Future Workshop – Developing Scenarios, Shaping the Future
The future doesn’t just happen. It’s made. Future workshops with the verrocchio Institute are designed for exactly that: in one to two days, teams develop concrete future scenarios, derive strategic consequences, and cultivate the mindset we call Zukunftsfreude — the ability to see possibility in uncertainty rather than threat.
What Is a Future Workshop?
The companies that will be leading tomorrow have already begun thinking about the future today, not as a continuation of the present, but as an actively shapeable space of possibility. A facilitated future workshop gives teams the tools to move from reacting to shaping: instead of waiting for changes until they arrive, possible futures are anticipated and strategies are developed that hold up across multiple scenarios.
We work with a longer time horizon than the typical strategy workshop, using methods built specifically for that depth. These tools help teams break free from the limits of currently conceivable thinking and discover genuine options. The result is not a prediction. It is strategic resilience and Zukunftsfreude.
Zukunftsfreude is not naively optimistic wishful thinking. It is the entrepreneurial mindset that recognizes possibility in uncertainty and sees complexity not as a threat but as room to maneuver. This mindset can be developed. In our future workshops, the goal is not only that teams know what might be coming, but that they look forward to shaping it.
Who is it for?
A future workshop is the right format for organizations operating in particularly dynamic environments. Especially relevant for strategic planning departments and executive boards that want to think beyond the usual planning horizon, for innovation teams that want to explore megatrends and technological leaps, and for companies in regulated or rapidly transforming industries.
Typical occasions: strategic annual planning with a long-term perspective, preparation for digitalization or sustainability transformation, industry disruption through AI or new technologies, demographic change and the future of work, geopolitical shifts affecting the business model.
Our Workshop Formats
No company is like any other, so we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all format. We always adapt length, depth, and methodology to your specific situation.
Half-Day Workshop (4 hours)
The compact kickoff for teams of up to 15 people. Focused on one concrete topic, with immediately usable results. Ideal as an entry point or as a complement to an existing event.
Full-Day Workshop (8 hours)
Our most-booked format. Enough time for a complete run-through: analysis, creative phase, evaluation, prioritization, next steps. For teams of up to 25 people.
Two-Day Future Sprint
The complete future work: trend analysis and megatrend mapping, development of two to four future scenarios, derivation of strategic implications for the company, identification of future options and concrete recommendations for action.
In-house, hybrid, or online
We run all formats at your premises, at an external location of your choice, or fully remote. The quality of facilitation and results stays the same either way.
Our Methods
Three methods carry our future work: scenario technique, Futures Wheel, and backcasting. They transform megatrends into strategic decisions with a clear time horizon, and ensure that foresight doesn’t remain a thought experiment but becomes options you can start preparing for today. More than 1,000 additional methods on innovation.wiki, from which we combine selectively depending on your time horizon.
Our Credentials
- 2,000+ international innovation projects
- 25,000+ people accompanied
- 1,000+ proven methods on innovation.wiki
- 15 books
- Experience in 32 countries
- Co-founders: Christian Buchholz & Benno van Aerssen
Why verrocchio?
The verrocchio Institute for Innovation Competence was founded by Christian Buchholz and Benno van Aerssen, two of the most experienced innovation coaches in the German-speaking world. Together they have accompanied more than 2,000 international innovation projects, inspired more than 25,000 people, and written six books, including the standard reference “Das große Handbuch Innovation.” Today the team is complemented by experienced innovation facilitator Christina Westing and a network of verrocchio experts.
What sets us apart from other providers isn’t the methodology alone, it’s the attitude. We work in the engine room of companies, where things get practical and where the new actually emerges. We don’t deliver presentations that end up on a shelf afterward. We work with you until the ideas are running.
Our name says it all: Andrea del Verrocchio was the teacher of Leonardo da Vinci, a master who didn’t put himself at the center but brought out the best in his students. That’s exactly our role in your future workshop.
Future Workshops Workshops throughout Germany
We come to you—throughout Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. We offer all our workshop formats in-person, online, and in a hybrid format. Our priority cities, each with its own page:
→ Future Workshop Berlin → Future Workshop Hamburg → Future Workshop Munich → Future Workshop Cologne → Future Workshop Frankfurt → Future Workshop Stuttgart → Future Workshop Düsseldorf
Related Formats
Alongside the classic future workshop, we offer other specialized formats that may fit better depending on your starting situation:
→ Strategy Workshop — when future scenarios are to be turned into concrete strategic decisions → Innovation Workshop — when future scenarios are to serve as inspiration for concrete innovation projects → Sustainability Workshop — when future scenarios are to be developed in the context of sustainability transformation → AI Workshop — when AI and technology are to be examined as central future forces → Business Model Workshop — when future scenarios are to be developed directly into business model innovation
Get in Touch Now
Talk to us about your project, free of charge and with no obligation. In a 30-minute initial conversation, we’ll clarify where you currently stand, which format fits your situation, what a realistic scope looks like, and how we can move forward together.
Christina Westing will answer your inquiry personally and quickly.
