Strategic Landscaping
A strategic landscape affords clients the opportunity to visualise planned future developments with a time horizon from now until ten years or so into the future. The landscape allows for explicit expression of agreed goals and identifies opportunities and threats which may emerge along the way. This approach helps clients to identify new markets, develop efficient investment strategies and increase the performance of their organisation. The techniques used also create an environment which encourages participants to be creative and innovative in an attempt to tackle future problems as well as day-to-day management and operational issues.
Strategic Landscaping is an adapted form of the technology Roadmapping techniques which have been used by the likes of Motorola and Boeing for a number of years. Their approach mapped the progress of technology through any given time period and was used as a strategic tool which allowed targeted investment based on their predictions of the future. Futurist has adapted the technique to take in a wider variety of issues including human resources and financial & legal systems, as well as broader issues such as the global economy, lifestyle trends, shifts in consumer preferences and government policy & regulation.
Establishing the Drivers
Each landscape begins with a brain storming session to identify the key drivers for the clients, this can also be done in a separate one-off drivers session similar to that described in the Scenario Planning Process.These drivers are usually centred around 4 or 5 key areas including;
- Markets
- Products & Services
- Skills & Resources
- Organisational Functions
- Materials & Processes
- External Drivers (e.g. Government regulation & legislation or the global economy)
Completing the Landscape
Once the drivers have been identified participants are asked to make comments on how they think each of the issues will develop within a given timescale, this is usually a maximum of 15 years and a minimum of 3 years. This process forces the client to think beyond their traditional business planning periods, by setting out how the future may change, clients are able to see how significant the shifts in their markets could be and how potential changes in different drivers and resources are required to line up in order to maximise organisational performance.
Once the landscape is fully populated the participants are asked to identify issues of particular importance, a new landscape is then produced which allows the client to plan for each of the key issues in greater detail. This plan is designed to be used as a frame of reference; it allows clients to set targets and to chart their progress over a given period of time. It is also designed to be flexible so strategies and plans can be adapted to cope with the uncertainty in the external environment.
Key Benefits of Strategic Landscaping
• Individual approach, each programme is tailored to the needs of the client
• Ability to filter out relevant information through prioritisation and analysis
• A frame of reference which can be kept as an internal resource to be referred back to when needed
• A flexible approach to action planning, the techniques allows users to make subtle changes in response to changing market conditions.