routine exercise of imagination

Fast Company | Fast Forward 2005: 67-70: Couldn't help wondering what Church would look like if we took this idea seriously. "one of the most intriguing recommendations of the 9/11 Commission is 'to find a way of routinizing, even bureaucratizing, the exercise of imagination.' In every organization, bureaucratic or not, liberating imagination is at the core of competitive advantage. How to do so? The commission suggests: creating a team that regularly dishes up analysis from the perspective of the enemy, or in business terms, your toughest competitor; developing a set of telltale indicators to better predict an attack, perhaps a rival lining up a key supplier; having a management process to monitor and act on such signals; and ensuring that someone is held accountable for it all."

It fits in with my feeling that decision-making bodies in church could do with training in things like the Edward de Bono mind tools and where use of stuff like 'six thinking hats' was normal ...