Time management and delegation are key activities for executives, but more is required if they want to enhance their strategic foresight.
The business world seems to be moving faster than ever. The pace of technology disruption, plus market shifts, regulatory reform and geopolitical instabilities can challenge even the more carefully thought out strategies. In this rapidly evolving landscape, anticipating change has become a critical skill for executives. It's no longer enough to simply react to disruptions as they happen - to stay ahead, leaders must proactively scan the horizon for emerging trends and potential threats.
Strategic foresight, the practice of exploring multiple potential futures to inform present-day decisions, is increasingly recognised as an essential tool for navigating uncertainty. By considering a range of possible scenarios, organisations can stress-test their strategies, identify hidden opportunities and risks, and build the agility to pivot when the unexpected occurs.
Yet despite the clear benefits, many executives struggle to effectively integrate strategic foresight into their decision-making processes. They may get so caught up fighting daily fires that peering into the future feels like an unaffordable luxury. They may lack trust in their teams to do high-quality strategic thinking, causing them to get overly involved in tactical details. Or they may simply be unsure where to start with foresight methodologies like scenario planning and trend analysis.
In this article, we'll explore some of the key challenges that prevent executives from making strategic foresight a regular practice - and discuss practical solutions to overcome those barriers. Because in a world where change is the only constant, the ability to anticipate the future isn't optional. It's quickly becoming the price of admission for those who want to lead.
As an executive or leader, how often do you find yourself frantically juggling multiple priorities, putting out fires, or getting pulled into the operational weeds of your business? If you're like most leaders I talk to, the answer is probably "all the time." We're constantly context switching between urgent short-term issues, important strategic initiatives, and everything in between. It's exhausting and fragmenting.
The problem is, all this context switching leaves precious little time for the kind of deep, focused strategic thinking required to truly anticipate and prepare for the future. We know it's critical, but it keeps getting pushed to the backburner by more immediate concerns. Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and before you know it, another year has flown by. And then it's that time to do the strategic planning, and you haven't even had time to think about it.
Even when we do carve out time to contemplate the future, it's challenging to fully shift into that long-term, expansive headspace. Our brains are still churning through our task lists, conversations, and decisions from the day. It takes real discipline and practice to genuinely clear our mental decks for foresight.
But as difficult as it is, developing this capacity for deep strategic reflection is one of the most vital skills for modern executives. The pace of change is unrelenting. Disruption can come from any direction. Leaders who can't lift their gaze beyond the immediate horizon risk being blindsided and left behind.
So how do we fix this? Part of the solution is surely about ruthlessly prioritising, delegating, and protecting strategic thinking time like our businesses depend on it - because they do. But it's also about empowering our teams with the right tools, processes, and decision-making capabilities so we're not constantly drawn into operational details.
This is what I would call the traditional approach. You can find out many tips, tricks and approaches from countless leadership books, blogs, podcasts, etc. Doing this well and in a way which grows the capabilities of your teams is one of the biggest challenges and sources of satisfaction for leaders.
The key assumption of this approach is that you'll create the time and space for the important work. That you'll finally get a chance to do the deep research, thinking and planning that will yield a transformative strategy for your organisation or business.
But we all know that reality is often different.
The truth is that there is no solution to time management. You are always dealing with complex systems that respond to any actions being taken, and better time management will only create more opportunities for things to compete for your time. Sure you might have more awareness of the trade-offs from different prioritisation choices, but it still doesn't mean you'll make the best choices all the time.
This is one of the reasons why I'm building Portage. I know that even with perfect time management, it will always be a challenge to do the deep thinking and planning that is required to make the best strategic decisions. One of the main reasons why this is true, is that there are no tools out there to help with developing strategies. There's lots of frameworks, but these require time and attention which we know is in short supply.
I believe that by using a modern collaboration platform enabled with AI to augment our strategic thinking, we can make better decisions, faster, and with more confidence. By guiding teams through a rigorous strategic planning process, analysing complex data, and stress-testing approaches, tools like Portage enable consistently higher-quality strategic decisions at all levels of the organisation. Rather than staring at a blank whiteboard, or hiring expensive management consultants, you can have a structured, data-driven approach to developing strategies that is easy to use. Plus, it's easy to jump in when you have a spare moment.
And that, in turn, frees up crucial executive bandwidth for the kind of future-focused thinking that's so easily crowded out, but so important. Context switching may be a constant challenge, but with the right strategic tools and an empowered team, it doesn't have to be a constant barrier to foresight.
As an executive, I know how easy it is to get sucked into dealing with day-to-day operational issues and putting out fires. One of the hardest lessons I had to learn was to stop trying to handle things myself to ensure they get done right. Many bitter pills and difficult conversations later, I can say in a very clear way that this is a huge mistake.
When I don't delegate effectively, I end up wasting huge amounts of time on low-level details and tactical execution. This prevents me from focusing on the strategic thinking and planning that should be my primary role as a leader. I'm not able to carve out the time and mental space to reflect on the future, identify emerging threats and opportunities, and chart the best path forward for the organisation.
The root cause is often I feel that there is lack of understanding of the bigger picture. I worry that if I'm not intimately involved in every decision, things will go off the rails. But in reality, this is short-sighted. If I haven't hired great people and empowered them to lead, that's on me. And if I haven't communicated well enough that I trust them to make good decisions, thats on me too. Neglecting to delegate slows my team's development and keeps them from reaching their full potential.
