CPS STAGE: IMAGINE THE FUTURE
ABOUT THIS STAGE
The CPS process often begins,
as it were, at the beginning: identifying
what you want to achieve. Think of the imagined future - which is by definition
some distance from the current situation - as something you want: a goal, wish,
challenge, or opportunity.
When imagining the future state, use
these guidelines:
- Use divergent thinking tools to generate many possible future states (that is, goals, wishes, challenges, opportunities).
- Begin the future statements with "I wish...," "I want...," "I will...," or "It
would be great if...."
- Make the statements affirmative; that is, something
you want, not something you do not want.
- Use convergent thinking tools to select the ideal desired future state. Make the final statement
broad, brief, and beneficial. That is, it should
be sufficiently broad as to allow a number of different
problem statements (see Find the Questions); it
should be concise, without dependent clauses, conditions,
or rationales; and it should be something that is
worth doing.
- Ask yourself three questions: 1) Do you own
this situation? 2) Are you motivated to do something
about it? 3) Are you interested in creative solutions?
If you answer "yes" to all three, the situation is
a good candidate for CPS.
This stage is closely related to the next, Find the Questions. Together, these steps represent the process of
knowing what specific problem you are trying to solve.
NOW WHAT
Here are some choices:
- Click any part of the model above to examine that stage in
more detail.
- Continue the tour in a linear way by moving
on to Find the Questions.
CONTACT US WHEN YOU ARE READY
When you're ready to
talk to us about teaching you this process or facilitating
a problem-solving session, just holler.