Managers and directors from across the Council heard from two leading experts in strategic thinking at the final Leadership Forum of 2018.
At the event, held in Camelon Education Centre, on Thursday, December 6th, Alan Russell and Graham Leicester highlighted how Three Horizons thinking can help shape and drive innovation.
The tried and tested approach has already armed the likes of BP, Shell, Diageo and the Scottish Government with the tools needed to unlock staff potential and fundamentally change how they operate.
Welcoming around 50 employees to the event, Kenneth Lawrie, Chief Executive, stressed the importance of the Council of the Future vision - being responsive, innovative, trusted and ambitious - during the Council’s own transformation.
He said: “Ambition is particularly important. Even faced with a difficult budget we absolutely need to retain that ambition for Falkirk, for the Council and our communities. We will still have an annual budget of more than £300m in five years' time, but we do have a significant funding gap to bridge by 2023. To do that we need to plan long-term, be business orientated, entrepreneurial, and embrace a more digital approach while working with our communities to increase their capacity to help themselves.
“We need to ask ourselves, what will our transformation journey look like? How will we be operating? What will the Council actually look like in five years’ time? We need to start making connections in our business plans and understand the role collaboration will play in the Council’s evolution. The Three Horizons approach will help us not only become more innovative in our thinking; it will help us plot the next steps in our journey to become the Council of the Future."
Over the course of the afternoon, Alan and Graham walked attendees through the Three Horizon approach, highlighting how transformational change can result from visionary thinking and ideas generated by all staff.
Alan said: “Three Horizons is a framework that makes the choices we have clearer and encourages us to pursue innovation to improve what works and what we value in the present while, at the same time, investing in new ideas and approaches we may need or aspire to enjoy in the future.
“It encourages the adoption of multiple perspectives and helps unearth new ways of thinking, not just new ideas. It acknowledges that the conventional approach, the one road we’ve always taken, only gets us so far when our circumstances fundamentally changes. Ultimately, the Three Horizons approach leads to improved business results, not just a learning experience.”