Strategic Thinking for strategic leaders.

“Take a step back and think about it in the grand scheme of things". Is this sentence familiar to you? Are you more into seeing the big picture? Or, do you find it hard to step back on the day-to-day detailed scheme of things? Being able to “see the big picture” is one of the characteristics of Strategic Thinkers, those who have skills that enable them to use critical thinking to solve complex problems and plan for the future.

These skills are essential to accomplish business objectives, overcome obstacles, and address challenges - particularly when they are projected to take weeks, months, or even years to be achieved.

Some of these strategic skills could be categorized into 4 principles, and are listed as follows:

Champion Strategic Initiatives: To ideate a strategy that helps your organization reach its objectives, you must be capable of analyzing a variety of inputs - from financial statements and KPIs to market conditions, emerging business trends, and internal resource allocation. This initial analysis is crucial to creating a strategy that aligns with the current reality of your organization.

Deliver Impactful Outcomes: Strategic planning is often used to solve problems or address challenges, such as missed financial targets, inefficient workflows, or an emerging competitor. Implementing a strategy that addresses the central challenge you face, requires first understanding the problem and its potential solutions. From there, you can craft a strategy that solves it.

Commit to Clear Communication: Putting a strategy into place for your company, regardless of its size, requires solid communication skills. The ability to communicate complex ideas, collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, build consensus, and ensure everyone is aligned and working toward shared goals are all central to strategic thinking.

Discuss, Decide, and Execute: Strategy isn’t just about thinking of a solution - it involves implementation, too. Once data has been analyzed, the problem is understood, and a solution has been identified, you need strong planning and management skills to bring everything together.

Some of these skills you might be born with, and some might seem out of your reach. But remember, no matter what you believe, all skills can be learned if you have the intention and dedicate the correct time to develop them. Being able to think strategically allows you to not only help the company you’re working for, but also advance your career through intentional decisions.

If you want to be more strategic at work, here are some tips to start:

• Look forward: Strategic thinkers are always trying to anticipate what problems may come up later, what challenges they might face, or how things may change. To think strategically, you should look at your current goals, and then try to imagine what obstacles may appear. These goals can be about your career, for instance, getting a promotion or applying for a new job, or they can be for your current place of work. Employers like to see employees who are thinking ahead, and anticipating obstacles in your career path will help you overcome them faster.

• Talk to others: Feedback and collaboration are important aspects of strategic thinking. To best prepare for the future, you should seek advice from others around you. They may have suggestions on different ways you can do things or life experiences they can share. Test ideas with one another until you’re able to come up with the best solution.

• Continue Learning: Strategic thinking requires that you continue to seek out new knowledge or ways of doing things, then apply what you’ve learned towards your goals. You can learn new things in numerous ways, such as reading books, taking classes, or even through your own experiences.

• Take Risks: A significant part of strategic thinking is encouraging and taking risks. If you have a staff, you should encourage them to come up with bold and innovative ideas. For your own career, set aside time to think about ways you can get yourself to stand out. Once you have a few risky ideas, consider all the factors that go into them. A strategic thinker will take a risk when it’s appropriate, after considering all the pros and cons.

• Consider the other side: For any step you want to take, consider an alternative approach, and weigh the benefits. Strategic thinkers will usually remember that their ideas might not be the best and that a better solution could exist. By better understanding opposing viewpoints, you can either shift your opinion to the better idea or become more convinced of your original one.

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Whether in the long or short term, a strategic mindset can be developed through self-exploration, critical questioning, and formal training. The advantage of being a Strategic Thinker is learning how to think rather than what to think. Although you might not always have the right answers, strategic thinking skills can empower you to spot new opportunities, address emerging challenges, and plan for future success.

Sources: Harvard Business School & Indeed Career Guide