In most strategic planning conversations, “KPI” is shorthand for Key Performance Indicators — measurements that show where you’ve been, how you’re doing, and where you’re likely headed if you keep doing more of the same. That’s important. But it’s not enough.
Welcome to a more powerful perspective: the KPIs of Relevance. The first in this new strategic lens is Key Possibilities and Ideas — a starting point for credit unions ready to abandon the incremental and design the exponential.
Strategic planning that starts with operational KPIs is backward. Why begin a planning conversation by tracking what already happened when the very purpose of strategy is to invent a new future? If your planning session starts with balance sheet ratios and loan growth curves, you’re not planning — you’re budgeting.
Key Possibilities and Ideas aren’t about what’s been proven. They’re about what’s possible. They are the earliest sparks of relevance — insights, concepts, and bold bets that may or may not yet be measurable, but that must be explored if your credit union wants to matter in the future.
You Don’t Need Consensus — You Need Curiosity
Many boards and executives still cling to the idea that strategy must emerge from consensus. But consensus is a great way to ensure mediocrity. Possibility doesn’t emerge from the middle. It comes from the edges.
That’s why Key Possibilities and Ideas demand intellectual range. In your next strategic planning session, challenge your team to bring three ideas each that:
- You don’t currently have the resources to pursue;
- Your competitors are ignoring or afraid to touch;
- Might not work — but if they do, will change everything.
Let the session get messy. Let the edges of relevance blur. Planning at this level is not a task — it’s a search.
From Comfort Metrics to Strategic Tension
Too many planning sessions begin with “how are we doing?” instead of “what aren’t we seeing?” Operational KPIs — asset growth, ROA, loan/deposit ratios — are comfort metrics. They tell you if the machine is still working. But they won’t tell you if your members are preparing to trade you in for a sleeker model.
Key Possibilities and Ideas introduce tension — the healthy, creative kind. These KPIs don’t rely on certainty. They rely on hypothesis. Think of them as a boardroom moonshot: not measured by current performance, but by potential impact.
What if your credit union could:
- Create a completely AI-powered lending experience for underserved entrepreneurs?
- Launch a subscription-based membership model that decouples value from products?
- Build a financial wellness brand with community partners that brings in 5,000 new members, none of whom have ever visited a branch?
These aren’t pipe dreams. They’re possibilities. And possibility is the new currency of relevance.
Ideas Are the Fuel of Growth — and Survival
In the last decade, credit unions that prioritized ideas — not just execution — have scaled faster, built stronger member value, and attracted top talent. They were early in digital engagement, quick to tap into fintech partnerships, and bold in branding beyond the box of financial services.
At 10X credit unions, strategic planning begins not with spreadsheets but with scenario design — imagining new ways members might live, work, bank, and trust. These credit unions ask different questions:
- What’s changing in our members’ lives that we aren’t yet solving?
- What jobs are members hiring competitors to do — and why not us?
- What will make us relevant three years from now?
They know that strategy isn’t about being slightly better. It’s about being differently essential.
Measuring the Unmeasurable — For Now
Of course, eventually ideas must convert into initiatives, investments, and measurable impact. But don’t rush the metrics. Give ideas time to breathe before demanding they prove their worth.
Track your Key Possibilities and Ideas with a short, strategic portfolio:
- What’s the idea?
- What future member need does it address?
- What would success look like — not just in numbers, but in relevance?
- What’s the first step in testing this idea?
This is where the KPIs of Relevance diverge from the old playbook. It’s not about predictability — it’s about possibility. Strategic planning is not an audit of the past. It’s the launchpad for what’s next.
The Future Doesn’t Wait
We are living in a time when relevance has a shorter shelf life than ever. Loyalty is fickle. Innovation is fast. Disruption is cheap. If your credit union isn’t actively identifying and investing in new possibilities, you’re not standing still — you’re falling behind.
So, in your next strategic session, don’t just ask: “How did we do last year?” Instead, ask: “What are the Key Possibilities and Ideas that will make us indispensable in the years to come?”
Because the future doesn’t care how well you’re performing today. It cares whether you’re still worth showing up for tomorrow.
And that’s the KPI that matters most.
Jeff Rendel, CSP and Principal of Rising Above Enterprises, is a strategic advisor to America’s credit unions. Through his 10XCU platform, he helps credit union leaders design strategies for growth, relevance, and high performance across governance, leadership, service, and strategy.
www.jeffrendel.com – jeff@jeffrendel.com – 951.310.7275