Organizational Memory
Trends card, MethodKit for Memory & Reminiscence
Card 62 of 66 · MethodKit for Memory & Reminiscence
  • ThemeStrategy & Direction
  • CardCard 62 of 66
  • Questions5 to explore
Strategy & Direction

Trends

Trends that affect now & in the future

Trends are only useful to an organization if its understanding of them is captured somewhere other than a single person's head.

Every leadership team is watching trends: shifts in technology, regulation, customer behavior, competition, and the broader environment. Some of that watching is informal and intuitive; some of it is deliberate and structured. Either way, the organization's working understanding of the trends that matter to it is genuinely valuable knowledge, and it is almost never written down.

Trend knowledge is particularly vulnerable to turnover. The person who has been following a particular regulatory shift or technology wave for three years carries a depth of context that is essentially invisible to anyone who joins after them. Capturing trend briefs, even brief ones, transfers that context into a form the organization can use.

The goal is not a comprehensive market report. It is a working document that records which trends the organization is watching, why each one matters to the business, and what the current interpretation is, updated often enough to be trusted.

What to capture

For this part of the company brain, what is worth writing down and keeping current. The goal is not a complete archive but a living record that new people can read and returning people can trust.

Trends being watched

The specific trends the organization has identified as relevant, with a note on why each one matters and which parts of the business it most affects.

Current interpretation

The organization's current read on each trend: how far along it is, what the likely trajectory looks like, and what remains uncertain.

Implications for strategy

How the trends being watched connect to current strategic choices, including where the organization is positioning itself ahead of expected changes.

Sources & expertise

Where trend intelligence comes from, including the people, publications, communities, or data sources that inform the organization's understanding.

Questions to explore

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

  1. Which trends does the organization consider most significant to its future, and where is that view written down?

  2. Who carries the deepest knowledge of each relevant trend, and is that knowledge accessible to others?

  3. How does trend intelligence actually get from the people who gather it into decisions that affect the organization?

  4. When was the last time the trend list was reviewed, and what has changed since then?

  5. Are there trends the organization is aware of but has not yet incorporated into its strategic thinking?

Things to notice

  • Trend awareness tends to be concentrated in one or two people; when those people leave, the organization often has to rebuild its market understanding from scratch.
  • Trend documents written as formal reports tend to go unread; a lighter, more frequently updated format is more likely to stay current and be used.
  • There is a natural tendency to track trends that confirm the current strategy; capturing dissenting reads on a trend's direction is often more valuable.