Monday, April 14, 2014

How can I be a more strategic thinker?

If you’re like most people, visionary thinking is not one of your top strengths. More people are better at tactics and implementation than strategy and inspiration. 1 Yet, there is an increasing need for people, especially managers, to be strategic and visionary in their thinking. Here are answers to three related questions on this subject.

Question 1: Why is there an increasing need to be strategic?

Consider the following reasons for being strategic in the volatile business environment.  
  1. Creating and communicating vision is an absolute necessity for leaders who want to achieve their goals. Vision is the powerful force that not only invents, but creates what will be.
  2. Every cause, every organizational change, every project begins with a person’s vision. Without vision, there is little or no sense of purpose in leading.
  3. “The 21st century organization virtually demands visionary leadership…for an organization driven by accelerating technological change, staffed by a diverse, multicultural mix of highly intelligent knowledge workers, facing global complexity, a vast kaleidoscope of individual customer needs, and the incessant demands of multiple constituencies would simply self-destruct without a common sense of direction.” 2

Question 2: What can I do to be strategic?

This is a huge question that can’t be answered fully in the PplTips format. Listing several tools is the best way to answer it here.
Tool #1 – How to create a shared vision – http://www.ppldev.com/ppltips.html#sharedvision
Tool #2 – Opportunity Matrix – Deep Dive 3
Tool #3 – Think Beyond the Moment 4 – Summarized below:
  1. Look around - Your organization is moving forward. Are you moving with it or are we falling behind? Look at your organization’s vision, mission, and strategic or business plan. Consider where your team will be one to two years from now.
  2. Set goals that motivate action - Help create well-defined goals that align with your organization’s values and strategic goals. Communicate the link between the day-to-day work and big-picture goals.
  3. Plan ahead - Identify the steps necessary to bring important goals to fruition. When handling a crisis, ask yourself how you might avert such crises in the future. If you hear about a coming change, anticipate how you might meet any possible challenges.
  4. Ensure outcomes - Bringing plans to fruition is rewarding and motivational. In contrast, plans that consistently go by the wayside are discouraging.

Question 3: What could get in the way of my success?

Failing to align vision/strategy with people and the environment are the two most common mistakes leaders make when working to bring their vision to fruition. Here’s what you can do to ensure success:
  1. Align with the environment by asking the following questions and implementing the answers.
    What are my team’s strengths and how can I leverage them?
    What are my team’s weaknesses and how can I minimize them?
    What external opportunities would help my team to thrive?
    What external forces threaten the future of my team?
  1. Align with people by using the following checklist to communicate my vision/strategy.
    I have communicated the vision:
    • In terms of its importance
    • In terms of its benefits
    • Every opportunity I get
    • In several different contexts (group, individual, planning)
    • In several ways (face-to-face, email, team documentation)
    • With energy and conviction
    • Using images, metaphors, examples and stories

For more information about management and employee training programs visit our website at PplDev.com.

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