The Ministry of Interior organized an educational lecture titled “Foreseeing the Future in Governmental Institutions.” The lecture was delivered by Dr. Andy Hines, Foresight Graduate Program Coordinator and Lecturer at University of Houston in the USA, and was held at the Decision-Making Support Center’s auditorium at the Police Departments Complex in Abu Dhabi.

Major Suleiman Mohammed Al Ka’bi, Deputy Director of the Decision-making Support Center stressed that the lecture comes in line with the framework of the educational initiative launched by the Directorate General of Strategy and Performance Development at the General Secretariat of the Office of HH Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. The initiative aims to spread the concepts of “Foreseeing the Future” amongst the staff of the MoI, stress its importance in identifying the opportunities of police and security work in the future, and find proper solutions and plans.

During the lecture, Dr. Hines explained the reasons for governments to seek foreseeing the future. He pointed that it utilizes strategic foreseeing experts, as it’s a new and beneficial method of reading the future. He noted that it also helps create a vision which could encourage employees to work, and create a common language to discuss the future.

“It is important for an organization to work in line with a common vision, and in many cases the employees are not aware of this vision. Strategic foresight brings together stakeholders to discuss strategic issues, and when launching a foreseeing process it is important to review the experiences of other organizations in this field,” he added.

Hines pointed that a successful strategic foreseeing is a gradual process, and then comes the stage of raising awareness within the organization on the importance of foreseeing by organizing lectures and workshops. The next stage is to create and promote the capabilities of the foreseeing team in the organization, and gradually move to more complicated projects, to reach a stage where the foreseeing process is instilled on an institutional level, and becomes a part of the working mechanism of the organization or the institution.

The lecturer presented a number of common challenges and barriers facing the process of foreseeing the future in organizations, the means to avoid them, and the benefits of foreseeing the future in police organizations. He noted various real-life success stories, which prove the success of foreseeing processes in supporting and enriching the strategic plans. He reiterated that foreseeing the future provides the planners with an important aspect of the necessary knowledge base to formulate strategies and set plans.

Dr. Hines gave examples of national governments and international organizations succeeded in foreseeing the future. He noted that there are several countries which use foreseeing the future within their institutions such as the USA, Finland, Canada, and Singapore. He continued that these countries are all considered to be leaders in this field. He mentioned that Singapore has been working in the field for 20 years, and it took this country several years to build it capabilities in this regard.

The lecturer and the attendees then had a discussion focusing on the importance of foreseeing the future and the efforts of the concerned organizations in this field.
X
Cookies help us improve your website experience. By using our website, you agree to our use of cookies.
Confirm