Vision is one of the most important leadership qualities in modern times. A visionary leader can guide the organization with his vision drilled into the organization’s strategies. Corporate foresight is an ability that includes the anticipation of any structural or cultural aspect that enables the company to detect changes in advance, analyze the consequences for the company, and formulate effective responses to ensure the long-term survival and success of the company.
In today’s world, technological and cultural changes are increasing at an accelerated rate and corporate foresight helps to overcome these changes easily. Corporate foresight also helps in dealing with the problems faced when a time frame is too short for corporate strategic planning to produce a timely response during a period of accelerated changes. Foresight is a dynamic process that changes rapidly, and most people hesitate to apply it efficiently. A few critical practices that can help develop efficient foresight are:
- Collaborate: People who lack foresight are likely to neglect the value of others’ perspectives. Their scant perception lacks the depth and feel of reality that can only be gained through actual collaborative learning exchanges. Freely working with people who have different views and ideologiescan help leaders reflect on the past effectively, honestly evaluate the present data or trends and prudently consider multiple future options as part of strategic vision.
- Analyze: Evaluating the patterns in the past can give hints about the trends for the future. Training oneself to reflect on the patterns of past and present can help indicate the changes that are about to happen in future. Coordinating with others about those perceptions can help test the assumptions and aptly strategize for the future.
- Visualize: Grasping the long-term implications of present trends for unanticipated situations and unexploited opportunities can go a long way in helping develop foresight qualities. Leaders must perceive beyond present technologies, competitors and other external factors. Multiple perspectives are essential in envisaging a successful strategy.
- Strategize. Once the future possibilities are recognized and understood, the Leaders need to contemplate their meanings and ramifications. They need to measure the effort, time and resources required for each opportunity to understand the impact it could have. After considering all these options they need to formulate a detailed and feasible plan that fits the company’s profile.
It is essential to maintain the right balance through effective and strategic planning. With an authentic foresight, the leaders can accurately design success scenarios and approve its credibility in advance, without this vision there is the risk of missing out on lucrative opportunities. It helps in focusing and allocating resources on important aspects according to their strategies. With foresight growth can be accelerated and improved upon. It also helps dealing with unforeseen threats with proper provisions. Corporate foresight helps implement a more realistic objective that is demanding, yet attainable.
