Tool 9: Future triangle workshop

TOOL 9

Future triangle workshop

STAGE IN THE COMMUNITY-LEAD PLACE-BASED PROCESS: Stage III. Create the Vision and Objectives PARTICIPATION LEVEL ON THE LADDER 5. Involvement

Participation level on the ladder 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

WHEN TO USE THIS TOOL: If you held a workshop today, could you ensure that many of the identified stakeholders and/or diverse users would attend? Have you mapped the intended ‘place’ together with other stakeholders? do you have the resources in place to begin acting on the set vision? If the answer to all of these questions is yes, you are ready to use this tool! HOW TO BEST USE THIS TOOL: It is best to use this tool together with a medium to large group (15-60 participants) of diverse stakeholders.

TYPE OF ACTIVITY: Workshop with community members. DURATION: Preparation: 2 hours; Workshop: 2 hours (or longer depending on the number of participants).

PART 1. GETTING READY

STEP 1.

PREPARATION OF THE WORKSHOP Duration: 2-3 hours

After identifying your stakeholders (in STAGE I) and using one of the mapping tools (in STAGE II): • Contact relevant stakeholders and invite them to the Future Triangle workshop. • Prepare the workshop materials, including the information sheets and worksheets to print, and some powerpoint slides summarizing the information sheets.

HOW TO MOVE UP ON THE LADDER:

DO: Include many diverse stakeholders (including normally marginalized actors) in setting the vision. DO: Have follow up structures in place, so that participants know that there will be follow up on their ideas. DO: Make sure that all voices are heard.

DON'T: Set the vision with only token involvement from people outside the group driving the project– you risk going down the ladder to consultation.

You can find the workshop materials here.

PART 2. EXECUTION OF THE WORKSHOP

STEP 2.

WELCOME EVERYBODY TO THE WORKSHOP AND SET EXPECTATIONS • Present the agenda, purpose and goals of the workshop • Set realistic expectations and make sure that everyone in the room knows what’s expected of them going forward. • Let participants introduce themselves for about 1 min each

INTRODUCING THE FUTURE TRIANGLE METHOD

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PULL OF THE FUTURE

The tension and interaction between these three forces creates a ‘plausible future scenario’, inside the triangle.

Read more here

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WEIGHT OF THE PAST PLAUSIBLE FUTURE

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PUSH OF THE PRESENT

STEP 3.

GROUP ACTIVITY

Brainstorming the forces of the Future, Present, and Past

Duration: 20-30 min

• Split into diverse groups of 2-4 people • Print the worksheets • Give 10 minutes for participants to go through each of the 3 outer triangles

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THE PULL OF THE FUTURE Think about the ideal future by reflecting on the following questions:

• What would be the ideal future for this issue? • What futures do we want to avoid? • What tools and resources do we have that can lead us towards that future? • What do we lack to influence change? What are our limits? • Is it possible to impact the futures? Or will it happen anyway? • Are there competing images of the future?

Put sticky notes in this section of the triangle.

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THE PUSH OF THE PRESENT Think about current trends by reflecting on the following questions:

• What trends and technologies exist right now? • What things are pushing change forward? • What trends are pushing us towards particular futures? • What quantitative drivers/trends are changing the future?

Put sticky notes in this section of the triangle.

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THE WEIGHT OF THE PAST Think about the current status quo and barriers to change, by reflecting on the following questions:

• What is the current status quo? • Who benefits from the status quo? • Who loses if it is changed? • What are the barriers to change? • What are the deep structures that resist change?

Put sticky notes in this section of the triangle.

STEP 4.

GROUP ACTIVITY

Group discussion and prototyping the desired plausible future scenario

Duration: 1 hour. 5 minutes per group (max. 30 min in total) and then 20 minutes for setting the desired plausible future scenario.

Steps:

1. Reconvene into one large group and have each group present their main sticky notes for each of the future, present, and past forces. 2.Put all of the sticky notes onto a big triangle at the front of the room. Lead a group discussion and get everyone to agree on the major important drivers for each category, and how much each one ‘pulls’ the plausible future scenario in that direction. 3.Print the sheet on desired plausible future scenarios, and present the concept

of the ‘plausible future scenario’ to the main group.

STEP 5.

GROUP ACTIVITY

Present the concept of the ‘plausible future scenario’ to the main group

PROTOTYPING: Make ‘plausible futures’ scenarios by going through the following questions: • Look at the trends that have emerged from the group discussion, and note if any of the trends are incompatible with one another. Which one is more likely? • When we put the forces together, what coherent hypothesis about the future

emerges?

• Ask everyone to take 5 minutes and write down the desirable and undesirable future scenarios, based on the data. • Read out the plausible futures, and find common themes. • Can we agree on a desired plausible future scenario? Try to write up ONE main desirable future scenario. What steps would we need to do to move the plausible future towards the more desirable outcome? • Look at the undesirable future scenarios. Is it possible to avoid them? What steps would we need to take to avoid them?