The Future Self Canvas in Action: A Conversation with Tim Lukas Leinert, Product Lead at North Kingdom Design & Communication
Need a little help translating big, lofty ideas into a specific plan of action? The Future Self Canvas is a tool that can help. This concept originated in the book FYI: For Your Improvement published by organizational consultancy Korn Ferry.
I’ve written and spoken about how product leaders and managers can use this tool (see Chapter 6 of my book STRONG Product People for more details), but today I’m excited to share someone else’s perspective.
Tim Lukas Leinert Product Lead at North Kingdom Design & Communication, shares how he’s used this tool with his team. My blog editor, Melissa Suzuno, conducted the interview.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role.
I am a product lead at North Kingdom, a digital agency based in Sweden. I am originally from Germany, but work mainly in Scandinavia.
My background is at the intersection of psychology and communication, which gives me a toolbox to bring behavioral insights into product development. In my job, my primary responsibility is to help clients and teams to develop successful products throughout the product life cycle. The best part of this is that I can be continuously curious while creating a space where teams can do their best work.
When I am not working within product development, I co-founded a Danish bakery with my partner.
How did you come across the Future Self canvas?
I discovered the Future Self canvas in Petra's book and started using it with my previous team.
I often deal with the whole development team—not just product managers. The Future Self canvas allows me to adjust it to other disciplines on a high level.
What were you hoping to achieve with it?
My hope for using Future Self is to meet each team member empathetically while guiding them toward their best selves.
Have you made any modifications to the canvas?
Yes, I modified the Future Self by adding a first part: Experience mapping. You can see my example below.
Here’s what I include:
Experience line: We draw a line from the past over now to the future. The line visualizes the experiences around key events, both positive and negative experiences.
Boosters and blockers: We talk about the events and if something was a positive or more negative experience. This helps me to understand what the person experienced for boosters (good experiences, something that motivates them) and blockers (more negative experiences that hinder them). It is a nice way to look back before looking into the future.
Future is then used to turn a future idea into the concrete Future Self canvas.
I recommend focusing on a specific project or events within a project. For example, I would sit down with a team member and start from the beginning of a project and discuss everything up until its current status. We would talk about team dynamics as well as that individual’s own motivation. I find that uncovering motivation and where this person wants to go is extremely helpful in building a Future Self.
What have the results been?
The results are commonly really productive because this combination of experience mapping and Future Self Canvas allows us to put things into context: where we come from and where we want to go.
It is also a nice way to break the ice, reflect on experiences, and turn them into future opportunities.
After doing this with more team members, suddenly, patterns will emerge. I can identify shared boosters and blockers—what was very motivating and what can be improved.
Want to give the Future Self canvas a try with your team? Download your copy here!