Looking ahead to 2030 through a memory of the future
Institut MorvelleInvented name
The leadership of a public school had written its vision for 2030. Instead of presenting it, we had managers read it as a text written in the past tense, from 2030. They said what inspired them and where they pushed back, then opened concrete workstreams with clear roles.
- Sector
- Public vocational training institution
- Size
- A few hundred staff
- Format
- An afternoon and a full day
- In the room
- The extended management committee, that is the school’s managers: a few dozen people, first in small teams, then in workstreams.
Context
- Senior leadership has just written a vision of the school for 2030.
- The management change under way in the parent administration has to reach the school, and therefore its training courses.
- The starting diagnosis: staff who stay in an executing role while wishing for less top-down decisions, recognition that rewards reporting more than initiative, uneven management cultures, and little cooperation across departments.
The challenge
Turn a vision written by leadership into one the management team carries. Without one more top-down presentation, and ending with clear roles.
The design
Key ideas
The Present, Future, Action compass
Three design principles, taken from an open-licence model. Present: listen to lived realities rather than align on a diagnosis. Future: build on leadership’s vision together. Action: clarify commitments and share out the roles.
A silent start
Using the management principles the organisation already had, everyone silently writes one “strength” and one “challenge” of the school on two sticky notes. They talk about them in pairs, then put them on the wall without comment.
The memory of the future
Ten minutes of individual reading: a text written in the past tense, from 2030. Then a personal canvas: what inspires me, where I push back, and why. Only then, in teams: what happened between today and 2030?
Use cases owned by managers
A handful of telling situations, each owned by a volunteer manager. Teams analyse them in two rounds on a three-page canvas: share how things work today, agree on a new split of roles, set up how it will run.
Designed with an in-house team
Several working sessions with an internal project team. The vision text, the use cases and their owners were chosen with them.
How the time was used
- Open
- Explore
- Decide
- Celebrate
Day 1 · afternoon
2pmOpen
Introduction
Leadership’s ambition and the diagnosis.
2.15pmOpen
Check-in
One strength, one challenge: in silence, then in pairs, then on the wall.
2.45pmExplore
Memory of the future
Reading, personal canvas, team sharing, plenary.
4.15pmExplore
The use cases
The cases, their owners and the analysis canvas.
5pmCelebrate
End of day one
Followed by an informal evening.
Day 2
9amOpen
Forming teams
One team per use case.
Explore
Working the cases
Two rounds: how it works today, who is involved, options.
12pmExplore
Plenary
Each workstream shares its options with the room.
2pmDecide
Next steps
Individual commitments and the management committee’s role.
3pmDecide
Leadership responds
What the head of the school heard, and what comes next.
4pmCelebrate
Close
End of the two days.
The seminar in miniature
Introduction
In front of a few dozen managers, leadership sets out its ambition and the diagnosis: staff who stay in an executing role while wanting less top-down decisions, recognition that rewards reporting more than initiative, mixed management cultures. Not a presentation of the vision: that will come another way.
Boarding
Drawing on the management principles the organisation already has, each person silently writes one “strength” and one “challenge” of the school on two sticky notes. They talk it over in pairs, then put them up without comment. Everyone has had a say before the work begins.
Memory of the future
Ten minutes of reading, each person alone: leadership’s vision, written in the past tense, from 2030. Then a personal canvas. The first question is “where do I push back?”, before “what do we do?”.
What inspires me: …
Where I push back: …
And why: …
Sharing in teams
Only then, in teams: what happened between today and 2030? Each person brings what inspires them and where they push back, then the room pools it. The vision written by leadership starts to belong to the managers.
A friendly evening
In the late afternoon, the use cases are presented: a handful of telling situations, each owned by a volunteer manager, and the canvas that will be used to analyse them. Then the day closes, and a friendly evening rounds it off together.
Use cases
One team per use case, each in its own room with the manager who owns it. Two rounds on a three-page canvas: share how things work today and who is involved, agree on a new split of roles, set up how it will run. Options turn into workstreams.
- How it works today
- The split of roles
- How it will run
Pulling it together
Each workstream presents its options to the room. The report-back is prepared with flowAI from the transcripts, with a page of “convergences to decide on” that also says what is missing: for instance, no group had filled in the follow-up page.
Next steps
Each person sets out their individual commitments, and the leadership team’s role is defined. The director then shares what they heard and what comes next: use cases validated by the leadership team, rolled out by each director, reviewed quarterly. It ends on clear roles.
The materials, redrawn
The Present, Future, Action compass
- 1
Present Listen to lived realities rather than align on a diagnosis.
- 2
Future Build an inspiring future together, starting from leadership’s vision.
- 3
Action Clarify commitments and share out the roles.
A workstream sheet and its three pages
Workstream title
The question the team is answering?
Team: first names, and the manager who owns the case
- 1/3
Share
How it works today, who is involved, where it gets stuck
- 2/3
Agree
A new split of roles, who decides what
- 3/3
Set up
How it will run, next steps, follow-up
Deliverables and follow-up
- A slide report, workstream by workstream, with a few key figures: workstreams opened, working rounds, cross-cutting issues passed up to leadership.
- A “convergences to decide on” page that also says what is missing. For instance: no group had filled in the follow-up page.
- A working frame for each workstream.
- A follow-up plan: cases approved by the executive committee, each director rolling them out, a quarterly check-in.
AI and digital tools
The report was prepared with flowAI, Flow Design’s platform, from the transcripts of the plenary.
What we take away
- The vision is not presented, it is lived as a memory. People are first asked “where do I push back?”, and only then “what do we do?”.
- A useful report also says what did not get done: missing owners or timelines, pages left blank.
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