Many of the narratives and stories reflecting the future of work reinforce a past and current reality of command and control hierarchies, extraction and exploitation of human potential and natural resources, and systemic oppression and exclusion that we don’t want to repeat. Yet current official futures of the future of work perpetuate these models, practices and concepts, informing and shaping our futures. We need to articulate the futures we want and need to create. How might our notions of work, careers, and organizations shift? What are the new narratives and stories needed to transform our understanding and practice of belonging at work over the next decade? What forces could contribute to a new vision for belonging at work? What forces could impede new approaches for thinking and organizing?
These sessions invite participants to step into a place of possibility and imagine alternative visions and stories for the future of belonging at work in the next decade that can inform our individual and collective experiences and break out of the prevailing narratives and norms. We hope to inspire new perspectives, actions, and collaborations by bringing together practitioners, thinkers and innovators committed to an alternative future for belonging at work. This project is a space for learning from lived experience, historical context and future dreams to systematically examine and envision belonging at work.
Participants will learn and practice the basics of “foresight,” a discipline that invites people to collaborate, confront dilemmas, overcome challenges, and imagine new possibilities for the future. Through facilitated discussion, group work and provocative exercises, the group will collectively explore levers of change, consider new narratives for belonging at work, and assess action toward more transformational, optimistic futures.
Here are a few ways that you can contribute to this work even if you can’t attend the sessions.
Identify drivers. Watch this video to learn the basics of futures thinking including drivers. Add drivers to the Miro board. Drivers are inputs for developing scenarios and will also play a key role in the activities of session 6 on February 22.
Share signals. Watch this video to learn more about signals. Signals are vital building blocks for creating both scenarios and artifacts from the future. You can submit individual signals using this form: https://bit.ly/belongingatworksignals
Highlight gaps. What else are we missing from the themes and questions shared above? What are the tradeoffs or new connection points that we need to be aware of? Add your insights to the Miro board!