Future Workshop

Big Idea

Future workshops are a tool for establishing a shared vision among carefully selected participants in workshops based the participants' experiences and dreams. Here the participants set the agenda for what needs to be discussed and changed. Thus, it is important that the participants themselves have the desire to change and influence the future of the workshop's theme. The workshop form enables identification of creative solutions and look beyond conventional thinking. Future workshop has a very democratic offset and aims to restore the social imagination that has been downsized in our rational society. Future workshops allow the participants to raise criticism of the existing society, provide ideas and dreams and eventually make concrete plans for the future. Thus is it empowers participants to fix problems in their everyday life. Future workshops is therefore organized around a theme of the participants' common life - a theme that might be associated with negative experiences and desires for change.

Application

The future workshop consists of three main phases with the following foci and activities:

Criticism phase: All dissatisfaction with regard to the future of the workshop's theme is expressed and written on posters. It is important that all participants have the opportunity to express their criticism and all criticism is weighted equally. A collective criticism of everyday life helps to create a unity in the belief that something has to change. At the same time it provides insight into the problems of others in relation to the theme, which can help to put their own problems in perspective. Steps:

• Collection of critique issues (by written cards/brainstorming)
• Systematisation (clustering) on a pin board
• Evaluation, condensation, intensification, priorities

Fantasy or visionary phase: After defining the boundaries of the problem through the criticism phase the perspective is now flipped focusing on creative problem solving. Here the identified issues are addressed by formulating utopian solutions. Nothing is too brittle to be said, the wilder ideas the better. By formulating the participants wildest desires and aspirations a solid platform for establishing a collective vision addressing the problems.Steps:

• Imaginative introduction (meditation, work, walks ...)
• Turn critique issues into the opposite (bad to good) as starting points
• Collect ideas (brain writing)
• Preparing and performing a role play, fable, report, painting, fairytale to a fantastic story (as group work)

A common analysis of these performances with regard to good solutions/ideas Extract, write down an “idea store” on a pin board

Implementation phase: The idea of a realization phase is to formulate a reality where the qualities of the utopia still preserved. Here plans for how dreams are put into reality are created. The activities at this stage are thus concerned with how to formulate a dream realistic (goal setting) and how do we ensure that it is realizable (planning).Steps:

• Evaluate the concepts of the “idea store” with regard to realistic conditions and best fit (PM-method)
• Put in more concrete terms, the best-suited concepts (group work)
• Choose the best one
• Build an action plan: Who does what, where, when and how?

Further Reading

Jungk, Robert, Müllert, Norbert (1987): Future workshops: How to Create Desirable Futures. London, England, Institute for Social Inventions ISBN 0-948826-39-8

Heino Apel: The Future Workshop:

http://www.die-bonn.de/esprid/dokumente/doc-2004/apel04_02.pdf