A team that excels at strategic thinking is a valuable asset to any organization. You can always rely on strategic thinkers to consider the big picture, contribute to the conversation, and collaborate with others when it is time to solve problems.
It’s no wonder so many leaders are passionate about instilling a strategic thinking mindset in their team members. The good news is that these skills can be taught, and making an up-front investment in developing these skills can lead to significant dividends later. Having more strategic contributors on the team leads to more creative solutions.
When it becomes necessary to expand the team, you can save some time by specifically looking for applicants who already possess competency with strategic thinking. Let’s explore examples of strategic thinking interview questions that can help you identify new hires who already have the traits you need.
Tips for Crafting Strategic Thinking Interview Questions
Keep the most important elements of strategic thinking in mind as you determine what you are going to ask. Our examples below are built around valuable characteristics that define strategic thinkers:
- Problem-Solving Skills
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Creativity & Adaptability
- Collaboration & Communication
As you craft questions to evaluate these traits, keep in mind these general interview question tips:
- Don’t ask leading questions. Avoid giving the candidate the option of simply telling you what they think you want to hear.
- Ask open-ended questions. Questions that can be answered with a single word or phrase won’t give you much insight into the candidate.
Strategic Thinking Question Examples
Use questions like the samples below to set up an interview that focuses on strategic thinking. Encourage the candidate to give examples of strategic thinking at work so you know they have experience exhibiting the characteristics you want in your team members.
Problem-Solving Skills
- Tell me about a major challenge you faced at work. What approach did you take? How was it resolved?
- When you’re working on a complex project with multiple tasks that need to be completed, how do you ensure that everything gets handled? What considerations go into prioritization?
- Tell me about a time when the initial solution to a problem didn’t work. What happened next?
Seeing the Big Picture
- Have you ever identified a problem that others overlooked? How did you address it?
- Can you share an example of how you’ve aligned your work with an organization’s overall strategy?
- How do you balance short-term results with long-term goals?
Creativity and Adaptability
- Can you share an example of a time when you had to try a new approach? What inspired that? How did it work out?
- Is it better to reuse a solution that has worked in the past or develop a completely different methodology? How do you balance between the two?
- Tell me about a time when you suggested changes to established processes that affected an entire team, department, or the whole company. Were your improvements implemented? What happened?
Collaboration and Communication
- Describe a time when you had to communicate a strategy or persuade others to support a strategic initiative. How did you do it?
- Explain how you have supported someone else’s strategic project or initiative. How did you contribute value?
- Tell us about a situation in which your team collaborated to incorporate multiple ideas for a better solution. How did you determine what aspects of each idea would work best?
How to Evaluate Interview Responses
As you ask these questions in interviews, look for candidates who can present evidence that they understand and have demonstrated the ability to act strategically at work. Strategic thinkers who do not act on their ideas do not add much value to an organization.
Strong candidates provide specific examples, clearly outline the steps they took, and quantify their results whenever possible. For example, a candidate might explain the steps they implemented to improve a process, which resulted in a 20% increase in efficiency. This type of answer demonstrates both strategic thinking and the ability to deliver results.
Invest in Strategic Thinking with CMOE
Hiring strategic thinkers is an effective way to secure your company’s future, but your current workforce can also develop their strategic-thinking skills. CMOE’s Applied Strategic Thinking® workshop develops employees at any level in building the competencies that can make any organization future focused. Request more information today.
