How can you identify and close gaps in strategic leadership?

Closing gaps in strategic leadership is crucial for organizational success. You can begin by assessing your strategic leadership level using self-assessments and feedback to unearth your strengths and weaknesses. Actively seek and embrace honest feedback, and meticulously evaluate your strategic leadership skills to pinpoint competence gaps. Address these gaps with targeted development activities and practical applications. It’s imperative to proactively identify and tackle leadership gaps at the organizational summit, accurately assess available talent, and rectify team issues indicative of leadership gaps. These strategies effectively bridge leadership gaps, enhancing overall leadership performance and organizational impact.

Determining the right level of strategic leadership requires to perform your role is a key factor in understanding the gap that exists at your current state. You would need different levels of strategic leadership depending on the role you perform. All roles do benefit from highly strategic leaders and it’s important for advancing your team and your own career. Ensuring that you continuously improve and invest time in developing strategic skills is critical.

Strategic Leadership shapes the future of an organization , on the basis of the goals and implementations. Its a plan which decides the need of development and track the areas which needs monitoring . Through tools , various assessments can be done to evaluate the gaps and through various methods the feedback for both people and process can be looked into . Positive feedback and an adaptable approach do give a strong relevant platform to the decisions which can be implemented in an organization . Are you practicing any measures for further development or you need to start, An effective strategic leadership plays a futuristic road map to any organization . Setting a plan along with the measurable matrix help to implement the relevant steps

-Assess your current level. This can be done through self-assessments, 360-degree feedback, and performance reviews. Consider your strengths and weaknesses in areas such as visioning, environmental scanning, strategy formulation, execution, and adaptation. -Benchmark against other leaders. Compare your skills and experience to those of other leaders in your field or industry. This can help you to identify areas where you need to improve. -Review your organization's strategic plan. Make sure that you have a good understanding of your organization's goals and objectives. This will help you to identify the skills and knowledge that you need to be successful in your role.

It all begins with developing a deep connect with your leader self, which doesn't happen overnight but slowly and gradually over a period of time through rigorous introspection and reflection.

In the world of security, a unilateral perspective can be a dangerous blind spot. Elevate strategic leadership by leveraging collective intelligence and operational opinion from all levels. Seek Feedback: Consult peers, subordinates, superiors, clients, and mentors. Consider formal avenues like 360-degree feedback or performance evaluations. These perspectives can pinpoint your areas of strength and expose those blind spots. Example - Crisis Averted Through Collective Input: A security agency grappling with rising threats used 360-degree feedback to evaluate its strategic response mechanisms. Feedback from ground-level personnel led to a revamped crisis communication strategy, subsequently reducing response time in emergencies by 40%.

Know that often you don't have the answers, and just as often those answers are locked within your team(s). Building true trust through genuine care opens the floodgates to ideas and feedback.

I have just had an opportunity to consult an IT company on how to best share their feedback. Once surveyed all of the employees (50 people), 90% of them responded: in-person feedback session, no formal surveys, please! What do you think about this?

It is important to have representation from across the organization and a pulse of what is happening at all levels -- because we all view topics through a different?lens depending on our background, it is critical to share information and break down silos.

Strategic leadership hinges on a robust feedback loop, where honest communication isn't merely one-sided. Addressing gaps requires cultivating a culture of openness, ensuring insights flow bidirectionally. This dynamic approach fortifies strategic decision-making and promotes organizational agility.

-Assess your current level of strategic leadership. Consider your strengths/weaknesses in areas such as visioning, environmental scanning, strategy formulation, execution, and adaptation. -Set goals for yourself as a strategic leader. What do you want to achieve in the next year? -Develop a plan to close the gaps. This plan should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Identify the specific steps that you will take to improve your strategic leadership. -Make sure that your goals and plans are aligned with your organization's strategic plan. -Regularly review your goals and plans. Make adjustments as needed to ensure that you are on track to achieve your goals and close the gaps in your strategic leadership skills.

Think of it as making a roadmap to reach the top of a mountain. You plan each step carefully. Tools like SLAT help in this process. They turn your plan into a personalized guide for getting better. This way, you keep learning and growing, which is a smart way to improve yourself.

Setting goals and plans is all well and good. But having a trusted mentor to hold you accountable is key. What good is having a goal or plan if you don't act on it, right?

Let's not Boil the Ocean -->> Clichèd. Let's plan to Boil the 100 ML Water in the Kettle daily -- thinking 1M Gallons as the North Star. Will we achieve the North Star -- maybe No? But; we achieve the daily task - Yes! Does this help with a tiny part of our North Star - Yes! .. Then, keep doing it... The Next Step will lead to a Staircase... Focus on the next step -- thinking of the Staircase...

In our business development team, setting SMART goals and plans is akin to charting a precise course for a project's success. For instance, when aiming to improve strategic leadership skills after receiving feedback, the feedback reveals a need for better communication and collaboration. So, you set SMART goals: improve team communication by implementing weekly progress updates and enhance collaboration by organizing cross-functional workshops. These goals have clear outcomes and timelines, aligning with the organization's need for effective strategic leadership.

Strategic Leadership is the ability to identify and provide a benefited interest to each involved party. Individuals and groups move in one direction when it’s beneficial to them or their goals. You can practice applying Strategic Leadership skills outside of the workplace. For example, practice your skills leading a project for your church, non-profit, or a school initiative.

-Identify the areas where you need to improve. Once you have identified your current level of strategic leadership, you can start to identify the areas where you need to improve. -Develop a learning and application plan. Once you know where you need to improve, you can develop a learning and application plan. . -Learn and apply. There are many different ways to learn about strategic leadership. You can read books and articles, take online courses, or attend workshops and seminars. Once you have learned something new, apply it to your work as soon as possible. -Seek feedback and make adjustments as needed. As you are learning and applying, it is important to seek feedback from others.

