What do you do if your strategic thinking skills aren't advancing your career?

1. First step is self assessment to know the gap areas. 2. Craft development plan to address opportunities. focus on stretched assignments in particular. well-defined development measures should be there. 3. Measure progress and receive feedback. 4. celebrate small wins and keep learning

Start strategic thinking by learning the business which is about how your company makes money. Who are customers? Why do they buy from you? From others? Are you couching your work in terms of value added to the customers?

You should all be aligned to the overall goal/s at least. Frustrating it may well be but success of your strategising will only win over and influence key stakeholders if you demonstrate flexibility and adaptability. Closed minds will open if you become more amenable to others thoughts and how to accept constructive feedback

By taking proactive steps to enhance the strategic thinking skills and leveraging effectively in career which can position yourself for greater success and advancement opportunities like a) Self-Assessment: Reflect on your current strategic thinking abilities. Identify areas where you excel and areas where you may need improvement. b) Continuous Learning: Invest time and effort into improving your strategic thinking skills. This can involve reading books, taking courses, attending workshops, or participating in training programs focused on strategic planning, decision-making, and problem-solving.

In my experience active listening is critical for clear understanding. Often we listen with a response already forming in our heads. If we actively listen we can ask meaningful questions and really understand how we can align our thinking. Emotional intelligence - really having genuine self and social awareness so we can recognise why our perspective is what it is and why others may have a different one. Then we can influence alignment

- Focus on Core Value: Identify what's most crucial in your idea; prioritize that. - Divide to Conquer: Break your idea into achievable, smaller tasks. - Harness Collective Strength: Collaborate, utilizing the diverse talents and networks available. - Resourcefulness Over Resources: Use what you have in innovative ways to maximize impact. - Process Efficiency: Streamline operations to do more with less. - Cultivate Support: Build a compelling case to gather internal and external support, enhancing resource allocation.

In my experience, most people do not have the necessary resources to do all they want. This means prioritization is essential. Getting to priorities takes reflection and narrowing down to the big 3 priorities. Over resource these as much as you can and leave the rest. Covering on all fronts is a recipe for lack of impact. Real focus will drive impact.

Its a time honoured practice with great ideas, lack of resource to implement. However, part of your strategy should have that factored in and what the workaround needs to be. Right people, right place, right skills at right cost. I've seen 10 people being thrown into a strategic concept only to realise you really only needed 5 core people. If you are missing a key skill, hire it in, it'll pay dividends in the long run.

This is one of the biggest challenges, especially for more entrepreneurially-minded people. It's easy to come up with 10 ideas a minute, but that's not practical to implement. Also many creative individuals can lose interest in the implementation stage, particularly as different skill sets can be involved. So be ruthless, connect to the biggest strategic priorities of the organisation, and the resources available. How can you design and focus your initiative so that it will best meet the needs of the organisation. Collaborate with other key partners, especially those with project management and implementation skills

Having experienced across many projects Clients wanting a World Class outcome within very tight resources. Their desires needs discussion in more detail to understand more closely what that outcome means so that the solution is tailored by the team to overachieve when judged against a Clients reasonable priorities and expectations towards their aims.

People are not likely to give good feedback unless and until you ask for it, So, ask, thank, accept, and act on it. Also, be aware of the non-expressed feedback by observing how others are responding to you.

Feedback is super important for growing at work, but it’s all about getting it from the right people. While I’m all for hearing different points of view, not all feedback is helpful. Sometimes, if you ask the wrong person, it can do more harm than good and leave you feeling down instead of pumped up to improve. The real deal is to find the right balance,,, knowing who to ask and how to use what they tell you to get better. Well it’s like sorting through advice to find the gems that really help you move forward.

Dont ask, don't get. It's that simple but it's important you check in regularly with key stakeholders on progress, changes in direction, support , clarity and feedback. Transparency is key to ensure you have the trust and ongoing support from the business. You need to be a sponge for information good, bad, indifferent and herald your successes , be proud of your achievements.

Getting feedback is important. Make it easy for others to give you feedback. Ask specific questions, around the areas you most want to improve, so that the person giving you feedback moves from generalisations to truly specific and helpful feedback.

- Proactively Seek Feedback: Regularly ask for input from supervisors, peers, mentors, and clients. - Embrace Constructive Criticism: Use feedback as a tool for personal and professional growth. - Request Support Openly: Don’t hesitate to seek advice or help when needed. - Foster a Learning Mindset: Remain open to learning from every interaction. - Highlight Achievements: Acknowledge and share your successes to gain visibility. - Build Networks: Create connections that provide diverse perspectives and support. - Celebrate Progress: Recognize both small and big wins to maintain motivation and visibility.

Think big but start small. Think far but act now. Start doing well small things then you will have opportunities to handle big things. Not so many people are willing to assign important job to unproven guys.

One of the biggest obstacles to strategic thinking is lack of time. When overwhelmed by the day to day, it can be hard to find the time and brain space to get creative about how to make things better. You will do your best thinking when you're not thinking. A technique that I have found very powerful is to create some unstructured, unscheduled time. No objectives, no targets, just time to think. This can open up your creativity and allow you to come up with ideas out of left field. The other thing I would say is that we have a tendency to pre-edit our ideas, discounting them as impractical before we've had a chance to evaluate them. Leave every idea on the table initially, then choose which you most want to take forwards

It’s frustrating to have skills, competence, creativity and ideas on how to get things improved and you don’t get the opportunity to do so. It happens all the time in the workplace. To avoid this problem, don’t wait for opportunities to be available rather create the opportunity by initiating projects, offering support to colleagues, volunteering to work on projects and be intentionally visible. Attend meetings and give valuable contributions. Be open and discuss the challenge with your manager. Make networking a priority; attend conferences and workshops, contribute to discussions and get a coach.

Sometimes you may come to the uncomfortable realisation that your current organisation is not for you, if you have no opportunities to use your strategic thinking skills, get too much opposition, or get no credit for your successes. This is ok - it is a good opportunity to look around for a more aligned organisation where you can make your biggest contribution, or even strike out on your own as an entrepreneur. The world needs your ideas, so it's ok to find the best place and route to take those forwards.

I would consider whether strategic thinking is valued in your organization. It is a great skill to have, but not every boss or organization will necessarily see the value. I would also check your assumptions on how you define 'strategic thinking' and make sure you are defining it the same as others around you (it's a fairly vague reference, with many different possible meanings). Lastly, I would consider whether your thinking is obvious to others. It is great to think strategically, but if your words and actions don't reflect that, your strategic thinking will not be obvious to others.

One thing I have found useful is to reflect on the strategic background within which you are operating and consider your options as to whether it would be more fruitful to pursue other opportunities to apply your talents.

If you do not manage to leverage your strategic thinking, consider finding a mentor at your company or in your network. Someone who you can share your vision with, who can be a sparring partner to challenge your potential next steps, and who can bring a fresh view to overcome the situation. I would also add that it is important to spent enough time on this activity. At LDC, we apply the 70/20/10 framework in our work. 70% of learning is done while on the job; 20% through course/education and 10% through mentoring. If you apply these to a weekly agenda, that's about half a day spent to hone your skills with your mentor(s).

Ensure you are combining your strategic thinking capability with two other qualities: emotional intelligence (EQ) and a sense of timing. While it’s easy to get frustrated with others who don’t see your vision or an organization that isn’t ready for it, all three have to align for a strategy to be effective.