PDF: Guided Imaging Exercise – Facilitator’s Guide
This is a visualization exercise that helps participants draw on their intuition to consider plausible futures. Guided imaging can be applied at various stages in the foresight process to support participants’ exploration of future implications. The visualization component may take about 5 minutes, followed by a 30-45 minute discussion, depending on the number of participants.
People:
Materials:
Post on the wall:
Meeting Space:
A quiet room with comfortable seating for all, conducive to hearing the facilitator and other participants, and a
large wall to collect flip chart notes.
TIME | ACTIVITY |
5-10 MIN | 1. General meeting instructions (if needed) |
60 MIN | 2. Give context for the guided imaging exercise (3 minutes) 3. Provide instructions for the exercise (2 minutes) 4. Relax, visualize and reflect on the future (10 mins) 5. Discussion: explore what surprised participants about the future (30 minutes) 6. Summarize key points from guided imaging exercise (1 minute) |
10 MIN | 8. Reflect on and/or evaluate the exercise |
EST. TOTAL TIME: 60 minutes
Guided imaging is an experiential tool. In foresight, it allows participants to tap into their intuitions and imaginations to explore plausible future outcomes. There are three points in the Horizons Foresight Method in particular where we suggest using guided imaging to prepare participants for a brainstorming session (see Appendixappendix for further detail):
At these stages, guided imaging may be used to highlight key ideas gathered so far and to allow participants to quietly reflect on them.
The appendix of this guide includes an example of a guided imaging script for each of the above purposes. (Also see the tip sheet on guided imaging in module 1, which includes a general script for introducing guided imaging). In some cases, a guided imaging exercise can be led without a carefully crafted script; it can be as impromptu as a facilitator reviewing points raised in an earlier discussion and then asking participants to visualize them. However, the facilitator will likely want to prepare some points in advance to draw upon selectively, and may even read a highly constructed narrative script.
To draw participants into the visualization exercise, it is helpful to provide cues that involve the senses (what are the sights, sounds, or smells?), particularly at the start of the exercise. However, be careful not to overload participants with too much detail or prescription about what the world looks like; let them use their imagination. The guided imaging script is a scaffold for participants to fill in details that will be the focus of discussion. A balance can be achieved by mixing inconsequential details (e.g. “you step off the plane to find it is a bright, warm day”) with general statements and open-ended questions around the policy issues to be explored (e.g. “Cyberbreaches
are a frequent occurrence. What does that look like? How are people responding?”). To allow for a good wrap-up discussion, the script writer should be clear about what points can be assumed/prescribed in the visualization (often these are conclusions from a previous discussion) and what implications can be left open for participants to explore.
At any time in a guided imaging exercise, and particularly at the end, the facilitator may wish to prompt participants to explore challenges and opportunities for Canadian policy. It is important to leave a pause for participants to do this. Possible questions for them to explore in their minds include:
If the guided imaging script is long (closer to 5 minutes than 1 minute), consider a test run of the activity with colleagues. After discussing what they saw, ask for any observations on the pace of the delivery, the quality of imagery, parts of the script that worked and didn’t work, etc. A long guided imaging exercise may need to be revised several times until it is just right. If you are reading the guided imaging exercise directly from a script, remember to speak very slowly and pause at points where participants are to reflect and fill in details, such as after a question. It may also be helpful to record yourself reading the guided imaging script in order to play it back and try it yourself; it is very easy to read too quickly.
ACTIVITY | NOTES |
---|---|
1. General meeting introductions (if needed) (5 minutes)
|
|
2. Give context for the guided imaging exercise (3 minutes)
|
|
3. Provide activity instructions (2 minutes)
|
|
4. Relax, visualize and reflect on the future (10 minutes)
|
|
5. Discussion: explore what surprised participants in the future (30 minutes)
Suggestions:
|
|
6. Summarize points of guided imaging exercise (1 minute)
|
|
7. Reflect on and/or evaluate the exercise (10 minutes)
|
|
As noted, guided imaging is a tool that can support a casade diagram exercise (module 3 or module 5) or a scenario exercise (module 6), or it can be used to communicate foresight findings to a new audience (e.g. it may be used before a Three Horizons exercise).
This appendix includes examples of the three most common ways that Horizons uses guided imaging, although guided imaging can be a useful tool at any point in the foresight process.
In the scanning phase (module 3) and change driver phase (module 5), guided imaging can catalyze a cascade diagram discussion by helping participants quickly explore the plausible future implications of a weak signal or change driver (see cascade diagram exercises for a weak signal and change driver).
After participants have discussed the qualities of a weak signal (or a change driver), an impromptu guided imaging exercise can contribute ideas for a cascade diagram. Guided imaging interrupts thinking about the present and moves the discussion into a future context. It starts with a weak signal (or change driver) and assumes it continues to grow over the next 10 – 15 years. In a relaxed state, participants can quickly form creative, plausible ideas about the future.
“We’ll start with some guided imaging to identify some implications of our weak signal. This is a useful way to tap into the insight we have about the future. We’re going to assume that our weak signal develops into a significant shift and consider what that future might look like. Close your eyes. Feel your feet on the floor. Relax your shoulders. Take a deep breath in….and out. Relax your eyes… your cheeks…your jaw.
Imagine that it is now 2030, and [this weak signal] has developed into a more widespread change in the
world [summarize some of the features the group just discussed].
