Every meeting impacts the future of the organization. In this activity with a science-fiction, time-travel theme, you encourage the participants to link today's meeting with future outcomes.

Synopsis

The participants are given a headline from a future year related to their organization. The participants prepare appropriate timelines that link the ensuing meeting to the future headline. Later, all participants review alternative timelines and discover common themes.

Purpose

To relate the discussions and decisions during a meeting to the future of an organization

Time

10–20 minutes

Participants

Minimum: 4

Maximum: Any number

Best: 10–30

Handout

Headline from the Utopian Herald and instructions for creating an optimistic timeline, one copy for each participant

Supplies and Equipment

• Flip charts
• Felt-tipped markers
• Timer
• Whistle

Flow

Brief the participants. Tell them they will undertake a time-travel activity that will involve connecting a meeting on this day with a newspaper headline several years in the future.

Distribute copies of the handout. Give one copy of the headline to each participant.

Organize teams. Ask the participants to organize themselves into two or more teams of two to six people.

Give instructions. Ask the participants to read the headline. Explain that the page contains a surprising headline from January 6, 2040, along with instructions for the team assignment: each team should create a chain of events that lead to the state of affairs depicted in the newspaper headline. The teams should begin with today's meeting and make a list of the events that lead to January 6, 2040. Each event should be logically connected to the next one on the list. Ask the participants to limit their timeline to one page of the flip chart. Announce a five-minute time limit. Start the timer and tell the participants to begin.

Conclude the activity. Blow the whistle at the end of four minutes and announce that the team should complete the task within the next minute. Blow the whistle again a minute later to announce the end of the activity.

Conduct a gallery walk. Set aside an area of the wall for the posters. Give pieces of masking tape and help the teams to tape their posters to the wall. Tell all the participants to take a few minutes to walk around this “gallery” and review the timelines. Ask them to compare the events associated with the positive headline.

Conduct a debriefing discussion. Use the following types of questions to encourage the participants to reflect on the activity and share their insights about the impact of the meeting on organizational success:

• How realistic is the headline?
• What are some key connections between today's meeting and the future of the organization?
• What can we do to increase the likelihood of the optimistic future?

Facilitate the discussion, one question at a time. Invite insights from the participants. Record interesting ideas on a flipchart.

Link to the Meeting

Remember the future impact of the present meeting. Ask the participants to recall the plotline of their stories and remind themselves that the discussions and decisions during the ensuing meeting will have far-reaching implications. Encourage them to increase the likelihood of the optimistic future.