If you want to act strategically at work, you will need to develop and exercise the various skills that make up this competency to improve your performance. Gathering information and considering future opportunities or challenges impact are great examples of strategic thinking, as is the consistent effort to improve your expertise and value to your organization.
Learn more about how to act strategically at work below.
How Can I Be More Strategic at Work?
Here are some key methods to develop strategic thinking competency at work.
Work on Self-Improvement
Strategic thinkers are never satisfied with “sufficient.” They take time to discover new knowledge you can use to improve yourself through workshops, conferences, or personal mentoring. As you gain new knowledge, identify opportunities to practice your strategic thinking skills.
One way to do this could be with the help of a leader or coach. They could create or identify lower-stakes situations or tasks where you can practice strategic thinking without worrying about consequences. Your leader may also let you shadow them in strategy meetings, allowing you to see strategic thinking in action. Many people learn better if they have a real experience or an example to follow.
Prioritize Tasks
It can be challenging to focus on self-improvement when you’re busy with day to day routine tasks, so you need to prioritize your duties. This can be difficult when it feels like every task needs to be completed as soon as possible, but focusing solely on short-term assignments is a huge detriment to the development of strategic thinking.
Strategic thinkers always think long-term.
You must find ways to streamline your job to have time for self-improvement and bigger-picture and long range thinking. Ask yourself:
- What needs to be done first?
- Are there tasks that can wait?
- Do I have enough time to do a task tomorrow instead of today?
- Are there tasks I can delegate to others?
- Am I doing tasks that have little or no value that could be eliminated or delegated?
Learn from Other Perspectives
A strategic thinker possesses the humility to consider multiple viewpoints. Differing viewpoints can include feedback or opposing opinions from trusted colleagues. Observing and learning from others is another form of self-improvement. It also fuels creative thinking.
Learning to listen to other perspectives requires a concerted effort because it’s easy to overreact with feelings, emotions, and being fixed on your own position. You must stop your natural reaction of being defensive or dismissive from clouding your judgment. This can take some practice, but keep at it because it will benefit you in the long run and help build trust with your team members.
Learn what strategic thinking can look like for your team to better facilitate brainstorming sessions with different perspectives.
How Do You Get Employees to Think Strategically?
In addition to cultivating a strategic mindset yourself, you should teach your team members how to think strategically. Here’s what you can do as their leader to encourage this skill.
Explain Long-Term Goals
If your team only understands the short-term goals of a project (their tasks), they lose an opportunity to think strategically. As a leader, you should explain the project’s ultimate goal for the organization so team members can see how their tasks contribute to that goal. This can increase motivation and encourage them to think of different ways to accomplish their tasks that will benefit the project as a whole in the long run.
Challenge Them
It’s essential that you challenge your team, not overpressure them. Mentorship can be a good opportunity to challenge team members to think more strategically. Ask open-ended questions to get them to practice strategic thinking. For example:
- What could we do different to be proactive with our next project?
- What do you think we could have done different with the current project?
- What change(s) would you have made to the project?
- How would things change if we did X instead of Y?
Be the Example
The most effective way to encourage strategic thinking in your team is to lead by example with enthusiasm. Exhibit your strategic thinking skills in strategy meetings and take opportunities to point out how your actions are directly connected to strategic thinking.
Recommended Reading: Why Strategic Thinking Is Important in the Workplace
Invest in Your Strategic Thinking Skills
If you’d like to boost your strategic thinking skills, you’re in for an exciting journey! With a bit of time, effort, and the support of seasoned experts like the CMOE team, you can unlock and enhance your strategic thinking potential.
With decades of expertise, CMOE excels at building leadership skills—like the art of strategic thinking—in both individuals and teams, empowering them to shape the future. Discover the power of our Applied Strategic Thinking® Workshop to develop the right skills and techniques.
