An Introduction to Futures Research: Insights from Dr Elissa Farrow
Dr Elissa Farrow is an award-winning futurist, strategist and long-time Change Management Institute member. Ahead of the release of our Futures of Change report, Elissa explains what a ‘futures research approach’ is, and why we chose to use it for this initiative.
Many of our members are feeling firsthand how the pace, complexity, and interconnectedness of today’s change drivers are challenging the assumptions at the core of our practices. The world we are supporting people to navigate is changing faster than the models and methods we currently rely on.
So, it’s not much of a surprise that in a global context marked by rapid disruption, complexity, and uncertainty, traditional approaches to organisational change are increasingly insufficient. A ‘futures research approach’ encourages people to think outside of their current norms. It offers a forward-looking and adaptive lens that can account not only for trends, but also for the broader societal, technological, political, and environmental shifts reshaping our world.
Futures research has been a formally recognised research paradigm and profession since the early 1970s. It equips organisations and individuals with the ability to dream, create, predict, test, and forecast a variety of future scenarios. As uncertainty and concern for the future grow across communities, institutions, and industries, futures methodologies are gaining prominence. “Thinking like a futurist” enables better ideation and preparation through deeper engagement with alternative possibilities and emerging signals of change.
‘Futures thinking’ is a strategic and creative discipline that challenges linear assumptions, expands mental models, and supports organisations to reframe their strategic direction. We used this approach for the soon-to-be-released Futures of Change research as it opened the doors for multiple futures (both the plausible and the preposterous), enabling individuals and systems to anticipate change and make more deliberate, future-fit decisions. Where more traditional research methods might attempt to predict a single definitive future, ‘futures research’ embraces a far broader lens.
Despite its growing global application, futures research has rarely been directly applied to the domain of organisational change, apart from in my doctoral thesis, which explored organisations of the future and the implications of artificial intelligence on leaders, teams and the adaptation (change) approach. The Futures of Change research initiative presented a unique opportunity for the Institute to break new ground exploring what the futures might hold for current state and next generation change practices, leaders, practitioners and the contexts they operate in.
Taking this longer-term lens for the initiative was a deliberate choice: it allowed the research to stretch beyond incremental assumptions and current-state biases, enabling a more transformative exploration.
The aim of the research wasn’t only to understand where the field of change may be heading, but also to explore who we must become as individuals, practitioners, leaders, and institutions to lead and adapt effectively in a range of possible futures.
Any piece of research conducted in times of global unrest and change requires more than just data collection and analysis – it requires the courage to get personal. What emerged from the Futures of Change research was not just data…it was story, memory, hope and challenge.
I was humbled by the depth of insight, emotion, and foresight shared by those who participated in this largely qualitative research methodology. It was an honour to speak to so many Change Management Institute members and other professionals from allied disciplines across the globe. I look forward to the research finally being ‘out there’ in a few weeks.
The final report will be published and available for Change Management members in mid February 2026.
To find out more about futures research, check out the World Futures Studies Federation, the Association of Professional Futurists as a starting point.
