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6. A comprehensive methodology for evaluating the impact of the learning initiatives must be in place right from the start. Note that the
learning initiatives are designed to address distant and future events. Therefore, it could be difficult to demonstrate and assess the outcome
of the workshop in the short run. Therefore, to get senior management’s buy in for these learning initiatives, it is important to have in place
important yardsticks which can be used to gauge the effectiveness of the workshop from time to time. A valuable way of measuring the
learning initiatives effectiveness is by measuring change in “Organization’s Perception”

ACC Concrete L&D team’s approach for a future ready business: Developing Foresight - A choice beyond the
obvious

The RMX business of ACC Cement, known as ACC Concrete
has been a pioneer in the Ready Mix Concrete Industry
since 1994. Over the decades it has successfully occupied a
very strong space in the customer’s mind when it comes to
delivering value. In the past few years the Concrete market
has seen rapid and rampant commoditization. In this
environment, ACC Concrete is continuously challenged to
innovate ways to stay ahead of the market by driving
change rather than by responding to change. The
leadership team correctly believed that to stay ahead of
competition it was important that middle level and
frontline leaders be able to predict the future with
reasonable accuracy.

As we explored new ways of developing foresight as a
competency across all functions in the Mid-level as well as
Tenured Leadership we identified two important tools
around which we designed our learning initiatives:

1. Developing Peripheral Vision:
Specifically look for those things which might
either prevent some possible future from Figure 5: In the very short term predictability is high and frequent forecasting is the planning
happening outright, or which might at least delay mode of choice F. In the very long term everything is very uncertain and attempts to planning
and dampen the possible changes demonstrate diminishing returns. This is the zone of Hope or H. In the middle zone, there is a level of
predictability, but also considerable uncertainty prevails. In such cases” Scenarios” is the way forward.
2. Scenario Planning:
14
The further out in time we look the exponentially greater the number of possible futures (Figure 7).

Why these two tools?
Figure 7
The key concern for L&D at ACC Concrete was a right mix and reasonable
balance between Predictability and Uncertainty. Looking into the future, the
degree of predictability goes down and uncertainty goes up the further we look.
However, since every individual had his or her own perception about the future,
it was important to arrive at “Organization’s perception about the future” which
essentially would be a consensus among all stake holders about how the future
would look like.

Peripheral Vision was chosen to help our teams identify weak signals in their
15
business environments.

Scenario Planning was identified to help our teams to put these weak signals
16
together in various permutations and combinations – often known as the
“Scenario Cross” – to arrive at various possibilities that could play out in the future and how the organization could respond to each of them

14 Scenario Planning – A field guide to the future by Woody Wade.

15 “Scanning the Periphery” by George Day and Paul J. H. Schoemaker Harvard Business Review November 2005 issue

16 “Scenario Planning” as a foresight tool was first developed at Royal Dutch Shell before the 1973 Arab oil crisis. Shell has contributed much to the literature on the use of Scenario

planning. Shell defines the use of “Scenario Planning” as a tool that helps decision makers reconcile apparent contradictions or uncertainties such as how political change in one region affects
global society. By exploring plausible, as well as predictable, outcomes scenarios challenge conventional wisdom. Organizations using scenarios find it easier to recognize impending disruptions
in their own operating environment such as political changes, demographic shifts, or recessions. The “Scenario tool” helped Royal Dutch Shell tide over the Arab Oil Crisis smoothly. Some
other players in the same market were not fortunate enough.