Leadership Insight

How the I.C.E. Board Is Leveraging Foresight

In 2022, I.C.E. embarked on a foresight journey to help the organization’s leadership and members begin to anticipate and prepare for the future. The journey led to the development of several resources for I.C.E. members:

  • Future of Credentialing Report, released 2023
  • Template Powerpoint for use with introducing the concepts to member organizations leadership, released 2023
  • A Facilitator’s Guide to assist in navigating difficult conversations, released 2023
  • A webinar on “Thinking Like Futurist” ($75 for members)
  • Prioritization Survey Tool to be used with boards and staff, released Fall 2023

The report has been downloaded over 500 times since its posting in February 2023. It includes:

  • Forecasts, which are based on trends and data points and represent probable futures that are likely to happen in the credentialing profession.
  • Supporting Trends, which are weak signals that inform the report’s action brief and serve as background for the forecasts.
  • Key Uncertainties, which refer to the critical factors or variables that have the potential to significantly influence future outcomes in our industry, but are unpredictable or not well understood.
  • Strategic Insights, which outline potential opportunities and risks for credentialing organizations and I.C.E. They provide tangible suggestions to help frame discussions on the change driver.
  • Potential Alternative Futures, which are various plausible scenarios or possibilities that might unfold in the future based on current trends, uncertainties and various influencing factors in credentialing.

This report was created to assist credentialing bodies with using the report and resources to create productive conversations with staff and leadership about the future of credentialing and specifically on three drivers: Government and Credentialing, Credentialing Under Pressure, and Technology. The report and tools are free to members due to the support of the R&D Fundraising Initiative.

I.C.E. is now considering what a Future of Credentialing phase 2.0 might look like and how the material can be used by credentialing bodies to impact and drive change. I.C.E. contracted with Kristine Metter of Crystal Partners to lead focus groups on the tools and where we might go next.

Stay tuned for the data collected from our recent prioritization survey. This survey asks your leadership and staff which issues listed in the Future of Credentialing Report are most relevant and most concerning, as well as which areas your organization is most and least prepared to address. This data helps you lead a discussion on these important topics as well as helps us understand what your boards are saying about the FoC content, which will help guide phase 2.0.I t’s not too late to have your leadership and staff participate in the Prioritization Survey. Contact me for more information. Additionally, we are planning more ways for you to engage in and learn about foresight activities. This will include training materials aimed at helping our members build a culture of foresight with their leadership and organizations.

In June 2024, the I.C.E. Board of Directors applied foresight principles to their own strategizing. They engaged in a full-day discussion on foresight, employing strategic scenario principles. Strategic scenario planning is a key component of foresight planning, helping organizations navigate uncertainty by considering a range of plausible future scenarios. Instead of predicting a single future, it involves creating multiple detailed and diverse scenarios based on key drivers of change, such as technological advancements, geopolitical shifts, regulatory changes and environmental factors. Engaging in strategic scenario planning with your leadership empowers you to consider what actions need to happen today in order to prepare for any of these scenarios.

The three scenarios the board examined included:

  • Scenario 1: Remaining Relevant With Increased Competition
    • As traditional higher education struggles with relevance, a new competitive landscape for credentialing emerges.
    • In this scenario, post-secondary institutions take on the role of credentialing boards, and upon graduation, students receive their college degrees and a series of credentials unique to their skills, experiences and areas of study.
    • This scenario expands to include secondary schools, trade schools and community colleges. Credentials are developed in collaboration with industry partners in an effort to be directly relevant to the needs of the industry, leading to a curriculum closely aligned with real-world requirements.
       
  • Scenario 2: Multiple Inputs, No Single Owner
    • Credentialing becomes competency-based, personalized and stackable, with multiple entities providing inputs to the credential, thus making credentialing a group activity not controlled by one professional organization.
    • This vision of credentialing as a group activity relies heavily on collaboration and agreement among providers and robust, secure shared network technology to record and verify credentials.
    • These providers can range from traditional educational institutions to online learning platforms, companies and industry experts, all providing inputs to the learner's credential. 
       
  • Scenario 3: Explaining Value
    • Similar to the questioning of the value of higher education, there is confusion over the real value of credentials.
    • There is a widespread lack of understanding of how credentials translate into real value in terms of efficiency, job retention and improved workplace competencies.
    • Learners struggle to articulate the benefits, while employers want to see evidence of how earning a credential enhances an individual’s productivity and increases the company’s competitive edge. 

You may download this Strategic Scenario Document and use it with your board to discuss what each of these types of scenarios might mean for your profession or industry. To discuss the Strategic Scenario document with your c-suite peers, please plan to attend the CEO Discussion on Wednesday, June 18.

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