Foresight Project: Considering the Next Decade
What will the role of assessments in the veterinary profession be in the next 10 years, and what can we do to position ourselves for success?
These are the questions that ICVA’s Board of Directors committed to explore, an ongoing process dedicated to foresighting and guided by members of the University of Houston Foresight Program. The foresight project began with a presentation at the January 2020 ICVA Board meeting by two long-time ICVA volunteers, Drs. Donna Harris and Karen Rosenthal, who both completes master’s degrees in strategic foresight from the University of Houston. Foresight uses a variety of qualitative and quantitative tools to develop scenarios for alternative plausible futures for a specific industry. After understanding the value of foresight from our presentation, the Board of Directors decided to proceed with a project to explore the future of veterinary assessment.
The process so far:
- Members from the University of Houston conducted research and pulled together background information that would provide the foundation for future discussions and exercises.
- ICVA board members and staff were placed into small groups to review a list of factors likely to impact the field of veterinary assessment during the next decade.
- Each group discussed the factors, ranked them, and then came back together into one large group to share their thoughts. After repeating similar exercises several times, the small groups brainstormed several plausible futures based on their earlier discussions.
- A second Foresight exercise for ICVA Board members and staff was led by the University of Houston team.
- All of the collected feedback will be used by the team at the University of Houston to create a report, which will be presented and used as part of the ICVA’s upcoming strategic planning process.
It was important for ICVA to look at all the things that might impact veterinary assessment in the future and determine how these trends potentially collide to impact ICVA’s future. By examining trends, and working through scenarios and their implications, we determined how possible future events might affect ICVA. This helped us understand how to manage possible changes and how to create change that we prefer. This will help us create our best possible future.
As we look forward, learn from the past and embrace change, our foresight project laid the foundation for 2021 – 2024 strategic planning. We can take the foresight outcomes and use them in the strategic planning process to create strategic priorities for the next few years as well as review our mission, vision and values.
As we look forward, learn from the past and embrace change, our foresight project laid the foundation for 2021 – 2024 strategic planning. We can take the foresight outcomes and use them in the strategic planning process to create strategic priorities for the next few years as well as review our mission, vision and values.
Learn more about the University of Houston Foresight program.