Flash Forward - Facilitator's Guide

Futures Thinking Through Science Fiction

Facilitatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide 120 minutes 4-8 participants

About Flash Forward

As organizations navigate increasingly turbulent business environments created by emerging startups, technological breakthroughs, dramatic cultural shifts, and other unpredictable forces, they need a strategy for addressing deep resistance to change. This deep resistance grows in their own backyard, among their employees and partners. It is built on fear of the unknown and causes stakeholders to cling to irrelevant ideas and ways of working. The solution is Flash Forward, a strategy for engaging employees, partners, and industry players in a dialogue about possible futures by crafting science fiction narratives and discussing implications. Flash Forward can be used internally with intra-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary teams and also externally by bringing in external partners and industry players. Any group with a common cause will benefit from using Flash Forward to imagine possible futures and discuss the ways we can succeed. Imagining the future helps us prepare to face it.

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First Steps

1. Choose your participants. 4-8 team members is ideal.

The workshop requires participants to pair off. If your

group has an odd number, create one team of three.

2. Choose participants who can align on a common cause.

Such as a common user, organization, or industry.

3. Choose and reserve your space. One large table

with the appropriate number of seats is best. Ensure

that the space has the adequate technology to show a

short presentation.

4. Schedule your session for 120 minutes. This will give

ample time to complete the activity and take two

15-minute breaks.

5. Familiarize yourself with the material in this guide, the

introductory presentation, and the participant’s packet.

6. Print packets for each participant and provide pens. 7. Use sticky notes to cover the plot types on page 4 of

each participant’s packet. It’s a surprise!

8. Encourage participants to have fun and experiment!

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Workshop Agenda

1. Welcome! Play some music and get participants settled

with a partner, packet, and pen.

2. Introduce yourself and the workshop. 3. Show the introductory presentation to the participants. 4. Run the workshop, approximately 90 minutes. 5. Take two 15-minute breaks! You have 120 minutes! 6. Conclude with gratitude. Thank the participants!

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Materials

Packets Pens Music Timer Buzzer/Bell Presentation Setup

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Task Timing and Participation

#

Step

Time

Participants

1

List possible driving forces

5 min.

Team

2

Select driving forces and dig deeper

5 min.

Team

3

Ideate to build a possible future

8 min.

Individual

4

Build the main character

4 min.

Individual

5

Identify the character’s conflict

4 min.

Individual

6

Define a plot type

4 min.

Individual

7

Write a plot summary

2 min.

Individual

8

Create a story arc

10 min.

Individual

9

Give feedback

6 min.

Partner

10

Receive feedback

6 min.

Partner

11

Prepare to tell your partner’s story

8 min.

Partner

12

Retell stories to the team

4 min. each Team

13

Discuss and reflect

6 min.

Team

14

Create a strategy

8 min.

Team

Choose moments for breaks! (Suggestion: after step 5 and step 11) Timing is a suggestion. Different groups will have different speeds! Decide how to best balance time and quality for each group.

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Examples Use these examples to explain the content if there is any confusion among the participants! Driving Forces - the price of oil, the aging population, climate change policy, the waning of brand loyalty Characters - characters can be specific: a user, or employee, or abstract: the industry, or the organization Plot Summary - A rags to riches tale about a team manager coming up against a limited talent pool and unfavorable internet service in a world changed by the rise of restrictive immigration policies and the abolition of net neutrality.

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