LAS VEGAS–Credit unions and CUSOs gathered here were encouraged to use the “Three Box Solution” to overcome what stands between them and new growth.

Based on the book of the same name by Vijay Govindarajan and championed by Melinda Gates and the Gates Foundation among others, the Three Box Solution posits that there is a simple strategy for allocating an organization’s energy, time, and resources, and it comes down to three boxes.

The three boxes are:

• Manage the Present
• Forget the Past
• Create the Future

‘Write It Down’

“Box number one is about keeping what works today,” Bart Morse, director of AI and Client Solutions with Strum Platform, told the NACUSO Reimagine meeting here. “Bust out the pencil and write it down. Box number two gets a little bit trickier. In one sense it’s what needs to die, but it’s where it gets a little bit more complex. You’ve got to put things in box number two that you can hold loosely and that you’re willing to potentially let go of in order to make room for box #3.”

Great organizations, said Morse, aren’t just good at creating the three boxes, they are great at balancing all three boxes every day.

Box #1

In box number one, explained Morse, most credit unions would place great member service and deep community relationships. “We want to keep those,” he said. 

Box #2 

“Why don’t we let go of outdated systems? Why don’t we let go of ten-click processes that everybody hates? Let’s let go of silo data. Where it gets a little more daring is, what if we let go of our brick and mortar retail locations?”

Box #3

With the credit union no longer beholden to the things it let go of, such as those bricks and mortar locations, it allows a credit union to approach issues differently, Morse said. 

“What if we had to rely more and more on our data? What kind of data do we have on our members? Maybe we only have five data points–what if we enhanced our current data with third party data and we increased our data points to say 20?” Morse asked. “Now, using, say AI, we could create even more personalized experiences as a credit union than the other types of services out there. Using AI, which is advancing every day, we could actually start to predict what our members need before they even know they need it. That’s the credit union of tomorrow.”

The Takeaway

Morse said the message he wants NACUSO attendees to take home is that instead of chasing the latest technology, use technology to help narrow the focus.

And then, when attendees return home, he urged everyone to form a Box Three Task Force.

“Maybe, you’ve got some of those maverick thinkers, some of those guys who always have sort of crazy ideas. This is a great task force for them,” said Morse. “You could create custom Chat GPT AI (that) could even be your wingman in helping you create a Three Box Solution mindset. Here’s the big takeaway: innovation is not that one big swing–it’s a series of disciplined decisions on what to preserve, what to shed and what to invent.”

Morse said those credit unions that will thrive over the next decade won’t be the ones that just guess right—it will be those that build systems like the Three Box Solution to “experiment, to adapt and ultimately evolve.”