With rapid tech advancements and global complexities, being a public service leader in strategic foresight will provide you and your department an advantage for preferred future outcomes.
Our executive program will immerse you in strategic foresight concepts and methodology, including trend analysis, scenario planning, systems thinking, risk assessment, and futures-thinking for shaping policy.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has identified Strategic Foresight as the way to prepare, not predict, for the world’s unique challenges and how they affect you. Are you ready?
If you would like to learn more, please submit your information and we will follow up with you shortly. Choose an information session date and hear directly from program staff.
"Strategic foresight is not about predictions of the future. In a complex and uncertain world accurate prediction is a fiction.”
Strategic foresight is about:
• Being prepared for different futures that are all possible, plausible and preferred.
• A systematic analysis of driving forces and trends of change before the development of strategies or plans.
• Finding solutions and responses that are likely to best suit the (evolving) mission and/or organization.
As part of American University’s Executive Education and Lifelong Learning Programs, AU has partnered with DMS Academy, a leader in strategic foresight consulting, education, and public policy simulations to offer this program in strategic foresight.
The holistic approach to strategic foresight of our program and our embracing of multiple schools of thought, strategic concepts, and methodology offers the most complete, comprehensive models available for participants to experience. Our offering also has direct alignment with federal leadership and executive development program requirements and covers a wide range of skills and methodologies, including trend analysis, scenario planning, systems thinking, risk assessment, futures thinking in policy development, effective communication, and implementation evaluation.
Through their DMS Academy and its renowned Foresight Scholars, DMS has brought their wealth of expertise to the development of this program. Their scholars, many of whom are pioneers in Strategic Foresight, have originated key concepts and methodologies used in the field today. These scholars also have a diverse background in applying strategic foresight to help domestic and international governments and industry plan for preferred futures. >Learn About the DMS scholars.
Experiential Learning (learning by doing) has always been an integral part of an American University Education. When DMS approached us to partner for this program, we saw how the use of immersed in realistic case studies, group exercises, role-play, simulations, and scenarios, in an experiential laboratory experience aligned with beliefs that instruction and application must go hand in hand.
This program fosters building communities of purpose, communities of interest, and communities of practice while building connections among teams and among previous participants. This community framework enhances the long-term value of the program and provides ongoing growth and exchange opportunities for participants.
Our Strategic Foresight Leadership program will incorporate on-site and online sessions to maximize its focus on experiential learning and in-depth discussions of the topics covered.
Participants will meet once a week for a total of twelve (12) weeks. The first and last sessions will be on-site and take place at American University in Washington DC. The other ten (10) sessions will be live-online and can be accessible from anywhere with a device that has access to a stable high-speed internet connection, a camera & microphone.
We limit our cohort to 30 students each term and spaces are reserved on a first-come first-served basis. Submit your intake questionnaire for review as soon as possible to be considered for an invitation to join the program. Contact us about submitting intake forms for more than one team member of your organization.
| Session Venue | Meeting Time | |
|---|---|---|
| On-Site at AU | week 1 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 2 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 3 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 4 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 5 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 6 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 7 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 8 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 9 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 10 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Online | week 11 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| On-Site at AU | week 12 | 10am - 5pm ET |
| Session | Date | Format | Time (ET) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Session 1 | 03/19 | On-Site at AU | 10am-1pm | lunch | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 2 | 03/25 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 3 | 04/01 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 4 | 04/08 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 5 | 04/15 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 6 | 04/22 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 7 | 04/29 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 8 | 05/06 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 9 | 05/13 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 10 | 05/20 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 11 | 05/27 | Online | 10am-1pm | Break | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
| Session 12 | 06/03 | On-Site at AU | 10am-1pm | lunch | 2pm- 5pm (6 hours) |
Registering for our Strategic Foresight Leadership Program is a simple process.
Invoicing and Purchase Orders
We have worked with employers, organizations, and agencies to handle most invoicing and vendor registration processes. You can contact us with any questions about these matters at executiveed@american.edu.
Future-proof your strategic planning
Determine key drivers of change and their impact on the future of your organization.
Go beyond forecast and prediction
Develop scenarios and narratives that explore plausible futures.
Go from notion to action
Develop implementation plans for foresight.
Make change that lasts
Apply foresight into policy-making processes for lasting change.
We understand that program fit is a deciding factor when allocating funds for professional development. What better way to measure the value of a program than to use OPMs five Executive Core Qualifications (ECQ’s). Our program supports all 5 groups and the majority of the sub-groups associated to them. Learn more about ECQ’s from OPM’s website.
| Executive Core Qualification | ECQ Description | Strategic Foresight leadership Program |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Leading Change | Ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Requires the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. | Directly supports all the competency subgroups. |
| 2. Leading People | Ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Requires the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. | Directly supports all the competency subgroups. |
| 3. Results Driven | Ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Requires the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. | Directly supports the competency subgroups of Decisiveness, Entrepreneurship, Problem Solving, and Technical Credibility. |
| 4. Business Acumen | Ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically. | Directly supports the competency subgroups of Financial Management, Human Capital Management, and Technology Management. |
| 5. Building Coalitions | Requires the ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals. | Directly supports all the competency subgroups. |
Our scholars possess extensive knowledge and experience in strategic foresight and will be your facilitators throughout the program. Many are pioneers in the field with a deep understanding of strategic foresight methodology.
Learn more about them.
Use the tabs below or the ellipsis to navigate our policies.
Federal Gov. Employees: You may be eligible for program reimbursement via an approved SF-182 training form. Click here to download the form and here to download the instructions.
If you need to provide additional documentation to your leadership or human resource department, click here to download our Strategic Foresight Value Proposition Sponsorship Guide.
For payments with credit cards, debit cards or bank accounts, the tuition cost includes a non-refundable 4% administrative fee. In case an eligible refund is requested, the net funds returned will be the tuition minus 4%.
Non-credit courses are not recorded in American University transcripts. No credit is earned from these courses and grades are not posted. Learners enrolled in Non-Credit courses will not receive an AU ID or have access to services and or facilities reserved for AU students. Access to the AU library system will be available to all members of the greater Washington DC area through visitor services. For information click here.
The refund policy (as of May 2024) for courses registered through our Professional and Lifelong Learning Portal states that the tuition cost includes a non-refundable 4% administrative fee. If an eligible refund is requested, the net funds returned will be the tuition minus this 4% fee. Note that some courses and/or programs might have a higher fee as specified in their refund policy.
Learners will be eligible for a refund (minus any non-refundable fees) if they drop a course and request a refund no later than 10 business days before the date the course starts as per the dates in Canvas and/or Canvas Catalog platforms. The learners will be eligible for a 75% refund (minus any non-refundable fees) if they drop the program later than 10 business days before the date the course starts. If a learner registered for a course drops said course on or after the start date, they will be ineligible for a refund.