The Scanning Process

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the process of environmental scanning. It goes in depth by describing different methods used in environmental scanning.

Scanning methods

Culture

Most adopt a combination of these approaches and have established regular forums amongst participants to discuss perceived underlying shifts hidden in their latest Insights research. These then become new Trends to track as a first step to clustering Trends into Key Drivers affecting the organization. 

These methods, and more, can be used for visioning, target setting, road mapping, scenario planning, option selection, and risk assessment among others. Each relies on more convergent strategic innovation approaches through a coordinating staff function, heavy use of system analytics, encouraging diverse thinking, parallel exploration, and decision-making. 

Above all, leadership and commitment to action from the very top of the organization are essential to making innovation a cornerstone of an organization's strategy. Organizations take a variety of approaches to creating an innovation culture but best practice companies have carefully considered and articulated their vision, the values they expect people to adhere to, the measures of success, the processes and measures to gauge progress, and the on-going communication mechanisms to inspire, engage, and enable.