Cathryn Monro, professional artist, writer, education and group worker, discussed the futures of story at day two of the three-day ForesightNZ workshop in Wellington on 27–29 April. Cathryn’s three key ideas were:
- You are in a story that is emerging now
- Everyone else is in the story too, but the story in their head is different to yours
- A group culture that tolerates not-knowing enables inquiry, learning, discovery and connection
You can watch the video of her presentation on the McGuinness Institute’s YouTube channel, or view it below.
Cathryn described how we all have a story constantly forming in our heads about what we are experiencing. When groups form and people come together to work, assumptions about each other’s stories can hinder our ability to connect and to benefit from our differences. From this, she explained that learning about the story in other people’s heads is key to creating a meaningful, collaborative working culture, and is fundamental to the creation of effective ‘future stories’ for our country.
ForesightNZ playing cards
Cathryn’s presentation led to the development of the ForesightNZ Trend Card: Tension between citizens pursuing self-interest and citizens pursing community interest. This card is one out of a pack of 64 that was developed at the ForesightNZ workshop. Participants created a robust foresight tool in the form of a pack of cards based on the events and trends that they believe could significantly shape New Zealand’s long-term future. They then designed three different games to play with the pack. The games aim to develop a deeper understanding of the possible futures that might occur if a small number of those cards played out in real life. The pack of cards are in the final stage of production and will soon be made available to download, print and cut your own – keep an eye out on the website. They are also available to purchase from our online store. The accompanying booklet is now published on the website and available to purchase here.
About the ForesightNZ workshop
Project: ForesightNZ aims to build public policy capability in New Zealand by encouraging long-term, agile thinking around our uncertain future. Initiated in 2008, ForesightNZ is about conceptualising the broad range of possible futures for New Zealand through up-to-date tools and conceptual approaches used in the field of futures studies. The primary focus of the ForesightNZ: Untangling New Zealand’s long-term future workshop was to develop a way to deal with the increasing complexity and uncertainty in the world around us. This workshop was a collaboration between the New Zealand Treasury and the McGuinness Institute. To watch other speaker presentation videos from the ForesightNZ workshop, head to the McGuinness Institute’s YouTube Channel.