method you learn, use, and can reference and get recommendations for in your resume or on LinkedIn will help you gain access to more potential clients and career opportunities. Good luck and have fun!
