henry copeland:
To challenge the dominant view in your organization, it may be wise to create multiple scenarios about the issues under debate. For example, when a Houston credit union was going gang busters thanks to Enron’s meteoric rise, we asked their senior management team to imagine a scenario where they could no longer rely on Enron for growth and deposits. At first, there was reluctance to develop such an unrealistic and negative view, especially since Enron was their single corporate sponsor. But then some interesting scenarios emerged, ranging from an Enron take-over to more dire scenarios involving trouble for either Enron or the credit union. Later, when Enron suddenly collapsed, the credit union was saved – against the odds according to regulators – because they had taken pragmatic actions to be less dependent on Enron.11 For example, they launched their own e-mail system to communicate with members rather than using Enron’s system. And they opened branches outside the Enron building and had started to admit non-Enron employees in their credit union.
- www.thinkdsi.com
- www.thinkdsi.com