Using Future Search with the US Composting Industry
I recently helped run a Future Search event as a volunteer in Denver focused on improving the circularity of the composting industry in the U.S. The event was incredibly energizing, and it brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to envision pathways to a more sustainable future for composting. One of the most powerful takeaways for me was hearing multiple people in the room say we should have done this ten years ago! That to me suggested it was really helpful.
Over three days, we tackled tough conversations, collaboratively mapped out trends, and explored common ground the industry collectively wanted to move forward with. This post will cover many details of my experience for those curious about Future Search as an intervention and changes in composting.
Setting the Context?
Why did this happen? This spawned as an idea from Susan Thoman and Candy Castellanos as Susan described some industry issues from her role as the founder of the composting manufacturing alliance. Candy suggested a Future Search could help address some issues Susan raised. From there, they worked to talk with the industry, get funding, and do 14 public discovery workshops on the needs of the industry before this event. The team pulled together policy leaders, packaging manufacturers, composters, compost haulers and more ending up with a group of 150 people who attended the event. In projects of this nature, a group is formed that leads the project and they built a steering committee of about 30 people that met bi-weekly up until the event.
Day 1: Setting the Stage and Building Trust
Overview: Day one started with energy, thanks to activities that helped align the group’s vision and set a foundation for collaboration.
Activities Highlight:
- Circle sharing: One key thing we wanted to reinforce is that this was not a conference. We started with everyone sitting in a large circle, all 150 of them, then asked them to stand up and form two concentric circles. In each circle they talked to someone they likely did not know and then rotated, meeting around 10 people. This helped establish that they were there to connect and do, not just listen.
- Timeline Activity: Next we asked the whole industry to write down its history up to the present along different dimensions including personal histories, US composting system history, and the history of global impacts on the US industry. This activity helped establish a narrative about a shared history and context. People got a visual representation of how the industry has evolved, from grassroots beginnings to present-day challenges.
- Mind Mapping: We then asked people to look for industry trends and created one large mindmap of all of the major trends. Participants were able to see “a whole system in the room,” helping identify the main trend lines.
- Personal Reflections: It was exciting to see everyone together, with a common purpose of moving through some tough times. One of my favorite things to hear both this day and others were people who said why didn’t we do this ten years ago!
Day 2: Deepening Trust and Exploring the Future
Overview: Day two started with excitement after a positive experience for most people on day one. The day deepened with an exercise to own up to mistakes people have made, and then built an exciting set of ideas for the future.
Key Activities:
- Prouds & Sorries Exercise: This exercise felt almost therapeutic for participants. It gave space for everyone to honestly reflect on both their successes (“prouds”) and mistakes (“sorries”) that have contributed to the challenges in the US composting system. It was a significant trust-building moment for everyone. You could feel the room shift seeing people really own their mistakes in front of their whole industry.
- Mixed Group Sessions: Up to this point, small groups had been split by industry stakeholder groups like legislators, composters, or packaging manufacturers. From this point forward we mixed people together across sectors and functions, letting them have tougher conversations as they explored the future and their different needs. This created opportunities to see new solutions through the lens of different stakeholders.
- Personal Reflections: I felt the vulnerability shared in these sessions was instrumental in finding common ground. Despite different backgrounds, participants found quite a bit of overlap in goals which surprised me. One other team member mentioned it isn’t usual that you get a whole industry together and they all want more regulations. One big theme was a desire for better common standards.
Day 3: Deciding on Common Ground and Action Planning
Overview: The final day was the toughest. People had invested in relationships and we did a voting exercise to see where there was common ground. Some people were happy, others felt disappointed that their initiative didn’t cross the 80% threshold to move forward into the Common Ground Agenda.
Key Activities:
- Voting Process: We had everyone take their energy and work to build initiative statements. When they were complete, there was a time for the whole industry to vote on whether this had enough common ground to move forward to action planning. The voting on key statements was a bit contentious, especially when it came to topics like food and plastic. Some people were visibly upset by the voting outcomes. Perhaps this divergence showed just how complex these issues are and how vital it is to find consensus-driven paths. One participant later said perhaps they needed more time on day two to hash out differences. Overall 10 of 17 initiatives went forward.
- Action Planning: The final major activity was taking the blessing of the industry forward and talking about how to get each initiative done. This was very exciting to see people talk about future meetings they now planned, new connections and boards they wanted to create to discuss standards, and more.
- Personal Reflections: This day really highlighted the importance of structured, clear decision-making tools in a group this diverse. It wasn’t easy to see people disappointed, but we ultimately reached an 80% threshold on 10 of 17 ideas, including 89% of participants in agreement on a key federal compost legislation proposal that aims to create incentives across both private and public sectors.
Key Learnings:
- Powerful facilitation: Powerful facilitation looked like using humor to build energy, reading the room and changing gears, as well as detailed preparation to create a logistics team and support team.
- Power of Trust and Vulnerability: The “Prouds & Sorries” exercise made me realize how much people needed to feel heard and seen, not just about their accomplishments but also about their mistakes. It was instrumental in bridging gaps and allowed us to move forward on a unified front.
- Decision Making Isn’t Easy: Voting processes showed me the challenge of balancing different stakeholders’ needs. Not everyone was happy with every outcome, but this process of working through conflicts was part of what makes Future Search powerful.
Conclusion:
Reflecting on this Future Search, I was honored to be a part of it. There aren’t many ways to turn waste into fertile material, and our planet’s boundaries are near their limits. It is critical to support industries that offer a way to convert waste into value. This industry clearly had many people who felt the same honor doing this work, and it was rewarding to facilitate an event that could help them make more connections and improve their work. I would be extremely excited if I had more clarity on what to recycle and compost out of them creating better standards from this event.
Future Search was a useful process and one people were not used to. This is so often the case in organization development work, where we look at how people work instead of following old conventions. People need ways to build trust and connect before they can solve issues, most conferences don’t provide this. Future Search brings together a whole system, which already is a trust-building approach, then deepens the trust through activities over multiple days.
Overall, I left Denver hopeful, inspired, and ready to tackle what’s next. The work we did here represents just a start, but it’s a powerful one.
