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5 Tips to Develop Strategic Thinking Skills

5 Tips to Develop Strategic Thinking Skills

Strategic thinking skills are in demand, and no wonder.

The complexity within which we operate demands that many strategic decisions be made in real-time - closer to the action. Long gone are the days when teams could set performance metrics annually. Today, individual contributors, as well as teams, must balance changing conditions and ever-shortening cycles as they monitor performance against goals. They have to constantly evaluate and demonstrate decision-making aligned with current priorities and an organization's long-range goals. They have to apply strategic thinking.

Strategic thinking skills combine creativity, innovation, and research to create a significant competitive advantage in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing world. Thus, there is increased awareness and demand for this vital leadership skill.

Unfortunately, not everyone is born a strategic thinker. These skills need to be developed in leaders and fostered in teams.

So, what exactly makes a strategic thinker, and how can you tell if you are building it into your operations?

With over 25 years of experience helping organizations build and execute strategic plans, we have found five core elements in our most successful clients. Understanding and incorporating these into your operations will strengthen your strategic thinking skills.

The five core elements needed to build your strategic thinking capabilities:

  1. Take an Outward Orientation

An outward orientation means taking an ‘outside in’ approach to evaluating what you are doing. It means looking at your activities in relation to things outside of your department or organization. It is the opposite of operating in isolation; it is the orientation to the external context within which you operate and ensuring it influences decisions or actions appropriately.

An outward orientation affords the opportunity to look beyond what is currently seen and even beyond what you understand to reveal influences in play that could shift the environment.

When I worked at Levi Strauss & Co., we used to call this “the merchant’s nose.” These folks keep their eyes, ears, and, yes, noses trained on what is happening around them and can quickly influence when they are allowed to do so.

With an outward orientation, you will be better prepared to understand what you are a part of and how to take proactive steps to act more effectively now and in the future. 

  1. Seek a Long-Range Criteria for Decision-Making 

In addition to an outward orientation, strategic thinkers seek internal context to evaluate opportunities, insights, and performance. This decision-making criteria is derived from a clearly defined vision of success and a multi-year plan to achieve this vision – a strategic plan.

This internal context or strategic direction can be used quickly and easily to course-correct when teams are stalled or if an emerging factor throws them off on a tangent.

Of course, the leadership group must do the hard work to develop the strategic plan so this internal context exists, but you will find the strategic thinkers in your organization use this plan to guide planning and make decisions.

  1. Use Compelling Storytelling

Let’s face it—we all love a great story. In organizations, stories are compelling when they are realistic and motivating. A compelling story is one that combines the elements of what you are doing now with how you will evolve over time to achieve an ultimate goal.

To have great strategic thinking, you must inspire it with imagination and unleash their creativity. The master corporate storyteller is Steve Jobs. He was brilliant, and he was a strategic thinking giant. But storytelling is used to ignite strategic thinking in others. That is what made his vision a reality.

Now, I am not saying that to have great strategic thinking skills, you need to come up with a story like Apple’s - to change the world – but your great thinking needs to inspire, excite, and influence. It should describe a compelling end-state, connect with the current state, and then define a pathway to the end-state (a plan) relevant to today’s challenges and aggressive enough to inspire others to act in ways that take you to the next level.

Use storytelling as part of your strategic thinking toolkit to clearly communicate your brilliant thinking, win influence, and inspire action.

  1. Seek a Pragmatic and Balanced Adoption of New Thinking

This tip is another way to demonstrate an understanding of the internal context

Trust me, we all can come up with new ideas. What distinguishes ideation from strategic thinking is that it makes ideas practical and reduces barriers to adoption.

This means a strategic thinker knows (or gains this knowledge about) how a new idea could be operationalized. They seek answers to questions like: When is the best time to introduce a change? What conditions would be best? How could objections be addressed? What will be the short-term investment for long-term gain? And finally, but not least, what will be eliminated to make room for this great new plan?

This pragmatism demonstrates that strategic thinking is not limited to those who generate big ideas. It is equally, if not more important, to develop strategic thinking skills (and confidence) in those who operate on the more tactical side of teams.

  1. A High Comfort Level with a Dual Focus

Today, we have become accustomed to dual or even triple focus. We hang out with family and friends, eat, and scroll on our phones. That is not the dual-focus skill I believe needs to be developed for strategic thinkers.

When explaining what a strategic thinker does to a client, she coined the phrase: “A short, tall person.” That is exactly what I mean. A strategic thinker has to have a high comfort level with a dual focus on the near-term and the longer-term at the same time.

They need to feel comfortable with a laser focus on executing their current priorities and be open to the exploration of emerging ideas. Embracing this on an individual level is achievable, but we have found that it can be most challenging for teams.

For teams, it can create tension between executing a plan perfectly (for which you might be rewarded) and the possibility that, at any stage, as new ideas emerge, the plan might shift. Seeking a pragmatic and balanced approach to change and using compelling storytelling can increase the comfort level with a dual focus on a team, but in my experience, it is not enough. The leadership team must embrace and prepare for this dual focus by preparing for it.

It is the nature of the beast these days, so that means that capacities cannot be planned at 100%; there has to be room to flex. You have to make room for this dual focus or be prepared to embrace tension when new ideas emerge and it's clear you are going to have to make changes. This could mean that performance metrics and incentives may need to be adjusted or that budgets will need to be tweaked. In our strategy sessions, we help our leaders navigate this by staging and phasing plans and objectives, but, in today’s highly dynamic environments, that isn’t always enough.

Leaders today need to be taught the skills (and comfort level) to operate in fluid environments. It’s more like riding a wave than climbing a mountain.  

Summary

Strategic thinking skills are more in demand than ever. These skills create a significant competitive advantage for organizations operating in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing world.

The five tips we recommend embracing to build strategic thinking capabilities are:

  1. Take an Outward Orientation
  2. Seek Long-Range Criteria for Decision-Making 
  3. Use Compelling Storytelling
  4. Seek a Pragmatic and Balanced Adoption of New Thinking
  5. A High Comfort Level with a Dual Focus

Want to give your team a  Strategic Thinking lift?

 

 

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