Before you begin
A few details so we can send your results and, if you would like it, follow up on areas to improve.
How we use your information
ForgeFront is the data controller for the information you enter here. We use your name, organisation, email address and assessment answers to calculate your FORGE result, email it to you, and contact you about follow-up support if you request it. This is our lawful basis: consent, under UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a).
We retain your details and results for 12 months, aligned with the 12-month validity of your FORGE rating. After 12 months, or earlier if you ask us to delete your data sooner, we remove your record from our systems.
You have the right to access, correct, export or erase your data at any time. Email info@forgefront.co.uk and we will act within one calendar month. You can raise a concern with the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk if you would like to.
Pre-assessment declaration
I confirm that the answers I give will reflect my honest views and, where I am answering on behalf of my organisation, its actual current practice. I understand that an inaccurate result serves no one, and that any badge I earn through inaccurate answers carries no real value.
FORGE
Foresight Organisational Readiness Grounding Evaluation
A ForgeFront scoring questionnaire for futures and foresight maturity.
Futures and foresight is the act of thinking about the future to inform decisions in the present. It is about testing ideas against a range of possible, plausible and probable futures so we can act with more confidence today.
Anticipatory thinking is embedded in governments, international organisations and businesses across the world. The United Nations, the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and national governments from Finland to the UAE all run formal foresight programmes because they recognise the impact of delivering public good. You can find out more about this work below.
Improvement in foresight capability depends not just on practising it, but on being assessed against clear criteria and given concrete strategies to close the gap.
The lesson is clear: higher foresight maturity leads to better decisions, greater resilience and stronger performance.
The assessment is free to use. It can take between 10-60 minutes to complete depending on the level of detail in your responses.
More information about futures and foresight for government, business and individuals.
Government
For governments, the OECD has undertaken considerable comparative work across member states. This includes Strategic Foresight for Better Policies (2019), Foresight and Anticipatory Governance in Practice (2021), Supporting Decision-Making with Strategic Foresight (2023) and an evaluation of Finland's Anticipatory Innovation Governance System (2022). These OECD studies, alongside Greenblott et al.'s survey of 19 US federal agencies in World Futures Review (2018), show that governments which embed strategic foresight produce more robust and resilient policy, are better placed to escape short-term 'muddling through', and are better aligned with long-term challenges such as climate, demographic change and emerging technology.
Business
For businesses, a longitudinal study by Rohrbeck and Kum (2018), published in Technological Forecasting and Social Change, found that firms with mature foresight practices outperformed the average by 33% on profitability and 200% on market capitalisation growth. Firms with weak foresight underperformed the average by up to 108% in market capitalisation growth.
Individuals
For individuals, a systematic review by Pawlak and Moustafa (2023), published in Frontiers in Psychology, synthesised 21 studies and found a direct relationship between future-oriented thinking and positive outcomes: those more oriented towards the future showed higher engagement, stronger self-efficacy and better performance than their less future-oriented peers. In addition, a meta-analysis by Wisniewski, Zierer and Hattie (2020), published in Frontiers in Psychology, drawing on 435 studies, found that assessment and feedback may lift learning outcomes by roughly a year's worth of typical progress. High-information feedback that explains where the gap is and how to close it may more than double this gain.
About the assessment
FORGE has been designed based on ForgeFront's deep experience delivering strategy, policy and foresight for governments and other organisations around the world. It reflects how we deliver insights and research on policy, strategy and futures for clients in both the public and private sectors.
FORGE scores how well an organisation, or an individual in an organisation, uses foresight to shape strategy and policy. It measures where you sit on that maturity scale so you can act if there is a gap.
FORGE is built for people in strategy, policy, futures and foresight roles across government, business, the charity sector and academia. Whether you lead an organisation, sit in a dedicated strategy team, or hold a policy role in government, this assessment is for you. More broadly it is for any organisation or individual wanting to assess their maturity in strategy or policy.
This assessment will:
- Assess you or your organisation's maturity.
- Deliver a breakdown of your maturity across six maturity areas.
- Recognise where you currently sit on a scale of five maturity levels. Providing you or your organisation with a digital badge showing this FORGE maturity level.
- Recommend your next steps to build your foresight maturity.
