A Future Search is a meeting that uniquely enables people to take down the walls that keep them apart. Future Search details this highly successful way for organizations and communities of all types to apply global thinking and democratic values to achieve rapid, whole-systems improvement. In this widely successful approach, diverse stakeholders in an organization, community, or issue come together for two or three days to explore their shared past, present, and future in a global context. What makes this meeting different from other look-alikes are the transformative underlying principles: Get the whole system in the room; think globally (the "whole elephant") before acting locally; focus on the future and common ground; self-manage tasks and take responsibility for action.
The practical uses of this approach are unlimited. Future searches have resulted in stakeholders becoming better able to understand and take responsibility for their joint situation. Others have provided a way to create a shared vision and action agenda for the future while fully facing the past and present. If your goal is a values-based umbrella for action across lines of culture, class, race, ethnicity, status and educational background, future search is for you.
Weisbord and Janoff provide guidance for every step of the way, from a detailed discussion of conditions for success to setting up rooms and facilitating the conference. In addition, they include a wealth of resources such as handouts, sample client workbooks, follow-up reports, and other practical tools. New materials for the third edition include:
+ New cases and examples
+ Further emphasis on the four core principles
+ How the methodology has changed, including practices that are no longer part of the techniques.
+ Further concentration on follow-up post-conference
+ Update to the logistics section to show how Future Search can "go green."
New chapters will include:
+ A chapter on the "ripple effect" and how the Future Search movement has gone global, crossing both geographic and cultural boundaries
+ A chapter on Future Search in cyberspace and how Future Search meetings can be effectively held online and through virtual communities
+ Interviews with Future Search leaders and what they accomplished and learned in the last few six - seven years