Development Areas for Managers: Strategic Thinking

Strategic Thinking is Necessary at all Levels

In the past, strategic thinking was reserved for long-term organizational goals, like five-year plans that cascaded down to each level of employee, translated into neat steps. Our research has shown that the top-down only approach to strategy is no longer feasible in the complex, fast-paced, and ever-changing environment that businesses are faced with today.

In particular, these demands create the need for a whole new type of leader. In addition to high relationship skills, the successful leader of today exemplifies a strong on-the-ground strategic skill set. These everyday (though not always commonly seen) strategic skills are needed at all levels of the organization—not just in the C-suite.

With the fast-paced, ever-changing environment most organizations are now operating in, strategic thinking cannot be something that only happens at the top—it simply takes too long and the environment and system will change before any strategic initiatives can be filtered down from higher executives.

Leaders at all levels need to be thinking critically and strategically or the organization will be left overwhelmed by the turbulence of change. Agility is simply called for at all levels.

“With so many forces at work against making choices and tradeoffs in organizations, a clear intellectual framework to guiding strategy is a necessary counterweight. Moreover, strong leaders willing to make choices are essential.”

– Michael E. Porter, What is Strategy? in Harvard Business Review’s “On Strategy”

Strategic Thinking in Practice

While there are many facets to this skill, at its core it involves being able to:

back up from the immediate and see the bigger picture
understand where the organization is going
understand driving influences internal and external to the company
imagine potential futures for the team, department, division, and organization

Leaders also play a vital role in translating strategy into actionable tactics that individual contributors can understand and commit to. It’s not just strategic thinking that’s important, it’s best when paired with the ability to break down strategic insights for direct reports to act on.

Leaders without this skill or who are weak in it may focus heavily on firefighting the latest issue, maintaining a “heads down in the weeds” mentality and failing to see the larger patterns and influences that are creating challenges in their workgroup.

This is exactly where your individual contributors lose sight of their personal contribution to the organization’s goals. Disengagement is unfortunately not far behind.

Strategic Thinking for Managers (2)

Leaders who develop solid strategic thinking demonstrate:

Strategic agility: they see ahead clearly, anticipate future consequences, and create competitive plans and strategies for their scope of work
Flexibility when dealing with paradox: they can act in ways that may seem to be contradictory, demonstrate flexibility and adaptability when faced with tough decisions, and maintain balance even when faced with conflicting demands and situational contradictions
Clarity amid ambiguity: they effectively deal with change, comfortably shift gears, and can decide and act without having a complete picture or data
Perspective of the bigger organizational picture: they look toward the broadest possible view of an issue, pose future possibilities and scenarios, and discuss multiple aspects of a situation projecting them into possible future results
Vision and purpose: they communicate a compelling and inspiring vision and sense of core purpose; talk beyond the immediate daily reality; create mileposts and encourage their team as progress is made; and inspire a broad range of people and different levels within the business

Overall, strategic thinking is the first building block in operating strategically at all levels of the organization. With strategic thinking skills, managers and high-potentials are able to better allocate time and resources toward current needs while anticipating and planning for future hurdles as well.