Three Horizons Framework

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1. 1

   Set up three columns — H1 (0–2 years, 'Manage & Extend'), H2 (2–5 years, 'Nurture & Build'), H3 (5+ years, 'Create & Seed') — and write the actual calendar years on each. Brief the group on the different success metrics per horizon: profit and efficiency for H1, growth rate and market position for H2, learnings and option value for H3. Frame the session: 'We're mapping where our energy actually goes, not where we say it goes.'

   10 min
2. 2

   Run silent individual writing: everyone lists current initiatives, projects, and ideas on sticky notes, one item per note, using the colour of the horizon they believe it belongs in. No discussion yet — the point is to capture each person's honest placement before the group converges.

   15 min
3. 3

   Have participants post their notes on the template with a one-line explanation each. Cluster duplicates as they appear, but leave items placed in different horizons by different people visibly side by side rather than merging them.

   15 min
4. 4

   Work through the disagreements deliberately. For each item that landed in two horizons, ask: 'What would need to be true for this to be H2 rather than H1?' These placement disputes are the most valuable data in the room — they reveal where the team's strategic assumptions diverge.

   20 min
5. 5

   Step back and assess the balance. Count items per horizon, then estimate the share of budget and talent each horizon actually receives. Ask: 'Is this distribution intentional?' Pay particular attention to a thin H2 — teams can usually name today's business and a few far-off bets, but not what is being built to become the next core.

   15 min
6. 6

   For each horizon, agree the three to five most important items and define what 'good progress' looks like in the next 12 months. Push for observable evidence — revenue milestones for H1, adoption or scale signals for H2, validated learnings for H3.

   25 min
7. 7

   Close with commitments: for each horizon, decide one thing to start, one to stop, and one to accelerate. Assign an owner and a first step to each commitment, and agree when the map will be revisited.

   15 min

Conseils

• The biggest facilitation challenge is H2 — teams often can't name what they're doing to build tomorrow's business.

• This is the most revealing gap.

• Avoid collapsing H2 and H3 into 'innovation' — they require fundamentally different management approaches.

• Use time explicitly: write the current year and estimated target years on the template to keep discussion concrete.

Pièges courants

• Treating the horizons as a delivery sequence — first H1, then H2, then H3 — instead of three portfolios that must be funded and managed simultaneously

• Letting the loudest or most senior voice settle placement disputes quickly, when the disagreement itself is the strategic signal worth mining

• Accepting vague ambitions like 'become AI-first' as H3 entries — the far horizon still needs concrete bets and experiments, not slogans

• Ending at the map — without the resource-allocation discussion and start/stop/accelerate commitments, the wall becomes decoration within a week

Variantes

Run an 'Inverse Three Horizons' where you start from H3 (desired future state) and work backwards to identify what must change in H1 and H2. Combine with Scenario Planning to build different Three Horizons maps for alternative futures.

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