The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) recently launched a new court planning framework designed to strengthen court resilience and responsiveness by incorporating a rigorous focus on the future. Building on NCSC’s Just Horizons work, the Future Ready Courts (FRC) framework helps courts anticipate and prepare for a wide range of potential scenarios, making it easier to adapt when change occurs.
“For many of us, thinking about the future is hard, especially with so many competing priorities right in front of us. It takes time and mental energy because we can’t just rely on what we already know,” said Pam Casey, NCSC vice president of research and design. “But thinking about the future can also be liberating, an opportunity to zoom out and see possibilities that are not evident when we are only focused on today. The FRC framework intentionally gives us space to think about and prepare for those possibilities.”
By integrating future-focused activities, the FRC framework helps courts think rigorously and systematically about the future, expanding our typical approach to strategic planning.
Strategic foresight, a critical pillar of the framework, helps courts identify drivers of change and envision alternative scenarios to see the bigger picture and help courts consider how core business functions and operations might change in both the near and distant future.
The FRC framework includes three interconnected components:
• Strategic foresight: Envisioning alternative scenarios by identifying key drivers of change, emerging trends, and signals that influence the court's future.
• Strategic planning: Setting strategic priorities, goals, and objectives that align with the court's mission, vision, and values.
• Executing and adapting: Implementing plans, tracking results, and adapting strategic priorities to maintain resilience.
The FRC framework is flexible and adapts to courts at various stages of the planning process. Courts can:
• Begin with strategic foresight activities and move sequentially through the framework.
• Use foresight exercises to expand thinking, then review current strategic priorities based on those insights.
• Develop plans first, then return later to examine emerging trends and future scenarios.
Courts can future-proof themselves with the comprehensive guide, “Building Future Ready Courts,” and other supplemental resources on the NCSC website at https://bit.ly/43Z2Wni.
“For many of us, thinking about the future is hard, especially with so many competing priorities right in front of us. It takes time and mental energy because we can’t just rely on what we already know,” said Pam Casey, NCSC vice president of research and design. “But thinking about the future can also be liberating, an opportunity to zoom out and see possibilities that are not evident when we are only focused on today. The FRC framework intentionally gives us space to think about and prepare for those possibilities.”
By integrating future-focused activities, the FRC framework helps courts think rigorously and systematically about the future, expanding our typical approach to strategic planning.
Strategic foresight, a critical pillar of the framework, helps courts identify drivers of change and envision alternative scenarios to see the bigger picture and help courts consider how core business functions and operations might change in both the near and distant future.
The FRC framework includes three interconnected components:
• Strategic foresight: Envisioning alternative scenarios by identifying key drivers of change, emerging trends, and signals that influence the court's future.
• Strategic planning: Setting strategic priorities, goals, and objectives that align with the court's mission, vision, and values.
• Executing and adapting: Implementing plans, tracking results, and adapting strategic priorities to maintain resilience.
The FRC framework is flexible and adapts to courts at various stages of the planning process. Courts can:
• Begin with strategic foresight activities and move sequentially through the framework.
• Use foresight exercises to expand thinking, then review current strategic priorities based on those insights.
• Develop plans first, then return later to examine emerging trends and future scenarios.
Courts can future-proof themselves with the comprehensive guide, “Building Future Ready Courts,” and other supplemental resources on the NCSC website at https://bit.ly/43Z2Wni.
