A strategic thinker is one who is open to learning to stay up-to-date on their industry, their customers and their competition. They are willing to ask questions across the organization and seek opinions from others. It is also very important to be focused on the future potential and get above the day-to-day.
June,
I believe on of the hardest things when learning to think more strategically will be to get out of the "here and now" and into a "what if" mentality.
Personal leadership characteristics important to strategic thinking include patience, creativity, good listening skills, and open-mindedness, along with the ability to work in a team allowing others to contribute. Often times a leader can become dominant and demanding forcing their thoughts or ideas on others. Being able to work with others while taking all parties thoughts into consideration are important characteristics when it comes strategic thinking.
Rebecca,
In your role what are steps you can take to help to create a culture that cultivate strategic and creative thinking?
Dr. Blake Faulkner
Cheryl,
Do you have an example of a strategic thinker that you have worked with that exhibited these characteristics and traits?
Dr. Blake Faulkner
Cheryl,
It may be helpful for you to use the affirmation process to help develop the habit of taking time to think strategically. Would be glad to visit more about this and share more info. with you if you are interested.
Dr. Blake Faulkner
William,
Good points William. How would you approach a colleague that is stifling creative and strategic thinking in his/her team but does not realize it?
Dr. Blake Faulkner
I feel that being a "forward" thinker is an important trait to being a strategic thinker. Being able to assess a situation for areas of opportunity will be important to ensure that all aspects of the problem are address. If you come across a problem, use critical thinking in order to identify problem areas and then try to figure out how you can address these problems before they occur will ensure that you can avoid these problems. There will always be pop-up problems, but if we can "head off" the majority of the problems, we can strategically build a plan.
Hi Rebecca,
I also find that it is hard to keep all of the short term objectives from overtaking the "big picture" scenario. In my position, I do a lot of damage control and have to think on my feet a lot. I have developed a process to where I take time each day and reflect no the direction that I am taking with my team. This gets me more focused and keeps me from losing site of what is really important.
Chuck,
Nice technique of ensuring you have ample time for strategic thinking. It sounds like you have learned how to build this into your regular rythm so you don't get absorbed completely in the urgent matters at hand.
Dr. Blake Faulkner
Chuck,
How do you engage others in the strategic thinking process?
Dr. Blake Faulkner
I think the key to instilling strategic thinking in others is to ensure that you listen to their ideas. I think that it is easier for someone to be a free thinker if they are encouraged from the onset to be one. I try to encourage strategic thinking by making sure that if someone comes to me with a problem, that they also have at least 2 solutions to that problem, in hand. This way it forces them to think about solutions and not just problems.
Chuck,
You have provided a couple of good examples that do help create a culture that encourages and rewards strategic thinking.
Dr. Blake Faulkner
You need to have confidence in your ability to make informed, educated decisions. Critical thinkers are able to step out of the box and explore creative new ways to look at things. Asking not only why but why not. They need to be puzzle solvers. People that like a good mystery and finding ways to connect the dots to things that go unnoticed and others see as unrelated. They need to be able to reach out to others and include them in the process. Sharing ideas and information. They need to be leaders that sometimes understand when to back off and let others lead. Open minded and forward thinking.
One of the most important personal leadership characteristics or traits to strategic thinking is the ability to look into the future and determine how what the organization does today will make and impact then. It can be very easy to develop the plan for today but it is much more challenging to step back and listen to those around you who may be affected by the change. A leader must think out to how one action will affect another (or how a change in one part of the business will affect another) and keep playing that out until the desired outcome has been realized. The leader does this so they can be as prepared as possible for what comes next, but more importantly so they can prepare their teams for what may be coming. At the same time, a leader must be able to continually analyze, listen, and make adjustments as necessary.
Hello Dr. Faulkner,
I would agree with the large majority of responses here and also recognize that many are truly outstanding.
From my perspective, some important skills for strategic thinking are:
1. Ability to see the biggest picture possible
2. Ability to create an environment where open dialog and comment is fostered - people will not share risky or edgy comment in what they consider to be an unsafe environment.
3. Strong pattern recognition skills - the ability to ask the correct questions and gather the right information and then to recognize what the data means.
4. Skepticism in all analysis - challenge preconceived notions and carefully consider input that might initially sound outlandish.
5. Courage to make decisions, even in the face of conflicting or unclear information.
Additionally, I feel that one possible reason why strategic initiatives or visions fail is due to poor communication. Even though good communication is not necessarily as aspect of strategic thinking, it is a huge part of successful strategic implementation.
It is critical that team members understand the strategic vision if they are to buy in and implement the vision. I have seen several well-thought-out strategies fail in implementation due to poor communication.
I believe that an inherent curiosity of how things work and how to improve them are key characteristics of strategic thinking.
Strategic thinking and creative thinking are "kissing cousins". However, they are not the same in one major area. Creative thinking gives full freedom to come up with ideas that may or may not be relevant to the goals and objectives. Strategic thinking involves arriving at a conclusion that can be implemented. This often includes financial consideration. It is not unusual for this to be the dividing element between creative individuals and executive decision makers. Creative individuals are more concerned with the thinking elements of the process, while executives are more concerned with the profitability of the concept. A good strategic thinking team involves both sides of the brain, literally, and that means open-mindedness.
I think some of the most important characteristics and traits of a strategic thinker are forward-thinking, respect for others, and the willingness to be courageous. When asking the important questions to ascertain how a strategy may positively or negatively affect other units within your organization, you must be open to the fact that the strategy which seems so important to the success of your unit may not be the best for the organization as a whole. I think one of the things I struggle with most is the ability to separate tactical thinking and strategic thinking, since prior to my current role I have pretty much lived a quadrant 1 existence, dealing with situations that are Urgent and Important and needed to be dealt with immediately. Since I have started this course, the separation between the two thought processes is much clearer.
@blake of alll of the attributes that we have learned about I would say forward thinking is among the top for me. I liken strategic thinking to the game of chess. One must learn how each piece functions and and their limitations. Once this is achieved one must try to contemplate what the opposition will do and have several courses of action ready to address each move. One cannot just think of the next move but rather the next series of moves and have the end in site. This ishow I see forward thinking as it relates to strategic thinking.
