Friday, August 27, 2010

Lesson 15: Preferred Futuring -- a summary

by Therese Ong

Preferred Futuring was created by Ronald Lippitt and Ed Lindaman, it was designed to help you create a more desirable future for yourself and for your organization. It will help you to take charge of and create your future rather than blindly plunge into the future in reaction to current problems. It will help you find out what you really want and where you really want to go. It is essentially different from other organizational workshops and consultations. It focuses on developing the ability to envisage alternative desirable futures rather than focusing on present problems. Research has shown that the problem solving approach lowers the energy and enthusiasm of workshop participants and results in a blame game between the various members of the organization. The preferred futuring approach, on the other hand, raises the energy and enthusiasm of the participants and strengthens a sense of team with a common heritage and a better future. I believe that when you go on to the future, and if you want what's best for it, it is best to dwell on positivity by being enthusiastic about it, rather than focus on problem solving. If you want to plan what to happen in the future, then preferred futuring approcah is appropriate for you. Basically, you use the patterns of the past and present to predict the trends of the future then try to solve it or create ways to avoid a problem. Preferred future is the opposite. It is the future you want to have. It is your dreams and aspirations for yourself and for the organization you’re part of. I think that preferred futuring is very suitable for organizations who are deeply concern with the future.

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