Strategic Thinking For Leadership Success

The process of strategic thinking allows us to analyse situations and problems – and then prepare the plan that will take us to new levels or through a change.

Strategic Thinking for Leaders

Strategic thinking is a valuable leadership tool for analysing challenges and identifying successful strategies and solutions. This article gives you a brief flavour of the uses of strategic thinking, and provides a simple process for applying it.

First, let’s look at the difference between strategic thinking for leaders and strategic planning, and put our focus on thinking. Strategic thinking is the input to planning and the creation of a vision for the future.

Why Use Strategic Thinking for Leaders?

Strategic thinking brings many benefits to a situation, most notably the ability to analyse it from many different perspectives. It can even help you to explore multiple perspectives on your own.

As a process, strategic thinking is a particularly effective tool for managing any kind of change. It not only helps you to identify ideal outcomes but also any issues that may arise along the way. As strategic thinking focuses on asking questions, it can also help you to generate ideas that lead to exciting new possibilities and opportunities.

Before You Begin

Strategic thinking works best as a collaborative activity, whether discussing issues informally or as a more formal guided workshop. As you gather your team, it helps to consider the capabilities and personalities of each member to determine their key strengths, or anything that might throw your strategic thinking session off balance.

It also helps to consider whether you want the session to be face-to-face, virtual or hybrid. There are many studies into the new world of greater homeworking, and whether distance is negatively impacting the effectiveness and creativity of organisations. Take a moment to consider the dynamics of your team, and whether having everyone in the same room will deliver a better outcome.

Finally, always be honest when answering strategic thinking questions so you can build an accurate picture of the situation and everything that influences it.

Start with a SWOT

The best way to kick off your strategic thinking session is to undertake a SWOT analysis of the situation you are facing. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Take a large sheet of paper, divide it into four quadrants, and add one of those labels to each quadrant. Strengths and weaknesses are usually easy to determine, but opportunities and threats may require more research and the need to make predictions based on current data.

What is the Big Picture?

Next, think broadly about the situation and what your ideal objectives are. Don’t add too much detail at this stage as it can stifle your thinking.

Bear in mind that strategic thinking feeds into strategic planning, which is where you define the roadmap that takes you from where you are now to where you want to be. This is your chance to add as much detail as possible so you can identify the best route forward.

Consider Everyone’s Point of View

The next step is to think about the scope of all those involved in the situation and the perspectives they may have on it. This will include gathering the views of stakeholders, and understanding why people feel the way they do.

Andrew Grove, the former chairman of Intel Corporation, provided a great piece of advice that is perfect for strategic thinking. He said that the best way to solve a problem was to take your emotions out of the equation and observe the situation as an outsider.

Identify What Needs to Happen

The final step is to determine what actions will help you achieve your objectives, and who you need to involve. Your powers of observation will come in handy at this point as you identify the target audience’s capacity for change, and what will inspire them to act.

Once you have undertaken your strategic thinking for leaders process, you will be ready to move on to the strategic planning phase to determine the best way to achieve your objectives.

How Can Training Help Me?

Training will help to identify your strengths, and any valuable aspects of strategic thinking that you may be missing. Here are a few articles that will help:

Strategic thinking requires an objective approach to gathering information. Learn how active listening skills improve strategic thinking.
Learn more about the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning.
Read about the five priorities of strategic planning and project management.

Check out this Comprehensive Article – Top Advice on Critical and Creative Thinking