Skip to content
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
SIMON'S 2026 SERVICES GUIDE

Strategic & Emerging Risks in organisations

Identify where plans might go wrong
before they do

What does 2025 have in store for your team?

Do you find that your team is often scrambling to keep up? What if you could spot challenges and opportunities early, plan a course of action, and align your collective efforts in response?

Strategic awareness is an essential skill for leadership teams and boards, but it’s also valuable for anyone with decision-making responsibilities. Yet, the demands of day-to-day work mean we don’t spend enough time on strategic thinking. Without this awareness, teams can miss emerging threats and opportunities, finding themselves in a constant cycle of reaction.

Improving Strategic Awareness

The Strategic & Emerging Risks workshop allows individuals and teams to lift their gaze, make sense of the bigger picture, and refocus their actions. It teaches the skills futurists use to make sense of the future, and then gets teams working together to identify, understand, and prioritise the trends that are impacting their work.

Why This Workshop?

More than just team building, the Strategic & Emerging Risks Workshop is focused on shared understanding and commitment building. It provides the opportunity for boards, leaders and teams to sharpen their future focus and align short term objectives with long term strategies. In addition, participants will develop transferable strategic foresight skills that allow them to spot trends, risks, and opportunities on an ongoing basis.

Whether you’re thinking 12 months ahead or mapping out the next 30 years, this workshop equips your team to break free from reactivity and build a collective, future-focused mindset.

ENQUIRE NOW

Not just yet but I’d like to download the brochure.

who is this for?

  • Leadership team
  • Boards of directors
  • Decision-makers at all levels
  • Anyone responsible for shaping or executing organisational strategy

Ideal Timing:
Why Start Now?

If you’re looking for an opportunity to re-engage your team after the festive break this is a great place to start. The new year offers a natural opportunity to reset and refocus, making it the perfect time to engage in proactive thinking. This workshop is also an excellent addition to annual strategy off-sites, retreats, and planning sessions, adding a powerful layer of insight into both present and future needs.

Not just yet but I’d like to download the brochure.

Workshop Outcomes

Create shared understanding

Focus on what matters by clarifying which drivers of change are most important.

Identify risks and opportunities

Spot emerging strategic & operational risks, and opportunities facing your team.

Reduce
overwhelm

Focus on what matters by clarifying which drivers of change are most important.

Align work on
what matters

Use shared insights to prioritise team efforts on the work that creates value.
From the moment we mind mashed I felt the energy and ideas coming to life. Your mentorship and experience allowed the event to land for the audience and your keynote and facilitation were both awesome. Gold plated work!
Courtney Smith
Event Owner, Forge Summit
Working with Simon was a wonderful experience. He gained trust and built rapport with our leadership team very quickly and his knowledge and process had us all deeply engaged. The outcome was also very powerful in reinforcing our future direction and the possible additional actions we need to be ready to take.
James Woodyatt
Managing Director, CDK Stone
The Scenario Planning Guide is great and even for someone who’s been doing scenarios for years, it prompted some serious thinking. I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the way you’ve made complex concepts accessible. I love the models and the layout. The whole book is exceptional! 
Alex Hagan
Futurist
Simon thanks for your work, your sessions exceeded my expectations. These are incredibly useful structures and processes.
Tony Hallam
Director Zoos Victoria
Working with Simon is an incredibly enlightening and rewarding experience. His foresight and ability to distil complex information into an engaging story that resonates with the audience is exceptional. Every conversation with Simon takes you on a journey that has many forks in the road and it’s this skill that challenges and develops our strategic thinking. I highly recommend Simon Waller to any organisation.
Leanne Williams
CEO – My Community Library
The energy that Simon brings is infectious, and the different tools he used to get people to think strategically and understand the scenario development process meant that everyone could contribute.
Laura Jo Mellan
Director, Maribyrnong City Council
Simon did a brilliant job of finding the balance between challenging and reassuring us, enabling us to be comfortable with being uncomfortable – to rise to the task of leadership in times of high uncertainty.
Angela Savage
CEO, Public Libraries Victoria
I would happily recommend Simon if you are looking for someone who will encourage you to expand your imagination, to get you thinking on another level, to consider new ideas, to think outside the box. Simon is engaging, interactive, and challenges your way of thinking. He is professional and creative, down-to-earth, and a likeable character who will help you get to where you need to be.
Annemarie Mccabe
Chair, My Community Library
Mayor, Baw Baw Shire Council

