The ‘strategos’ in ancient Greece had the license to think strategically. When the full picture comes into view, people are better able to plan for the future, and planning for the future is the mark of a strategic leader. Simply put, a strategic plan is the formalized road map that describes how your company executes the chosen strategy. It is an important task involving all the basic management functions—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Many successful companies, like for example Alphabet (formerly know as Google) or Lego, have discovered how important it is to create and sustain agile organisational structures. Evaluate tasks on parameters of urgency and importance. Perform daily tasks efficiently. An executive who wastes this huge potential of qualification and motivation runs the risk that employees go inter inner resignation with the effect that the company loses competitiveness. Leaders need to also shift with these changes—or run … What options are open to us? We need to develop more open, collaborative, and explorative cultures and mindsets, which combine both logic and imagination, in order to create new innovative solutions. That’s why we don’t buy it when someone says he or she isn’t strategic. Below are three additional benefits that result when strategic thinking guides and informs the decisions of you and your team: 1. Take our course in strategic project management to gain the knowledge you need to be a skilled project manager. We like the phrase, “The things we don’t know tend to control us.” Strategic leaders take this idea to heart. They have a broad view and interpret the road signs and indicators they see, using the insight they gain to actively shape the future. And Design Thinking will help us do just that. Questions can be the catalyst for strategic inspiration because they provoke deep insight. A strategic plan is a management tool that C-level managers need to master and is for established businesses and business owners who are serious about growth. Or, to put it positively: if you would like to keep your company competitive in the mid-term, you should promote strategic thinking of employees at all levels. They seem to recognize that being attuned to the various forces working for or against them reveals valuable information about the strategic opportunities they are pursuing and the obstacles they may face. It began with us thinking about what is the right thing to do in a business context. Part 3. To understand the requirements of strategic thinking training for managers, we first need to understand what it is and why it’s important. When applying critical thinking in business, a leader must use logic to identify, understand, analyze and solve problems. Critical thinking means constantly asking questions and wanting to know more, about why, what, who, where, when, and everything else that can help them make sense of a situation or concept, never taking anything at face value. Organizations want leaders who can think deeply, and strategic leaders know that the best way to dig down to the heart of issues and situations is by asking useful questions such as. 7. Why Critical Thinking Is Important: Take the Next Step. You cannot contribute strategically without creating the time, space and collaborative spirit around you. The effective performance of your business will require solid management: the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals. Strategic thinking is a powerful and invaluable skill, one that leads to greater chances of success in whatever professional and personal projects you're involved in. Its about achieving the … Below checklist provides a framework for thinking about and developing organisational strategy. So, if you want to develop strategic thinking at the workplace, just start comparison in a critical manner. ; Set up realistic business objectives. They force us to step back and see things from a different perspective, which allows us to explore new possibilities. Maybe the person isn’t displaying the characteristics of strategic thinking. We said we want to really take care of these people, we want to honor them and we love them as individuals. You’ll be amazed at what you can see when your mind is freed up to think more broadly. We aren’t suggesting that you neglect your responsibilities—not in the least. Strategic thinking is a skill set that can be applied to any complex problem solving process. To take the example of looking for a place to situate your new business, don’t just go with your gut. What can I do differently now that will produce a payoff in the future? Strategic Thinking Skills. Self-development is a lifelong process upon which you can continue to improve. Being a strategic thinker requires you to see the bigger picture. By being informed, they have a complete view of their situation, understand the issues they need to consider, and collect and use information about the things that will influence their goals and strategies in either a positive or a negative way. 3) Helps create efficiency and saves money. In recent decades, low-qualification jobs have been systematically transferred to low-wage countries. The 3 Best Ways to Avoid Bad Decisions Caused by Groupthink, 5 global trends that could influence your business in 2021, 5 economic trends that will influence your business in 2019, 5 Wirtschaftstrends die Ihr Geschäft im Jahr 2019 beeinflussen, 5 Signs Indicating You Need Strategy Coaching, 5 Common Strategic Planning Mistakes SMEs Should Avoid. Becoming an alert and aware leader means that you have to break free from the activity trap and gain a new perspective on your world. Create Cross-disciplinary and Innovative Teams The ability to think clearly and rationally is important whatever we choose to do. … When you subscribe to our blog and become a CMOE Insider. We became a far more cohesive and productive team.” These are just a few of the personal development skills that can benefit your life and your work. The key to mastering these skills require you to be a good observer. This can be prevented by engaging employees at all levels in the strategy process. It makes strategy part of everyone’s job. Let’s face it: Most leaders have an addiction—to activity. In today’s knowledge economy, companies depend on highly qualified employees. The term strategic planning refers to a coordinated and systematic process for developing a plan for the overall direction of your endeavor for the purpose of optimizing future potential. “Your