Strategic Thinking Workshop

Workshop Content

The workshop is designed as a natural progression as each exercise or tool builds upon the previous. Facilitators plan to provide a morning and afternoon break, plus one hour for lunch.

Exercise/ToolDescriptionPurposeSkills practiced
IMPACT: Forestry EditionStrategic foresight serious gameTo help imagine and think critically about the future of forestrySystems thinking
Cause and effect
Scenario building
Forestry ScenariosPresentation of three separate plausible future scenarios of relevance to federal forestryTo introduce and practice thinking about the future as multiple alternativesLong-term perspective
Challenging assumptions
Storytelling the FutureTemplate to create a persona from the future and craft a story set in one of the forestry scenariosTo help process the insights from the forestry scenarios and identify a potential conflict to be used in the Futures WheelScenario building
Cause and effect
Futures WheelsMind map that uncovers multiple cause and effect lineages of a future eventTo identify indirect, but significant, impacts on the organization that could emerge from the conflict selected from the Storytelling the Future toolCause and effect
Long-term perspective
Systems thinking
ImplicationsGroup discussion about long-term challenges, strengths, opportunities, and risksTo reveal how changes from the Futures Wheels could impact the organization, your team, and yourselfRisk management
Leveraging opportunities
BackcastingReverse chronological assessment of steps needed to accomplish a goalTo itemize and prioritize strategies to overcome internal challenges and leverage opportunitiesFuture direction outline
Leveraging opportunities