They are no longer as influential, respected, or popular as they once were. They are uncertain about their current role and future mission. They wish to rethink who they are and where they are going. Or at least some of their members or officers do. There are too many alligators threatening to worry about draining the swamp.
Futures workshops are a stupid diversion from the urgent tasks of the present.
Some other members may want to believe that it is possible to engage the services of a futurist who will accurately predict the real future, and then tell the organization how to maximize its position in the future. But, all else having failed, someone calls a futurist. It is into this kind of an environment that we often step. Under such circumstances, we have learned that we cannot follow Jungk's future workshops method exactly. Giving the past its positive due, no matter how irrelevant the past may seem to be for the future, is a very important, initial, activity, we have learned.