world” might include your team, functional areas, the organization, your industry, the market, the technology you use, and so on. Alongside strategic thinking, therefore, go organising and action planning, both essential for delivery of your vision and strategy. Critical Thinking is a domain-general thinking skill. It could be in the planning phase as “sensors” for market developments or in the implementation phase as proactively thinking “intrapreneurs”. Vision, strategy, and tactics Even with comprehensive training, there will be many times where you will be put on the spot to think analytically and the right or wrong answer could make a difference with regard to […] It is a skill that can be used on a daily basis, on your own or in groups. For a profit-making business, this process involves many questions: What’s the mission and purpose of the business? Make sure you take the time to look at all angles of a potential decision. The successful application of critical thinking often results in more efficient work processes. Leaders with high levels of awareness tend to have a strong and honest relationship with their surroundings. Why Critical Thinking Is Important: Take the Next Step. That responsibility can’t be ignored for the sake of meeting today’s demands alone. Carefully-honed strategic thinking skills are imperative to the profitability, growth, and general success of a business. However, despite the knowledge about the topic, questions still remain. What do we need to do to get there? Organization-wide goals are annual statements that are specific, measurable, attainable, responsible and time bound. Being able to step back and view your world from farther off gives you a strategic advantage because you can clearly see what you need to change in response to the hazards that are lurking, as well as the rich opportunities that are available for capture. The other side of the coin is that everyone who has leadership aspirations includes ‘strategic thinking skills’ on their CV and LinkedIn profile. However, in most cases executives are not at the touchpoints, but rather normal employees, like salespeople or customer service staff. Employees, on the other hand, are frustrated by decisions, which are frequently decoupled from their reality at the operational level. Only through agility can enterprise respond appropriately to fast changes caused by innovative technologies, changed customer needs, and new competitors. What should we not do? Strategic planning is a process for determining and aligning a business’s vision with its goals and objectives, which includes the development of a strategic plan. This trait helps individuals make better decisions so they can be successful on a personal and professional level. Block out time and a conducive space for thinking - … They are the beliefs that guide the conduct, activities and goals of your organization. However, how are you to do all that if you don’t stop for a minute and simply think? How can we improve our position? Through research, discussion, and goal setting, the strategic planning process helps you and your employees understand the current status of your small business and where it’s headed in the future. This is supported by increased complexity and the high dynamics of change caused by global economic processes and technical innovations. ... Then, they develop alternative courses of action in case an anticipated change does occur. Why Managers Need to Think Strategically Jan 24, 2019. Thinking. When at the end of the 19th century the term strategy, together with strategic concepts, entered companies, the meaning was basically similar: the boss thought, planned, and gave orders, the employees executed. While the need for and benefits of critical thinking is clear, there’s another aspect to these skills that companies often don’t address. Leaders have choices about how to work with their own team and other teams across the business. People with critical thinking can be more considerable and attentive when it comes to personal relationships. Because the work processes were designed in a way that it was not desirable and necessary. Here are three of many reasons: 1)Provides a focus. Project management and project planning are also helpful skills for both managers and leaders. Strategic management is what managers do to develop the organization's strategies. I often hear people define strategy as the ability to have vision and long-term thinking versus short-term thinking. If, in addition, there is a corporate culture in which proactive thinking is not rewarded, that can lead to frustration, and in extreme cases to passive resistance against the plans from the top. This requires patience and practice. Only if you consider the big picture in your operational work, the gap between corporate strategy on executive level and strategy implementation on the operational level can be closed. What are the benefits of strategic thinking? According to Samantha Howland, senior managing partner at Decision Strategies International, if you want to acquire such skills to become a better leader, you should develop your ability to anticipate, challenge, interpret, decide, align and learn. Error: Please enter a valid email address, Error: Password and password confirmation do not match, Strategic Leadership Training and Development, Strategy Development Processes and Services, Leadership Development: Training & Workshops, Customized Leadership Development Programs, Supervisory Development and Training Programs, Large Group Learning Events & Key Note Speaking, Learning and Development Advisory Services, Professional Accreditation and Continuing Education Units, The 50 Most Socially-Shared Learning & Development Blogs, The 100 Best Leadership Blogs Based on Social Shares, The Top 50 Most Socially-Shared eLearning Blogs, Which Comes First Coaching or the Need for Coaching? The rapid pace of change can easily lead to a situation, where the corporate strategy from the beginning of the year has become obsolete at the end of the year through new developments. The Importance of Developing Strategic Thinking Skills. Strategic management isn’t a sprint, but a marathon. This kind of thinking requires a wide range of strategic thinking skills that every good leadership have to possess. The job of executives has become much more challenging and demanding since the times of the economic miracle in the 1950s. Strategic thinking is all about creating connections between people, ideas, and plans. They are based on enduring tenets—guiding principles—to adhere to no matter what mountain you climb. strategic thinking is closely related to the ability to anticipate and have a long-term vision in order to understand the upcoming changes and challenges in the business, and subsequently be able to advise the organization the most successful pathway to take. An HR strategy supports the business strategy, as do all the other functional strategies (especially R&D, Manufacturing, Marketing/Sales). They are caused by the permanent strain of executives who have to take all strategic decisions, as well as all the important operational decisions without getting the decision-relevant information by employees. Employees could intelligently and self-controlled adapt corporate strategy in their work area to the operational realities. 