On the Futurists page, I listed Jim Dator's characteristics of a good futurist.  This list is pretty daunting unless you recognise that the list mostly applies to those futurists who are academics or consultants and not those who work in organisations on a day-to-day basis.  Practitioner futurists work within organisational boundaries and need to build up a strong understanding of the organisation they work in, as well as the external environment in which the organisation exists.

The outcomes of the work of organisational futurists must be tangible and useful. They continue to work in the organisation - unlike the academic or the consultant who can leave after a project is completed. So while having the 'widest possible familiarity' with a lot of content might be useful for the academic and consultant, an organisational futurist needs to have knowledge that makes sense to the organisation. 

This is not to suggest that anyone working in the futures field should not build a broad understanding of issues, drivers and trends.  But, organisational futurists operate within some fairly clearly defined parameters and need to design their work in ways that will be accepted by the organisations in which they work.

Most organisational futurists probably don't set out to have that job title, although the National Trust in the UK recently advertised for a Foresight Director.  An organisational interest in futures work usually emerges because of the interest of a single individual, and over time, futures related positions may be created (for example, Fosters in Australia have a Foresight Manager position).  These sorts of futures positions are rare, and futures work is usually carried on under the guise of planning and strategy, rather than overtly labelled as 'futures' or 'foresight'.  This may be because many organisations are steeped in conventional management wisdom, and would regard a dedicated futures position as a waste of resources, and it is not necessary to have such positions to use futures approaches in the development of organisational strategy.

For me, an organisational futurist must:

• be willing to learn about futures approaches and how they can be used in organisations on a continuing basis (as opposed to using a futures method once),
• understand their own worldview and its impact on how they see the world,
• enjoy working with people,
• be able to develop theories about the worldviews of those people, in order to know how to 'pitch' the foresight message to them (for me, the first indicator of someone being 'futures ready' is what I call the 'eyes glaze over syndrome'; if I talk to someone about foresight and their eyes don't glaze over, I know that they at least are willing to explore the idea, even if they are not sure it is valuable; if their eyes glaze over, then I know not to spend any more of my limited time with them),
• understand how organisations work, and how to get things done in that environment,
• be able to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing,
• have a big picture perspective, and be able to identify wide ranging scanning sources that are both directly and indirectly relevant to the organisation,
• be resilient, because there will be many criticisms and put downs heading your way,
• and I agree with Dator on one thing, you must have:  insatiable curiosity, unbounded compassion, incurable optimism, and an unquenchable sense of humor and delight in the absurd.

And, you probably need to enjoy your own company since, as Peter Hayward from Swinburne often says, being an organisational futurist can be a lonely existence.

An Audit for Organisational Futurists