Three Horizons Mapping

• Pre-session preparation sheet sent one week before.
• Three Horizons map with documented H1, H2, and H3 elements.
• Named tensions between horizons — the specific points where H1 and H3 are in active conflict.
• Working consensus on transition priorities — what deserves protection, what deserves investment, what should be retired.

I send a preparation sheet the week before asking each participant to write down three things: one thing about the organisation that must be protected, one thing they see emerging that the organisation hasn't fully addressed, and one thing they'd want to be true about the organisation in fifteen years. This takes fifteen minutes and means the session starts with real material rather than blank-slate discussion.

In the session, we build a Three Horizons map together. H1 is what the organisation is currently managing and protecting — the things that work, that have to keep working, that fund everything else. H3 is an aspirational horizon — what the organisation might look like to remain relevant and purposeful at a fifteen-year view. H2 is the connective tissue: the emerging signals, experiments, and transitions that link what you are now to what you need to become.

During a half day session we aim to identify what everyone can agree on is valuable, regardless if they align with the H1 or H3 perspective. The goal is to align the team to see their position from another perspective – not to change their views necessarily, but to open up for more ways in which change can happen. In a full day session we can take some more time to identify the pivotal H2 trends and signals that can bridge this gap and allow you to transition the team to a more futures oriented thinking.

The map is a tool for a conversation that otherwise goes in circles. When people can see that they're arguing from different horizons — not different values — the argument changes character.