Some of the brands Simon has inspired

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore

CONTACT SIMON

workshop structure

Strategic Awareness Skills

Delivered either in person or online this session gives participants the tools and techniques they need to build their strategic awareness

Scanning the environment

Participants spend 30 minutes of their own time to capture the signals of change they’re seeing around them.

Collating the information

Our team collates the information submitted by participants into a list of strategic factors for use in the final session.

Priortisation Workshop

The team reconvenes for an in person workshop to identify which strategic factors require further planning and exploration

This workshop involves approximately four hours of contact time split over two sessions. In between the two sessions participants will be required to commit 30 minutes to participate in an environmental scanning exercise.

ENQUIRE NOW

Not just yet but I’d like to download the brochure.

OTHER WORKSHOPS

The Futurist's Toolkit

The Futurist’s Toolkit introduces the practical tools, techniques, and mindsets to help leaders prepare for what’s coming next. Drawing on nearly two decades of work as a business futurist, Simon demystifies how futurists approach uncertainty. He helps leaders strengthen strategic foresight, identify emerging opportunities, and build adaptive capacity within their organisations.
READ MORE

Choosing Tomorrow

Choosing Tomorrow is an immersive scenario workshop that helps leadership teams safely explore difficult and often divisive questions. Using the power of future scenarios, participants step into one of several possible futures to tackle complex issues like data privacy, business ethics and the impact of AI on the workplace. Along the way, they surface assumptions, build strategic awareness, and create a safe space for more informed, future-ready conversations.
READ MORE

How Better Decisions Get Made

How Better Decisions Get Made shows how leaders can make better decisions in complex, uncertain environments. It explores how sound judgement, clear process, and productive disagreement each contribute to effective decision-making. Participants gain practical approaches for counteracting bias, navigating disagreement, and making confident decisions when the way forward isn’t clear.
READ MORE

Leading in Uncertainty

Combining compelling storytelling with practical inquiry Leading in Uncertainty draws on Simon’s experience of the 2004 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. In a race where only half the fleet made it to the finish line, the story provides deep insights into leadership and teamwork in the face of literal headwinds and a perfect storm of uncertainty.
READ MORE

Looking for a keynote instead?

Simon delivers engaging, thought-provoking keynotes on future thinking, decision-making, AI, and the human-tech relationship. His ‘practical futurism’ approach helps organisations sharpen strategic thinking and navigate uncertainty with confidence.
enquire now

Supporting purposeful leaders
to move forward

Icon-email Icon-phone-handset Linkedin-in

Stay ahead of the curve

advisory
education
leadership workshop
resources
© 2026 simon waller. All Rights Reserved

Enquiry form

If you’d like to find out more about The Power of Being Strategic Workshop for in house delivery, or want to know about upcoming public workshop dates, fill out the form below or call 1300 66 55 85  (within Australia).

Work With Simon

If you’re considering engaging Simon please reach out to book a to chat. You can do this by filling out the form below, contacting Sarah at 1300 66 55 85 (within Australia), or emailing her at sa***@*************om.au. If it’s for a speaking engagement please provide the event date and any information that might be helpful.

Subscribe to
the future

Rather than find my posts by chance, you can have them conveniently delivered to your inbox*.

* And it goes without saying that we will never spam you or share your details

THE SCENARIO PLANNING GUIDE

How scenario planning can be used to align thinking, stimulate ideas and overcome the inertia of uncertainty.

Subscribe to the future

Practical, inspiring, and straight to your inbox.
subscribe