Lesson 10: WHAT IS FUTURE SEARCH?

Future search is a PLANNING MEETING that helps people transform their capability for action very quickly. The meeting is task-focused. It brings together 60 to 80 people in one room or hundreds in parallel rooms.

Future search brings people from all walks of life into the same conversation - those with resources, expertise, formal authority and need. They meet for 16 hours spread across three days. People tell stories about their past, present and desired future. Through dialogue they discover their common ground. Only then do they make concrete action plans.

The meeting design comes from theories and principles tested in many cultures for the past 50 years. It relies on mutual learning among stakeholders as a catalyst for voluntary action and follow-up. People devise new forms of cooperation that continue for months or years.

Future searches have been run in every part of the world and sector of society.

Conditions for Success

• Get the "whole system" in the room. Invite a significant cross-section of all parties with a stake in the outcome.
• Explore the "whole elephant" before seeking to fix any part. Get everyone talking about the same world. Think globally, act locally.
• Put common ground and future focus front and center while treating problems and conflicts as information, not action items.
• Encourage self-management and responsibility for action by participants before, during, and after the future search.

REFLECTION:

Future search enables people to communicate effectively in an orderly fashion. In my opinion, this is a fair method because it goes beyond all races, religion and other classifications. They will be able to share their own views about the given topic without any predisposition involved. In my opinion, this method can be used in the recent hostage taking event that happened. The Filipinos and Chinese citizens can sit down as a group and talk about their own analysis about the tragedy, without any insult or narrow-mindedness. (Since there are a lot of bashing about the Philippines and its citizens in the internet)

By: Vina Almeda

SOURCE: http://www.futuresearch.net/method/success/index.cfm