EDSC Innovation RH - HR Innovation ESDC/Foresight
What is Foresight?
Foresight is a critical activity that involves analyzing the future. The objective of conducting foresight activities is to examine plausible, alternative futures and identify the challenges and opportunities that may arise. Foresight gives us the opportunity to understand the various forces that shape a system, how the system may evolve and what unanticipated circumstances may come about. Within the context of the Public Service, foresight helps governments adjust to a quickly changing world.[1] It can be applied to policy development, strategic planning, decision-making, auditing and evaluating as a mechanism to promote proactive governance.
Foresight is not to be confused with forecasting. Forecasting refers to the process of trying to predict the future using past data; whereas foresight helps us prepare for a wider range of futures.[2]
Read our introduction to foresight document.
Scan club
Scan Club is a forum where we present and discuss weak signals discovered during an environment scan (articles, documentaries,etc.). A weak signal is an indicator of a potentially emerging disruption that may become significant in the future. During the session, the analyst first presents the weak signal. Then, ask for questions and considerations. Finally, we push the weak signals out to the future to flag the potential changes this signal could bring to the world if it became significant. Contact us at EDSC.InnovationRH-HRInnovation.ESDC@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca for more information.
| Date | Topic | Weak Signals | Outputs (insights and implications) |
| October 21st 2021 | The Future of Productivity | ||
| December 2nd 2021 | The Future of Languages | ||
| February 9th 2022 | The Future of the Mental Health | ||
| March 24th 2022 | The Future of the Diversity and Inclusion | ||
| April 21st 2022 | The Future of the Workplace | ||
| June 7th 2022 | The Future of the Workforce | File:ScanClub WeakSignals Workforce June2022.pdf | |
| July 7th 2022 | The Future of Accessibility | File:ScanClub WeakSignals Accessibility July2022.pdf | |
| August 10th 2022 | The Future of Recruitment | ||
| September 7th 2022 | The Future of Leadership | ||
| October 6th 2022 | The Future of Skills & Development | ||
| November 9th 2022 | The Future of Management | ||
| December 7th 2022 | The Future of Employee Experience |
References
- ↑ Policy Horizons Canada. (2021). Module 1: Introduction to Foresight. Retrieved from https://horizons.gc.ca/en/our-work/learning-materials/foresight-training-manual-module-1-introduction-to-foresight/
- ↑ Policy Horizons Canada. (2018). Foresight vs Forecast. Retrieved from http://canadabeyond150.ca/blog/2018/03/foresight-vs-forecast/#:~:text=Foresight%20does%20not%20predict%20the,and%20the%20analysis%20of%20trends.