The combination of recent whiteboarding sessions and nearly 5,000 emails I've received in less than two weeks in my new position had me thinking about something. How are credit unions brainstorming the “what's next” for them in 2017?

In my experiences in large corporations, small businesses, credit unions and cooperatives, more often than not, the wrong people are involved with coming up with the fresh ideas and plans for reaching new goals, new audiences and/or even overcoming new and old challenges.

As a credit union executive, you often have these vague objectives and maybe even revenue goals in mind. Most of the time, you have no clue how to get there, but you feel like it's your baby, your idea and your goal that you want to report back to the board. So, what do you do? You get involved in the brainstorming sessions for how to achieve your goals for the credit union.

Here's my advice for you in the form of a short response on LinkedIn:

Dear Credit Union Executive,

Thank you so much for connecting with me on LinkedIn. The summer has been good to you (nice tan) and your profile photo is quite slimming.

I hear it's time to start planning for 2017. That's exciting! I can't believe it's that time again. Whew! Where did the time go, right?

Anyhoo, since we are on the downside of 2016 and I hear you've already come up with some possible high-level goals, I wanted to make a suggestion to you as your newest LinkedIn friend: You've done your job, now get out of the way.

You've hired people to take it from here. Let them do what they're good at doing. You hired them, so by default, you should trust them. If you don't trust them, well, I'm not a therapist and you have other issues. All you need to do now is provide your creative team with a big whiteboard, dry-erase markers and a deadline.

So, step back and reflect on 2016 so far. What went right, what went wrong and what went sideways? What can you do to finish the year on a good note? Keep your eyes on the bigger picture and let your team rise up to their abilities to help meet the goals of your credit union!

Best,

Michael (your new best LinkedIn buddy)

P.S. I have some self-tanner you can use during the winter months.

You, as a credit union executive, need to understand the strength of the creative brains that surround you every day and use them.

Whiteboards facilitate discussion. Whiteboards literally draw people together to bring new ideas out of their heads and visualize those ideas for a team to see, absorb and translate into even better ideas, paths and action steps to take. That's what I love about whiteboards! You actually see the steps drawn out and how we are going to get there together even before we take the first step!

I know, I know. You're probably thinking, “What's the deal with him and whiteboards?”

Here's the thing, at a previous job, we were so good at what we did that we convinced our boss to approve a full wall, from floor to ceiling, covered in whiteboard paint. I would stand on chairs and tables to reach the top of the wall to start drawing, mapping out the ideas and how to achieve them, and how they all tie back to the organization's goals. Whiteboarding gives you perspective and a freedom to explore the goals of executives and how to achieve them, because we all believe in the strength and potential of credit unions.

Find your creative brain team and write down the following at the top of a whiteboard: Revenue, Membership, Lending, Mobile and Compliance. Then, let your brains open up and map out how you'll achieve the goals for each category. Start broad and narrow your ideas as you go down the board.

Finally, remember one crucial thing about whiteboard planning: You can erase it and start over. If the idea turns out to be ridiculous, stop there, erase it and come up with something else.

Get off of your computer and go whiteboarding!