Working as a trainer on leadership topics, with a special focus on female leadership, I've seen the following in praxis: - leaders and those in line to be leaders DO love to read! - they are open-minded to various workshops - they are very constructive when it comes to giving feedback and realising their own improvement areas What's your experience like?

Learning in the real world means watching, listening, and working together with others in actual situations. This helps leaders improve at solving complex problems and prepares them for what's to come.

Absorb like a Sponge. Learn from practically everybody if this helps with your inner traits. If you will improve 'you' as a person; it will improve the overall leadership of the org.

-Set goals for yourself as a strategic leader. What do you want to achieve in the next year? What skills and knowledge do you need to develop in order to achieve your goals? -Develop a plan to close the gaps. This plan should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. -Regularly monitor and evaluate your progress. Track your progress towards your goals and identify areas where you need to make adjustments. -Make adjustments to your plan as needed. Based on your monitoring and evaluation, make adjustments to your plan as needed to ensure that you are on track to achieve your goals and close the gaps in your strategic leadership skills.

Set OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) for yourself. Keep them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound), make them challenging yet achievable. Work with a trusted mentor to be accountable and keep progressing and growing. There is no finish line to your strategic leadership development and performance. But be sure make time to celebrate the good things and be your biggest cheerleader every day.

Hindsight > Insight > Foresight Look Backwards to Fix Forwards.. -- Retrospectives, feedbacks, 360 degrees, post-mortems, introspection, RCAs etc are many tools -- which will help you to achieve this. For example: Google bought a lot of 'expensive' products (orkut, picasa, youtube, etc) and when they realised that these products are not fitting into their Org Strategic vision; they killed the same. Nobody loves -- killing a product as all products have tonnes of people's sweat and blood. However, sometimes -- cutting the poisoned arm is the only way to save the person.

Adaptation requires a desire to improve and a mindset oriented toward consistent learning. Adopting a growth mindset will help to set an example for employees, build resilience (in you and them), and establish standards for behavior when times and work become challenging. Learn to use the phrase, "we have not improved YET," and add, "Here is how we will do this." Emphasis on active listening, team approaches, and individual involvement in change efforts will help with organizational adaptation and improvement. From this basis, behavior will change, and internal and external stakeholders can buy-in to a culture of resilience and healthy fluidity in demanding situations.

The key to success in this area is objectivity. You must be open to new knowledge, information, and reasoning as you use these tips and tools. It's essential to look at all the information gathered objectively, without internalizing feedback from your perspective and role, considering information in a larger context. This awareness brings many benefits, including increased self and team regulation, more attention to others' needs, and less stress. Learning objectivity is essential because as people become self-aware, they grow more resilient, better at adaptive performance, and have the ability to analyze uncertain situations, identify possible solutions, and maintain composure. All critical skills innate to any strategist!

Always keep improving who you are today, but be proud of who you are today. Keep improving so the you a year from now will be so proud of you! Stack the evidence that you can do anything you set your mind too!

Technology is always changing, staff members come and go, and methodologies can get outdated. With this in mind, understand that there will always be new ways to streamline workflows and communicate with staff to improve an organization. Companies may implement new technologies like phone bots to automate resolving customers' inquiries, since call center staff may get overwhelmed, but perhaps many customers would prefer speaking directly with a human. In order to address this issue, it may help to provide an online chat service with a human staff member, who can answer concerns at their own convenience, or perhaps in the future, an AI assistant that may provide immediate feedback. Different times may require different solutions.

Seek feedback from your team, peers, and mentors. Ask for honest input on your strengths and development areas as a strategic leader. Listen openly without being defensive. Conduct a strategic leadership skills assessment. Review your competencies in areas like visioning, environmental scanning, strategy formulation, execution, and adaptation. Identify skill gaps. Fill competence gaps through training, coaching, and experiential learning. Develop the strategic foresight, systems thinking, and executive skills required. Reflect on your strategic thinking habits. Are you taking a broad systems perspective? Challenging assumptions? Anticipating alternative futures? Identify mental model gaps.

The two key areas of strategic operations are 1. Translating the strategy to daily actions This is an area where usually the gaps appear. It is here that the organisation gets waylaid by processes and people’s differing agendas 2. The next is assessing the outcomes and results of the strategy and its implementation Here organizations need to assess whether the strategy is having the desired impact and if not, where the gaps lie

Culture eats strategy for breakfast! Begin by deeply understanding your organization's existing culture. Engage in open dialogues with teams across various cultural backgrounds. Then, align your leadership approach with these cultural insights. Ensure that your strategies resonate with the cultural values and beliefs within your organization. Think of it as serving a culturally diverse breakfast menu that satisfies every palate while still staying true to your strategic recipe. Remember that culture can indeed overpower strategy.

Leaders should be open and honest about what skills they want to improve — especially strategic leadership skills. This scenario always depends on your corporate learning culture. In some corporate cultures, leaders feel too embarrassed to ask for help or to cry out for help. Release the pressure of being the point of knowledge and allow yourself to grow and transform as you grow as a strategic leader. Therefore, as a learning leader, it is essential to create a learning culture of openness and self-discovery. It is good to create a culture of asking what else your leaders need to know to thrive and grow on the job. We should also design an environment encouraging our leaders to share their growth needs without retribution.

Leaders must advocate continuous learning as the norm and lead by example In today's rapidly changing world, continuous learning is more important than ever before. The skills that are in demand today may not be the same skills that are in demand tomorrow. By continuously learning, individuals and organizations can ensure that they are prepared for the future.