As a communications professional and public relations consultant, I would also like recommend that futurists consider including one or two representatives from an organization’s communications team to be involved in the process of exploring the future. These individuals, whether on the internal or external communications team, will play a key role in developing and disseminating the narrative that is created about an organization’s potential future. They also are typically among a company’s key influencers and should be brought in early to futures projects for total emersion in the concepts and processes.

Speaking from experience, I have been on the internal communications team when consultants are brought in for projects such as these. We were left out of the process until the conclusion when we were brought in to prepare messaging and communications plans around the consultant’s findings. This made our job very difficult, if not ineffectual, especially when it involved complicated processes, obscure concepts or reasonings behind the final recommendations.

While everyone cannot be included in this process, I consider communicators extremely vital in the process of talking and thinking about the future within their respective organizations.