2. Weigh the risk: You need to weigh the risks against the potential rewards. This enables stakeholders to voice and agree on the same priorities and focus on the same path to improvement. This assumption is historically well founded. Nobody wants to risk overlooking something crucial. Generally, the assumption still prevails that strategy and strategic thinking are an exclusive domain of a company’s executives. Strategic thinking encompasses innovative, creative and entrepreneurial insight into an organizations environment, in addition to strategic planning and operational planning. In comparison, leaders who are less attentive to the world around them or consumed by their daily demands are more susceptible to being caught off guard by unwelcome surprises, and they often miss windows of opportunity that open up. Centrally-managed hierarchical companies bring considerable costs due to efficiency losses. Strategy Development Techniques and Best Practices. How is my organization changing, and what is it trying to achieve. As leaders, we are trained to think fast and take quick action. For example, you could study overhead costs such as printing, looking for the core reasons why your … There is no smoke without fire, and the buzz around this skill is completely reasonable. Specifically, this means that strategy workshops should not only be performed for the top management level. If employees think ahead proactively and register changes which they communicate to the board level, it can significantly accelerate the adaptation of corporate strategy to changed market realities. It is about "capturing what the manager learns from all sources (both the soft insights from his or her … Henry Mintzberg wrote in 1994 that strategic thinking is more about synthesis (i.e., "connecting the dots") than analysis (i.e., "finding the dots"). In the meantime the work processes and skills profiles have changed considerably. They should address what you need to do in the short-term (think 1-3 years) to achieve your strategic objectives. Today, in developed industrial nations like Germany there are predominantly well qualified employees, who are aware of their qualification. Somehow, the idea of ‘strategy’ and ‘strategic thinking’ has developed a mystic aura. We probably do quite a bit of strategic thinking in all aspects of our lives, but it's necessary to put it on a formal level in order to really take action. Taking the time to … Critical Thinking: Its Importance and Ways to Develop It. This requires more strategic thinking at all levels or organizations to be successful,” Weed stresses. In order to further strengthen an organization’s strategy, one must be able to apply strategic thinking; the act of generating and applying unique opportunities and that allows an organization to create a competitive advantage. Focus on developing the skills that … 3. Leaders need to also shift with these changes—or run … CMOE’s Design Team is comprised of individuals with diverse and complementary strengths, talents, education, and experience who have come together to bring a unique service to CMOE’s clients. With Strategic Thinking Skills, you'll get a simple and … Values are enduring, passionate, and distinctive core beliefs, and they’re an essential part of developing your strategy. Look at things differently and see what other people miss. … One of the special characteristics that makes strategic leaders stand out from the crowd is their sweeping view of the world in which they operate. It’s important that those decisions are made in a rational, level-headed state of mind, weighing all the options fairly. Your core values are part of your strategic foundation. The previous experien… Posted on 18 March 2016 by Milon Gupta. It helps you think logically and take the most direct route towards achieving your objective. The shift toward a strategic mindset is essential for managers who must help their organizations succeed in an environmental of continual change. Having strategical thinking is all about your ability to analyze and evaluate a situation accurately. By improving the quality of both your decisions and your thoughts, critical thinking can significantly improve your life, both personally and professionally. Strategic planning starts with defining a company mission. This might sound basic to be the key to something so important, because, after all, observation is something you use daily as a research method. By weighing the risks you will be able to evaluate what is right and what is wrong. Then, incidentally, that turned out to be good business too. We are seeing more of a focus on value-based care, complex case management, health care outcomes, patient satisfaction, and much more. Strategic planning's role is "to realise and to support strategies developed through the strategic thinking process and to integrate these back into the business". Critical thinking is one of the most important cognitive skills that you can develop. integrative framework for decisions especially about direction of the business and resource utilization Values ar… If the horizon of employees ends at the borders of their own work area, fast adaptations are hard to implement. Developing strategy takes time and resources. A mission is important to an organization because it synthesizes and distills the overarching idea linking its practical strategies, enabling management and employees to align the specifics of their actions and decisions with a clearly defined vision and direction. However, an agile organisation can only function with employees who think strategically. They are unafraid of looking at the sometimes-harsh realities of their