By Lisa Hochgraf
I recently hired a writer to research what it is that credit unions do when trying to move directors and top executives from day-to-day thinking mode into strategic thinking mode. (The resulting article will appear in the April issue of CUES’ Credit Union Management magazine.)
So my ears perked up a little extra when Michael Hudson, Ph.D., described a technique he uses with his clients to facilitate leadership brainstorming.
President of Credit Union Strategy, Rehoboth Beach, Del., Hudson told attendees of CUES Symposium, being held this week in Bonita Springs, Fla., to encourage directors and top leaders to brainstorm using one of the following sentence-starters:
- I wish our credt union could …
- What if we could …
- How can we …
When you do this, Hudson said, adults “kind of become kids again. We don’t think, ‘Oh, will that work or won’t that work?'
“‘I wish’ and ‘how can we’ can change your planning process overnight,” he added. “It changes the tone of the conversation and engages people differently. It lets people dream things people are uncomfortable saying.
“The day I learned that technique, we got so much better discussion, so many more ideas.”
What ideas do you have when you frame the question this way? Please add them in the comments. Here, I’ll get you started.
I wish our credit union could …
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
Read more ideas from Hudson's session on strategy in this Credit Union Management magazine article.
