Strategic thinking is the cornerstone of long-term organizational success. While understanding the concept is essential, cultivating it within yourself and your team is the true challenge. It takes careful thought, deliberation, and practice to successfully instill and inspire a strategic mindset in the workplace.
With over 45 years of helping businesses excel at strategic thinking, the CMOE team is here to offer guidance on how to shape strategic thinking. We discuss the key soft skills that make up strategic thinking and delve into a structured approach to developing this competency that you and your team can leverage.
How Do You Develop Strategic Thinking?
Individuals who excel at strategic thinking can analyze complex situations, identify emerging opportunities, and develop effective plans to achieve long-term goals.
Here are some practical tips to develop your strategic-thinking skills.
1. Nurture a Curious and Holistic Point of View
People with a strategic mindset
- Ask insightful questions: These queries challenge assumptions and seek deeper insights into a given topic. Strategic leaders do not simply accept the status quo; they dig deeper, understanding that adopting a critical-thinking lens unveils innovative solutions.
- Embrace a long-term perspective: Strategic thinkers look beyond immediate challenges and instead focus on future opportunities. Embodying a future-oriented approach enables them to confidently pursue decisions that impact both the present and the future.
- Develop a systems-thinking approach: Strategic thinkers reflect upon the interconnectedness of different elements and how they influence each other. Doing this helps individuals see the decision-making process through an all-encompassing perspective.
2. Practice Problem-Solving Centered on Foresight
There are four stepping stones along the path to higher-level strategic thinking:
- Analyzing and synthesizing details: Gather relevant data, identify key patterns, and draw meaningful conclusions. Be open to opposing ideas and develop an understanding and appreciation of them to gain the whole picture.
- Creating visionary scenarios: Future-proof your plan to maintain optimal results. Imagine potential outcomes and specific tactics to help your plan remain on track.
- Making data-driven decisions: Do not rely on intuition alone. Use data to inform your decisions and minimize risk.
- Fostering creativity and innovation: Encourage out-of-the-box thinking and embrace new ideas. Widen your perspective.
3. Learn from Others and Seek Feedback
One of the most helpful ways to think strategically as a leader is by learning from others. Look around you and observe strategic thinkers in the workplace.
- Study successful leaders: Learn from the strategies and tactics of experienced leaders, particularly those who demonstrate the attributes above.
- Engage in collaborative discussions: Share ideas with colleagues and participate in brainstorming sessions. When people are involved in the creative process early on, you are more likely to receive support as the work progresses.
- Seek constructive feedback: Ask for honest feedback on your strategic-thinking skills and use the feedback you receive to improve in key areas. Great outcomes come from an iterative process. Gain the insights of thought leaders and staff members to refine your approach.
What Boosts Strategic-Thinking Skills?
Leaders can foster strategic thinking through independent study and research. Here are some things to think about as you learn how to develop the mindset of a strategist:
- Make the time: If one does not have the time to think, then what good are strategic-thinking skills? Block out the time in your schedule to practice thinking strategically.
- Practice self-reflection: The key here is not to engage in rumination (which can promote negative thought patterns) but to practice and promote mindfulness and awareness. For example, before you greenlight a project or a decision, reflect on the following questions with your team:
- What is the current situation? Or, what present factors must be considered to go from A to B?
- Is this plan feasible?
- Are there any important factors that have been overlooked?
- What are the potential consequences of this perspective?
- Develop the right language: Use terminology, words, and phrases your audience or team will understand. When you develop the right language, instructions become clearer to everyone. This makes it easier to follow and implement strategic-thinking practices. Meet your audience members where they are.
Remember, learning is an ongoing journey. You should expect to continually exercise and hone your own strategic-thinking skills as well as creating a team climate where others can continually develop theirs.
Learn More: How to Train Employees to Think Strategically
How Do You Develop a Strategic Approach?
We’ve laid the groundwork for a strategic mindset, so now it’s time to turn our attention to tactical execution. A strategic approach provides a structured framework to leverage your skills and insights and achieve your goals.
Whether you’re tasked with market positioning, growth plans, or competitive differentiation, you can approach these initiatives with a strategic outlook:
- Think of current positioning: Identify and monitor factors that can impact the long-term direction of the organization and its intended vision. This may include market valuation, competitor performance and brand positioning, and consumer trends.
- Complete internal analysis: This requires completing a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) assessment (or another form of analysis) along with relevant performance evaluations.
- Leverage inside and outside help: Rely on resources and individuals inside and outside your organization. This will further assist you in developing powerful and effective corporate-level strategies and staying up to date on industry trends.
- Develop an objective: Your objective should be accompanied by metrics and a timeline to ensure all parts remain on track.
- Create and implement a plan: Once you have a solid understanding of your current position and your desired future state, it’s time to create a detailed action plan. This plan should outline the specific steps needed to achieve your objectives.
- Work towards the future: A strategic approach is not a one-time event, it’s an ongoing process. Continuous monitoring and evaluation are crucial to ensure that your plan is on track and that you’re achieving your desired outcomes. Remember to use the mindset and soft skills discussed earlier.
To ensure you have your bases covered, consider the 5 Ps of Strategy. According to Henry Mintzberg, there are five distinct approaches to building a successful and practical strategy:
- Plan: Strategy that outlines the exact milestones to achieve an objective
- Ploy: Strategy that strives to gain an advantage over competitors
- Pattern: Strategy that emerges from existing patterns or processes, over time becoming a reflection of a company’s strategy
- Position: Strategy focused on a company’s position in the market, in relation to its competitors
- Perspective: Strategy that illustrates how the company views its business and the world around it
Unlock the Power of Your Team’s Success
To help your team unlock the power of strategic thinking, discover more about the Strategic Teaming Workshop. By leveraging the unique perspectives and skills of your team members, you can identify innovative solutions, drive strategic initiatives at your organization, and achieve remarkable results.
