2 minutes
The most prized professional accoutrement John Janclaes carries everywhere he goes is not some sleek electronic device but a simple journal and pen. The president/CEO of Partners Federal Credit Union says his journal is a treasure chest of ideas he has scooped up from meetings, conferences, conversations, and other sources—and the medium for developing those ideas into workable solutions.
Journaling is “an indispensable part of my executive tool box, and it can be a real game changer if you commit to learning how to use it,” Janclaes, a CUES member, says. Over the 25 years he has been jotting down personal and professional notes, he has developed a system to capture both qualitative and quantitative data and action steps, using diagrams to fit together the components of an idea. He uses a series of icons to organize his journal entries: a light bulb to highlight an idea, a star to denote an action item, and a telephone handset as a reminder to contact specific people to plan and implement a new strategy.
As just one example, a few years back, Janclaes was reflecting on the impact of technology on $1.4 billion Partners FCU, Burbank, Calif., its 110,000 members’ expectations and how CU staff could guide members in using new automated services. He drew in his journal the “waves of change” breaking over his staff and jotted notes brainstorming how to improve personal service and operations by integrating people, processes, and technology.
Those entries led to the creation of a new position, a “Tech Dude” who could guide employees to learn about and embrace online and mobile services and share their enthusiasm and newly developed expertise with members. (Read more about Tech Dude.)
Janclaes was introduced to journaling by an early mentor, the late author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn. It is now possible to maintain an electronic journal, but Janclaes prefers his familiar paper journals, which he orders by the dozen. He can easily write notes, diagram, draw and even tape in articles and documents—plus review his entries from multiple years, side by side.
Like any skill, journaling as a path to innovation takes practice. “A journal provides a flexible palette to develop ideas,” Janclaes says. “I’ve penciled an idea and reworked it over months before bringing it into its real form. My experience from 25 years of journaling is that the discipline evolves over the years. My cycle time to capture a seed of an idea, iterate it, and then act on it is shortening using this process.”
Karen Bankston owns Precision Prose, Stoughton, Wis.
