It’s been said that the challenge is never getting new ideas into the mind, but rather getting the old ones out. I wholeheartedly agree and have seen this problem surface in more than one planning session across the years.
Despite the ease with which we allow new ideas to enter our minds, sometimes it is difficult to come up with those ideas in the first place, particularly when groups are involved. This seems to be particularly true when the subject is something unknown or uncertain, such as defining your strategic vision for your credit union.
In such discussions, some hold back because they fear judgement of their ideas, others share lots of ideas that all seem focused on the same desired outcome, and others struggle
to move beyond historical thinking because of their (usually unrecognized and sometimes subconscious) internal biases. And no matter how many times you define the basic rules of brainstorming and remind everyone to just throw the ideas out and make no judgements, the process still yield few really new concepts.
The good news is that there is an easy way to get the group to come up with better ideas, and it is simple to use.
Here’s how it works:
1. Start by stating the intended outcome. For example, “Let’s define a vision for our credit union in 2015.”
2. Next, ask everyone to share their ideas on the subject using a very specific format, noting that the only ideas using this format will make the list.
3. Ask everyone to state their ideas in the form of wishes, such as “I wish the credit union had branches in every county in the tri-state area and was known as the best financial institution in the market.”
3. List all of the “I wish…” statements that the group comes up with on flip chart paper and keep the process going as long as the group is still producing ideas…but guide them to use the “I wish…” format for all of the ideas that they share. be sure to write the statements down verbatim, no matter how detailed they are.
4. When the well runs dry and no more ideas are being put forth, post the flip charts, give everyone a marker, and have them rank their top 10 on the flip charts by putting a check mark next to the statements they would rank in the top 10.
5. Compile the wishes receiving the most votes on a master list and continue your discussion, working toward agreement on the answer to the question you have asked and defining any necessary next steps for refining or implementing the ideas that were ranked at the top.
ACTION ADVICE: Try this approach the next time you are seeking better ideas. You’ll be amazed at how many more ideas this technique produces than the traditional brainstorming approaches you’ve used in the past, and even moreso with the quality and depth of the ideas…when you give people permission to dream, they open their minds and allow the new ideas to push out the old, and that is exactly what you want!