situation. The promotion of strategic thinking includes the creation of adequate structures and an open corporate culture. Where do we want to take the business? Yes, the first clue on how to develop strategic thinking skills is right there in its name. People often approach a problem with a preconceived solution in mind. Innovation isn’t solely represented by new devices, ideas or methods, but also by the process of uncovering new ways to do things. (Plan) Perhaps the most obvious reason to engage in corporate strategic planning is that it provides direction and focus by way of a written document. It requires the time and commitment of some of the most highly paid and highly experienced people in your organization. The bottom line is that for you to achieve leadership excellence, you have to be able to let up on the action from time to time and expand your awareness. At FutureGov we’re not in the business of mobilising armed forces, but we do have to make sure we help to set the direction for building a service or an organisation. Strategic Thinking is not a new way of thinking; many successful large organisations have used these practices to establish a clear and precise path on which to carry out their vision. Your email address will not be published. Some competitive secrets (for example, about products under development) may need to remain hidden, but employees need a broad base of information if they are to become strategic leaders. In other words, you need to slow down a bit and mull things over. Strategic awareness boils down to having the ability to do four things: If you want to develop a strategic mindset competency, work on making these four traits habits in your life. Entrepreneurs, managers, and business owners alike constantly need to make on-the-spot decisions. Analytical thinking skills are critical in the work place because they help you to gather information, articulate, visualize and solve complex problems. Strategic Thinking: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Develop It Published on August 8, 2017 August 8, 2017 • 52 Likes • 1 Comments Those who understand and consequently implement this can sustainably strengthen the competitiveness of their company. It also does the following: Helps build your competitive advantage Communicates your strategy to staff Strategic Thinking: Taking Critical Thinking to the Next Level. In order to be strategic, you need a solid understanding of the industry context, trends, and business drivers. To develop and improve strategic thinking in your organization – start with managers at all levels! But how can managers best develop their skills in strategic thinking and leadership? Part of the strategic planning process involves engaging the community and other stakeholders in feedback sessions. Leaders need the input, ideas, and commitment of every team member to solve problems, spot opportunities, make effective decisions, and find productive ways of executing on critical strategic initiatives. Open-minded approach. This article is excerpted, with permission of the publisher, from Now, Build a Great Business: 7 Ways to Maximize Your Profits in Any Market by Mark Thompson and Brian Tracy. Different people are interested in different aspects of the big picture. How is my operating environment changing, and what does that mean for me? While asking these types of questions may seem like a little thing, it’s one of the hallmarks of a strategic leader. Start a conversation about the things influencing your operation and get as many insights as you can. That is one of the principles behind “ open-book management ,” the systematic sharing of information about the nature of the enterprise. Good strategic leaders are able to spot and interpret the cues from this continuous stream of intelligence. This is usually because this approach worke… So, […] A strategic management course from a top business management school will help you with the following:. Strategic planning is an important skill for a number of jobs. On a business level, strategy thinking means that you are able to come up with effective plans to resolve a situation or to achieve a company’s goal. Business people can become more proficient at strategic thinking skills through using strategic thinking exercises and tools. One reason the job is so tough: No one really understands what it entails. By AMA Staff. This insight early on helps the team develop a more targeted strategic plan and builds community support. What will my customers want from me in the future? We’ve seen this play out time and time again. Generally, the assumption still prevails that strategy and strategic thinking are an exclusive domain of a company’s executives. Strategic thinking is often looked upon as something that only certain people can do. Typically, the plan is organization-wide or focused on a major function, such as a […] There are, however, good reasons, why this structure and distribution of roles is ineffective in today’s economy and why it has negative impact on a company’s competitiveness. We probably do quite a bit of strategic thinking in all aspects of our lives, but it's necessary to put it on a formal level in order to really take action. We are seeing more of a focus on value-based care, complex case management, health care outcomes, patient satisfaction, and much more. In quite some companies it works more or less like that until today. “Strategic thinking helps individuals focus, prioritize, and be more proactive in addressing specific issues and situations,” Marsden explains. There are many good reasons to promote strategic thinking not only for executives but also for employees at all levels. But it didn’t really start as a strategy. Critical thinkers are constantly curious about all kinds of things in life, and tend to have a wide range of interests. A plan spells out where an organization is going over the next year or more and how it’s going to get there. Today here and there we can hear about critical thinking and its importance. We are often asked what makes a leader a strategic leader. Many of these new developments will be first registered at the touchpoints, where company and customers come into contact. Agility requires that change cannot only be started from the top, but also from the bottom, from employees at the grass-roots level. Imagine what you would see differently if you had a fresh pair of eyes? Your email address will not be published. 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