[Prompt participants with other relevant changes that help describe how 2030 is different from today]: Take a walk around. Notice that we are an older society. Our economy is more globalized. There is greater use of artificial intelligence and robotics.
[Ask questions, such as those below:]
Go ahead and wander around in this world. If you see someone on the street, ask them a question to find out more.”
Before wrapping up, instruct participants to explore for another minute and then open their eyes when they are ready. Give participants a minute to record a few notes on what they saw.
Ask them to each share a single implication of the weak signal in 2030. Write these as a list of first-order consequences on the right side of the cascade diagram. Move on to second- and third-order consequences as participants delve into deeper implications.
In the scenario development phase (module 6), guided imaging is frequently used as part of an iterative process to develop scenarios. Horizons typically uses guided imaging after having developed the scenario logic and part of the structural scenario (see module 6 slides and speaking points). Partway through scenario development, whatever has been drafted so far can be used as the scaffolding for the guided imaging exercise; the content generated from guided imaging in turn can contribute to further advancing the scenario. Participants are able to experience the scenario more vividly through guided imaging, helping them further envision details about the scenario or the policy challenges and opportunities it might create.
In Horizons’ Future of Asia study, facilitators of the Digital Asia scenario led a scenario exercise using parts of the draft structural scenario table they had developed. They used the scenario table for the guided imaging script, reading lines and improvising as needed to form a basic overview story of the scenario. (In the case of this exercise, the draft structural scenario was quite large, so the facilitators focused on only parts of it. A piece is excerpted below as an example. It is important not to overwhelm participants with information, but to give them enough to spark their imaginations). After the guided imaging exercise, participants were prompted to share what they saw to develop more specific insight into what was occurring in the scenario. Some of this detail was then added to the structural scenario table.
Imagine it is the year 2030. You are on a trip to Asia. You are about to land in a city you have wanted to visit. You are feeling relaxed, clear and energized. As the plane door opens you feel the temperature change and you smell the unusual smells.
Here are some of the things that are happening… [Read through the draft structural scenario table, selecting relevant parts of the scenario logic and change drivers, possibly touching on some system elements… SLOWLY]
Now I want you to focus on a few special features… [Read the system elements and slowly go through the facets, allowing many PAUSES. Ask any questions you have of participants, possibly about the facets or other themes in the scenario table you’d like to flesh out]
Now take a minute to review what you have seen and develop a few short headlines to describe the most interesting or significant changes you saw.
When you are ready, open your eyes… [discuss the visualization, one system element at a time]
Power Shift | US still dominant but Asian influence growing |
Economy | Slow growth in Asia |
Structural Changes in Economy |
Structural insecurity: increasing feeling of insecurity as job and income losses occur, but costs go down as well |
Automation transforming jobs |
High job losses: Businesses taking advantage of robotics, a decade is lost as labour force adapts to new economy |
Ownership unbundling |
A battle between rights holders and pirates, and open source dominates. The sharing economy continues in familiar areas, and people increasingly see it as essential. Some successes, some failures, but on average, it works. |
Cyber living and working |
Robots are removing jobs faster than new jobs are appearing. East Asia and the West are hiring young virtual workers, especially from South and Southeast Asia. |
System Elements | Facets |
Character of Work |
|
Economic Sector(s) |
|
Character of Trade |
|
When presenting the results of a foresight study, guided imaging can help a new audience understand and explore the associated policy implications. Horizons uses guided imaging as a tool to quickly engage an audience with new content and explore the implications for specific policy areas and for the Government of Canada as a whole.
Following the Future of Asia study, Horizons engaged public servants with the content through a guided imaging exercise that summarized some key findings of the report (below). These were not intended to be predictions of the future, but rather a plausible future to explore.
Imagine that you are a public servant in 2030, observing the world and the new policy challenges and opportunities it has created for your department and the Government of Canada.
You see that Asia has now emerged as the new centre of gravity of the global economy. Asian countries invested heavily in digital infrastructure and built a strong digital economy. With the majority of the world’s consumers and internet users, Asia is driving consumer demands, online habits and innovation.
New digital technologies have greatly altered economic opportunities. Industrial use of robotics and 3D printing has reshaped manufacturing industries. Asian businesses are using artificial intelligence and data analytics to greatly expand the digital service economy to serve the global markets where most people now find work.
Canadian service industries were disrupted by the rise of virtual workers using telepresence and telerobotics technologies. Service industries were further disrupted by the decomposition of jobs into tasks—some assigned to lower-cost labour and some to artificial intelligence. Frugal innovations in Asian products and services are driving down prices and stimulating new ways to work and to live. How do you see these changes affecting Canadians?
Demand for Canadian oil has fallen for the 10th year in a row as Asia electrifies its transportation systems. Asia is a leader in renewable energy and electric vehicles. Asia is also deeply concerned about vulnerability to climate-change related natural disasters. How are these changes affecting Canada?
The whole world is connected through mobile technologies. Furthermore, the dramatic rise of sensors, cameras and the internet of things means that most aspects of our lives are connected online. Privacy is an outdated concept. Cyber threats are a growing challenge. What consequences do you see?
Asian countries are asserting influence on the world order through regional trade agreements and Asian-led alternatives to the World Bank and NATO. Asia is increasingly vying to set the rules. What impact do you see in Canada?
Take a final minute to reflect. Try to summarize the surprises and challenges you’ve seen in 5-to-8-word headlines. We are especially interested in those that current policies and institutions are not ready for.
When you are ready, open your eyes.