Scouting Strategic Opportunities for Viable Solutions in a Changing World

When associations and nonprofits are innovating new programs, products or services, they know how important it is to do market research to ask members and potential customers whether a solution will meet their needs. In a changing environment, most prospective consumers can’t anticipate what their future needs might be. Scanning the external environment for drivers of change will help organizations choose the best strategic opportunities to meet emerging and future needs.

In a recent project, Signature i researched five potential strategic opportunities for a major national association exploring the potential for a new credentialing program. Members had indicated they would value this benefit. But where are the real opportunities to meet needs not just now but in the next five to 10 years when any new program could be up and running? Which needs and what models will have the greatest market success? The best way to answer these feasibility questions is to look externally at the drivers shaping the profession, field or industry, and internally at where the organization’s strengths and interests are and what market research can confirm members will value.

When Signature i is scouting strategic opportunities we apply four perspectives to structure our research. These perspectives help decision makers identify high probability opportunities and design promising solutions for success. The four perspectives are future assumptions, critical changes, strategic questions and future context information.

Future assumptions are what futurists also call the official or expected future. Patterns of agreement often emerge across futures scans and expert and thought leader analysis. Of course, nothing about these future assumptions is definite, they are only highly probable. Because these are shared mental models about the future, we do risk missing equally important and surprising developments. Strategic shocks could alter the course of events. This is why Signature i encourages leaders to challenge these future assumptions if they can see possibilities others have not.

Critical changes can be just as probable as future assumptions; however, we are uncertain about their consequences in dynamic and complex systems. They could become game changers and create strategic advantage for those best prepared to act. This is why we Signature i asks leaders to think about what critical changes could mean for the success of their new direction or innovation.

Strategic questions bring insight to the choices we face and help clarify our decisions. This is why Signature i insists on good strategic questions as leaders analyze their opportunities.

Future context information offers important insight into how to structure new programs, products or services and why they might interest potential consumers. These trends, issues and new developments suggest attributes and implications leaders may want to factor into their decisions. For example, new learning technologies shape the possibilities for education. Demographics can help identify priority markets and their preferences. Signature i describes the future context to help leaders tailor their response to strategic opportunities for the world as it will be when the new solution is in full operation.

By scouting these strategic opportunities, leaders can have more confidence that they are choosing viable solutions that make sense in a future context. They will be moving with the needs and the markets as they are developing.