This was another driver for me to build Portage. The idea of having a tool which team members can use to play through different facets of the strategy, and to use AI chat to ask questions and seek guidance, was a way to help teams develop their strategic thinking capabilities. This helps team members develop their own strategic thinking capabilities, and to build the confidence to make decisions without needing to constantly check in with me. They get the chance to practice thinking through complex issues, and to get insights to help make decisions that are consistent with the overall strategy.
Then, with this confidence in the team, it is much easier to spend more time looking to the horizon and building in more sophisticated practices like strategic foresight.
So how do we get better at strategic foresight? The first step is carving out dedicated time for future-oriented strategic thinking. I know it's not easy, but this has to become a sacred, non-negotiable part of your calendar. Block off a couple hours each week to step back from the day-to-day firefighting and really think about the bigger picture.
The first key practice is setting up a way to continuously scan for those weak signals and emerging trends that could radically reshape the future. Don't just look within your own industry - often the most disruptive developments come from the periphery or adjacent sectors. Tap into diverse networks and consume content way outside your usual bubble. This could be things like Google Alerts, Feedly, RSS feeds, or other market scanning platforms. Relying on algorithmic feeds like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., are less effective as they will not surface so-called "weak signals", so look for platforms which can help find these sorts of things.
The second thing is to realise that "the future" isn't real. In fact, there is no "the future", there are in fact infinite "futures". So, during this strategic thinking time, it is incredibly useful to start to think about these futures through different scenarios. Envision alternative futures and consider how your strategy would need to adapt. Take those trends and weak signals you've been tracking and play them out into different future worlds. What if that nascent technology becomes dominant? How would a major policy shift reshape your industry? Regularly going through these thought experiments builds the foresight muscle.
Lastly, make sure you have a diversity of perspectives informing your strategic dialogue. It's all too easy to fall prey to groupthink and just reinforce our existing assumptions. Actively seek out contrarian voices that challenge the status quo. Bring people from different levels and functions into the strategy process. This diversity of thought is essential for spotting blind spots and envisioning new possibilities. Consider using this strategy time to work on the front-line, or satellite offices, do a secret shopper, or just find a way to get outside of your bubble.
By making future-oriented thinking a habit, leveraging techniques like scenario planning, continuously scanning for signals of change, and embracing diverse perspectives, you can dramatically level up your capacity for strategic foresight. And that's what will enable you to lead your organisation with vision and agility in the face of relentless change.
By improving your strategic foresight capabilities, you can position your organisation to thrive amidst uncertainty and change. The payoff of enhancing this critical skill is significant:
When you dedicate time and energy to exploring alternative future scenarios, you build the mental muscle to anticipate a wider range of possibilities. This helps you craft strategies that are more adaptable and resilient.
There has been some solid research supporting this fact: Future prepared businesses perform better with 33% higher profit and 200% higher growth that firms which are not future prepared.
With greater foresight, you shift from being reactive to proactive. You can spot emerging trends and disruptive threats on the horizon early. This allows you to take calculated bets to capitalise on new growth opportunities. You can also put in place mitigation strategies to minimize downside risks before they escalate into full-blown crises.
A prominent British insurance company used foresight to adapt to volatile changes from government, customers, climate change, public health and technology.
Ultimately, the purpose of foresight is to make better decisions in the present. By exploring multiple futures, you can identify the strategies and choices that perform well across different scenarios - not just the expected baseline future.
The result is strategies that are more robust and adaptable. They have contingencies and optionality built in. They can be updated more easily as the future unfolds, not cast in stone based on a single point forecast which can be undone by a single disruption or incorrect assumption.
The strategic payoff of improved foresight is clear. Amidst volatility, it enables you to anticipate change, shape the future, and create outsized value. The question is, are you investing enough today in this critical capability?
Improving strategic foresight is no longer a "nice to have" skill for modern executives - it's an absolute necessity. In today's hyper-disruptive business landscape, the ability to anticipate and prepare for future change has become a key differentiator between those who thrive and those who struggle to keep up.
But as we've seen, developing this critical capability is easier said than done. Executives are constantly juggling competing priorities, putting out fires, and getting pulled into the day-to-day operational weeds. This leaves precious little bandwidth for the kind of deep, future-oriented thinking that effective strategic foresight requires.
The good news is that there are proven strategies and tools that can help. By being intentional about carving out dedicated time for strategic reflection, leveraging techniques like scenario planning, and harnessing the power of AI-powered platforms like Portage, leaders can dramatically level up their foresight abilities.
But perhaps even more importantly, executives need to get serious about empowering and trusting their teams. When you have confidence that your people are applying sound strategic thinking and making smart decisions, you can let go of the reins and focus on the bigger picture. It's a virtuous cycle - better strategic capabilities across the organisation leads to more space for executive foresight, which in turn drives more robust strategies.
Ultimately, the ability to peer around corners and proactively shape the future is what separates the true visionaries from the rest of the pack. By making strategic foresight a priority, continuously sharpening their skills, and equipping their teams with the right tools, modern executives can confidently lead their organisations through whatever turbulent times may lie ahead.
