How to be a strategic thinker

Strategic thinking is vital for businesses if they want to move their organization from where they currently are to where they would ideally want to be. 

The goal of every business is to add value to what it offers customers while increasing profit margins. This goal becomes more achievable when the organization has forward-thinking individuals ready to give a different perspective and embrace creativity and innovation. According to this article in Forbes, strategic thinkers are found to be the most effective leaders. 

But how do you develop a strategic mindset and how do you know when you are utilizing strategic thinking skills? In this article we will look to answer both these questions whilst also looking at why you should strive to be a strategic thinker in the first place.

What exactly is strategic thinking?

In simple terms, strategic thinking involves deep and creative thought processes when long-term planning rather than completing day-to-day work in a transactional manner. Strategic thinkers often:

• Have a big-picture view of the business, its processes, and the customers it serves.
• Anticipate external trends and identify pinch points and emerging opportunities more easily.
• Know how to make tough calls and keep the business within its resource limits.
• Inspire other staff to work towards the overall company’s vision.
• Don’t stand still and are constantly moving themselves and their team towards ambitious targets by experimenting and making informed decisions.

The key to thinking strategically is to learn how to channel your own thought process to work for you towards your goals, instead of against you by doubting your skills and actions.

What can you do to develop strategic thinking skills?

Developing strategic thinking skills can be tricky but there are many things you can do to help. Here are a few to try out:

Free your mind from excessive processes

It’s impossible to find the time to think strategically if you constantly have to switch tasks, attend meetings, or work through a vast array of workplace processes. Many managers find themselves trapped by the day-to-day execution of their role and have no brain space to think about the strategic work necessary to advance themselves and their teams.

This can be cured by delegating tasks to others and empowering team members to take on tasks that would offer them an opportunity to learn. Check schedules and look for meetings that can be eliminated. Take control of your schedule and create better boundaries.

Prioritize effectively

Urgent tasks are often the enemy of important ones. If you spend all your worktime reacting to last minute requests, you’ll find yourself stuck in a reactive loop and will struggle to proactively get in front of the things you can achieve.

There will always be new problems fighting for your attention, but to be a strategic leader, you need to focus on only those projects that advance your core objectives. Ruthlessly prioritize tasks by asking the question, “What’s the most important thing I need to accomplish?” Keep goals at the center of what you do and don’t be afraid to push back on competing demands.

Strategic thinkers look for solutions, not problems

Strategic thinkers don’t just look for problems, they offer solutions. They will often talk in terms of what’s going well, what could be better, and what’s possible and won’t dwell on the negatives of what’s going wrong.

Adapt a solution-oriented approach to your work and avoid your inner demon who will desperately wats to avoid problems and the failure they may lead to.

Ask more and bigger questions

Strategic thinkers will challenge their assumptions and look at issues from a variety of perspectives before deciding on how to proceed. One way this can be achieved is with the six thinking hats methods:

• White hat: The white hat will see you focus on what you can learn from the data you have as well as current and past trends.
• Red hat: The red hat is for looking at problems in terms of feelings (yours and others) by using emotion and intuition.   
• Black hat: The black is the hat of caution where you will look for weak points in your plans and try to create contingency plans to counter them.
• Yellow hat: The yellow hat is where you at the most optimistic viewpoint and plan for this eventuality.
• Green hat: When you are thinking with your green hat on you will use your creativity to find left field solutions by thinking out of the box.  
• Blue hat: The blue hat is where you look at the processes and try to bring order and structure to your ideas and thoughts.

Of course, a true strategic thinker will switch between these hats instinctively but for those wanting to learn how to think strategically can train their brain by working through the process.

Seek and observe trends

Trends are vital in any industry or organization. Trends often communicate to managers where the industry is coming from and where it is going in the future. When you strategically think about trends, you are often positioned to tackle whatever may come up in the future.

If you are seeking to become more strategic in your thinking, commit to studying work trends and keep an open mind to the views of others.

Don’t be afraid to ask why

Do not be afraid to question the status quo within your organization, the industry at large, as well as challenging your own assumptions. When an issue is raised that you don’t fully understand, ask questions and seek to understand what the desired outcome is.

Be strategic in the questions you ask. Spend time and think through what it is you don’t understand and be clear with others why you are struggling to get your head around the issue. Challenge your brain to think outside the box and be willing to try out new ideas that eliminate or circumnavigate the question altogether.

Reflect on everything

Thinking strategically often switches on when an individual takes the time to reflect on the tasks they have completed. When you run your thought process over completed tasks, there is a high possibility that you will find creative solutions. Reflection arms you with the tools to perform better in the future and gives you experience to draw on when tackling similar issues.

Conclusion

Developing critical thinking abilities may seem daunting. In the modern workplace, however, it is vital for moving an organization forward. Our biggest tip (along with our other tips above) is to keep an open mind at all times and be ready to go beyond what you are used to doing to see the bigger picture.