Making Futures Work

Chapter 11. Strategy

You can think about the future all day, but without some kind of plan for what to do with that visioning, you could be left with merely a “thought exercise.” Why do we even think about the future if not to incite change in the way we live or plan today? This is why strategic planning is an essential part of this process, providing an ability to literally create the future we want or avoid the future we don’t want. Strategy in the futures process is a way to tie everything you’ve done into an actionable roadmap. Even if it’s just to say, “There’s a future we don’t want, so let’s discuss a contingency plan for how we might respond if it happens.” That strategy, whether a multimillion-dollar investment or a list of procedures, is still a workable plan to face the future head-on with confidence. But let’s quickly define two words we might use to describe how you plan a strategy—strategy and tactics. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines strategy as “a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim.” It’s a plan, path, or roadmap—the tasks, milestones, or steps that must be met or completed to reach a goal at some point in the future. The OED defines tactics as “the particular method you use to achieve something.” Essentially, the strategy is the long-term plan, and you might employ a number of tactics or methods to achieve that plan. Strategies can change based on the success or failure of your methods. And even tactics have strategies embedded ...