Power in futures work doesn’t just show up in who sets the agenda. It shows up in who feels able to speak.
When futures processes reward confidence, speed, and verbal fluency, they amplify voices that already carry power. In parallel, they quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) mute others. Introverts, people from marginalised backgrounds, those working in a second language, or anyone who needs time to think are often present, but not heard.
This isn’t neutral.
When some voices dominate, certain futures become more visible, more plausible, more “real.” Others never surface at all. And this isn’t because they lack insight, but because the space wasn’t designed to hold them.
Futures facilitation is always an act of power. The question is whether we use that power to narrow or widen the field of possible futures.
Designing for multiple ways of contributing, for example, through silence, writing, walking, drawing, reflecting, isn’t about participation for its own sake.
It’s about redistributing voice, and with it, the right to imagine.