This may not surprise you, but many senior executives acknowledge the futility of established visioning techniques. It could even be said that long-term planning solutions are suffering from a lack of, well, foresight.

Increasingly seen as a costly luxury, managers who’ve previously boarded the visioning bandwagon are now keeping a tighter grip on the financial reins. Rejecting “traditional strategy literature” that assumes “the more we’re able to control the future, the better off we’ll be.”(1). And there’s good reason for this restraint.

Any senior manager worth their weight in share options has long accepted that you can’t completely control your company’s future, but you certainly can implement sound strategic thinking to plan for it. The extra cost of a lengthy visioning process that doesn’t allow for flexibility and change will not bring your business goals any closer. You have to ask yourself what is important about your company right now, identify what you’re doing well, and determine how you can build on this to secure your core strategic aim. Watch the ball in other words, don’t focus on the back of the net............

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Sources:
1. Jill Shepherd, "Foresight: What foresight?" - Strathclyde University Business School Foresight Conference 2002.