Strategic planning isn’t just a ritual. It’s a reckoning.
If Key Possibilities and Ideas give you vision…
And Key Priorities and Investments give you focus…
Then Key Projects and Initiatives give you traction.
This is where the strategic rubber hits the operational road. The bold bets and thoughtful trade-offs you’ve identified only matter if you bring them to life — on time, on budget, and at full velocity.
Most credit unions don’t fail at planning. They fail at executing. The strategic intent was strong. The boardroom buy-in was real. The budget was approved.
Then? Silence. Delay. Drift.
Key Projects and Initiatives change that. They are the operating system of serious strategy.
Stop Calling Everything a Project
You can’t operationalize everything. Nor should you.
“Key Projects and Initiatives” are not an exhaustive list of tasks. They are a curated portfolio of action — intentionally selected to drive the impact your strategic priorities demand.
If you’ve got 47 “strategic” projects, none of them are strategic. You’re not scaling — you’re splintering.
At 10XCUs™, the executive team treats initiatives like investment assets: they evaluate ROI, risk, timing, resource requirements, and alignment. If an initiative doesn’t serve a priority that affects growth, revenue, profitability, or experience, it’s paused or killed — not parked in a slide deck.
Think in Terms of Systems, Not Tasks
Credit unions often confuse projects with tasks. A project launches a product. A task writes a policy. A project reimagines a channel. A task updates the footer on the website.
You need to be thinking in terms of systems: coherent, cross-functional programs that change how your credit union creates value.
A Key Project or Initiative might include:
- A full modernization of your member onboarding journey — from app to loan closing.
- A business member experience overhaul — adding digital invoicing, real-time payments, and cash-flow analytics.
- A workforce agility plan — implementing hybrid roles, skills-based training, and AI-enhanced decisioning.
These aren’t boxes to check. They’re systems to build. And they require full-stack commitment: board-level attention, C-suite sponsorship, and department-level execution.
Strategy is Execution in Costume
Let’s drop the charade — most of what gets called strategy is just pre-execution planning. The real work of strategy starts the moment you leave the retreat.
That’s why your Key Projects and Initiatives deserve their own layer of rigor:
- Clarity – Who owns this initiative? What defines success?
- Cadence – How often are updates shared? What’s the rhythm of accountability?
- Capacity – Do you have the talent and bandwidth to deliver?
- Consequences – What happens if it stalls, fails, or exceeds expectations?
High-performing credit unions run strategic initiatives with the same intensity they apply to compliance or lending performance. There’s no “check in six months” culture. There’s urgency, visibility, and a bias for momentum.
Strategic Project Fatigue is Real
Here’s the part no one wants to say out loud: your team is tired of “strategic” projects that go nowhere.
They’ve seen the whiteboard sessions. They’ve attended the planning retreats. They’ve filled out the tracking templates. And then they watched those projects get buried under operational chaos and competing priorities.
That fatigue is toxic.
Key Projects and Initiatives are your chance to reverse that cycle — to show your team that this time, strategy means something. That these are not just ideas, but commitments. That leadership isn’t just asking for buy-in — it’s delivering resources, removing barriers, and celebrating progress.
Execution builds trust. Every finished project is a promise kept.
The Dashboard Isn’t the Destination
Yes, you should measure progress. But don’t fall in love with the dashboard. A green light doesn’t mean impact. A status update isn’t a story.
Every Key Project and Initiative should include one final question: How will this create real, recognizable change for our members, our employees, or our performance?
If you can’t answer that, it doesn’t belong on the list.
Strategic projects aren’t just about completion. They’re about conversion — turning ideas into outcomes, and priorities into proof.
Bottom line: If you’ve defined what matters most, then now’s the time to build what matters most.
Priorities without projects are philosophy. Investments without initiatives are wish lists. Strategy without execution is theater.
But with the right initiatives — bold, clear, cross-functional, and member-facing — you don’t just keep up. You set the pace.
And you prove that planning wasn’t the event — execution is the movement.
Jeff Rendel is a strategic advisor to America’s credit unions. Through his 10XCU platform, he helps high-performing credit unions design strategies and execute initiatives that drive relevance, scale, and sustained growth. Reach him at jeff@jeffrendel.com or explore more at www.jeffrendel.com.