How it works
| Element | What it means |
|---|---|
| Two pathways | Anyone in an organisation with institutional knowledge can take the organisational pathway. Anyone who carries out, leads or coaches futures work can take the individual pathway. |
| Six FORGE maturities | Anchoring, Sensing, Projecting, Aspiring, Architecting and Embedding cover the full arc from asking the right question to delivering and learning from the answer. |
| Five maturity levels | Each answer places you on a five-stage ladder: Flux, Flare, Flame, Flagbearer, Forge, so you can see where you sit and what world-class looks like. |
| An action route | Once you have your profile, ForgeFront's Future.Ctrl will show you how to move up the ladder on any maturity where you are weak. |
The questions draw on the practice ForgeFront has built delivering futures projects for the UK government, international governments and organisations from the public and private sector around the world, as well as established competency work (e.g. Hines et al. 2017; Grim 2009; the Association of Professional Futurists; Policy Horizons Canada).
About ForgeFront
ForgeFront has helped individuals and organisations around the world build higher maturity levels through work including bespoke training, Futures Lab creation, advisory on hiring futures and foresight professionals, our award-winning Future.Ctrl course, and the delivery of sector-specific futures toolkits.
The six maturities
FORGE covers the full arc of a futures project. Each maturity is a stage in turning a hard question into a delivered answer.
| Maturity | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Anchoring | How you begin a futures project. Setting the question and understanding who, or what, holds a stake in the answer. |
| Sensing | What is changing in the wider world. Sweeping signals from trusted sources and reading patterns early enough to matter. |
| Projecting | Building futures. Drawing out what each one means for the choices you face today. |
| Aspiring | Picking the future you want. Linking purpose and values to a picture clear enough to rally people. |
| Architecting | Turning foresight into choices. Laying out strategic options, designing the policies that carry them and setting clear roles. |
| Embedding | Making foresight stick. Delivering the change, tracking what works and leaving a legacy for others to build on. |
| Stewarding (individual pathway only) | Growing as an individual practitioner. Covering the voice you bring, the craft you are sharpening and the duty of care you hold. |
The five maturity levels
The five-stage ladder is used to assess maturity for each of the six (organisation pathway) or seven (individual pathway) maturities, and also to give an overall result too.
Take FORGE
Two tailored pathways, same six maturities. The individual pathway includes an additional set of Stewarding maturity questions regarding the person's own practice.
Sources, references and further reading
We would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following colleagues to developing FORGE.
- Association of Professional Futurists (2016) Foresight Competency Model.
- ForgeFront, Future.Ctrl course, Modules 1-8.
- ForgeFront, LACES methodology for project legacy.
- ForgeFront, Real World Implementation Checklist and Engaging Decision Makers checklist.
- Good Judgment Inc, FAST (Forecasting and Skills Training) assessment.
- Greenblott, J.M., O'Farrell, T., Olson, R. and Burchard, B. (2018) "Strategic Foresight in the US Federal Government: Results of a Survey", World Futures Review.
- Grim, T. (2009) "Foresight Maturity Model (FMM): Achieving Best Practices in the Foresight Field", Journal of Futures Studies, 13(4), pp. 69-80.
- Hines, A., Gary, J., Daheim, C. and van der Laan, L. (2017) "Building Foresight Capacity: Toward a Foresight Competency Model", World Futures Review.
- HM Treasury, Magenta Book (evaluation) and the RIGOUR principle.
- Marr, B. (2016) Data Strategy. Kogan Page.
- Mayne, J. (2015) "Useful Theory of Change Models", Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 30(2).
- OECD (2019) Strategic Foresight for Better Policies.
- OECD (2021) Foresight and Anticipatory Governance in Practice.
- OECD (2022) Anticipatory Innovation Governance Model in Finland: Towards a New Way of Governing.
- OECD (2023) Supporting Decision-Making with Strategic Foresight.
- Oxford Scenario Planning Approach (OSPA), Said Business School, University of Oxford.
- Pawlak, S. and Moustafa, A.A. (2023) "A systematic review of the impact of future-oriented thinking on academic outcomes", Frontiers in Psychology.
- Policy Horizons Canada (2024) Competencies Framework for Foresight Practice.
- Rohrbeck, R. and Kum, M.E. (2018) "Corporate foresight and its impact on firm performance: A longitudinal analysis", Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 129, pp. 105-116.
- Schwarz, J.O. et al. (2020) "How organisations can sense the future: the role of the futures lab", Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
- Tetlock, P. and Gardner, D. (2015) Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction. Crown.
- UK Cabinet Office Policy Profession, Policy Cycle and PRICE framework.
- UK Government Office for Science, Futures Toolkit.
- Wilkinson, A. and Eidinow, E. (2008) on the Scenario Quality Assessment Method (SQAM).
- Wisniewski, B., Zierer, K. and Hattie, J. (2020) "The Power of Feedback Revisited: A Meta-Analysis of Educational Feedback Research", Frontiers in Psychology.