Iteration and Innovation in Higher Education

I was introduced to the book Imaginable while attending the Alliance for Innovation and Transformation (AFIT) conference. The book explores future forecasting and how to balance “shadow imagination” (the what-ifs we fear) with “positive imagination” (the kind that builds confidence that the future will be better). At its core, I feel it is about change management.

Over the years, I have heard staff frustrations about how most videos and speakers say, “Change is coming. Do not be afraid. Embrace it.” But that is not the issue.

The real question is:

How do you train yourself to stay steady during disruption while scanning the horizon for what to do next?

So I decided to try something different.

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Bringing Future Forecasting into Our Team Culture

I took my staff through a series of exercises based on Imaginable to help us explore how we think about the future and how we can shift from reacting to imagining.

We started with a group discussion about the book and what future forecasting really means. From there, we moved through a set of activities designed to stretch our thinking:

• First, each person imagined themselves 10 years in the future.
• Then, they identified things they believed would not change in our department, in education, in society, or in the world.
• Next, I asked them to flip those assumptions. What if everything they thought was stable actually changed?
• Finally, they searched for Signals of Change, real-world proof that these flipped futures might already be emerging. They looked through news articles, social media, research, and current trends.

This was not just about creativity.

This activity revealed whose imaginations were ready for disruption, and whose needed a little more stretching.

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What I Learned from My Team

Some staff could step into the future with ease. Others struggled, even when the changes were already happening around them.

It was not resistance. It was habit.

They were used to seeing things as they are, not as they could be. Their sense of stability made it harder to notice the quiet signals of change already reshaping our work.

That insight matters.

If we are going to prepare for what is next, whether it is AI, new teaching models, or evolving student needs, we need more than awareness. We need imagination that is practiced and flexible.

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Why This Matters

We cannot predict every future.
But we can train ourselves to face it with calmness, curiosity, and intention.

This was just the first step. However, it gave me a clear sense of who might need support imagining what is possible, and how we can keep growing that skill together.

The future is not a fixed destination.
It is a space we are already moving through.
And the better we get at imagining it, the better we will be at shaping it.

Typed by me, nudged by AI, approved by coffee. 🍵