STRATEGIC THINKING - PART 2

Following on from part 1 of my article on #strategicthinking, the good news is that like many skills required to be a #successful #professional, you can also learn strategic thinking.

One of the best ways to improve your strategic thinking is to be able to ask #strategic questions.

?Questions such as:

• ?How can we position ourselves to enter a new market?
• What is the direction for growth for each of our products or services in the coming years?
• Where will the growth in our top line come from in the next three to five years? How does this compare with what has happened in the past?
• How should the organisation respond to the threat presented by a new competitor?
• How do we deal with a sudden change in the economic environment?
• How do we take advantage of all the strengths that our organisation has and leverage the opportunities that are available externally?
• What's the direction for growth for each of our products or services?
• How can we develop our people better?
• How can we deliver more value to our customers at a lower cost?
• What new trends will impact our industry in the next few years?

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These questions are to get your thoughts started and get you to focus on the concept of #strategic thinking.

?Asking questions is only just the beginning of the process. At times the answers to these questions may emerge from discussions with your team members, colleagues, advisors, and mentors. Sometimes, once you ask the question and allow some time to reflect, the answer may appear as a thought or an idea.

??To do this effectively, you need to set aside time and not be distracted by the day-to-day challenges that most of us face during a typical working day. It's no wonder many organisations schedule #strategicplanning and thinking #retreats every few months, where the executive team or the #board sits down and looks at the big picture, the strategic issues, and the challenges the organisation faces. The reason for going to all this trouble is that to be able to think strategically, you need to switch your mind from thinking about day-to-day problems and issues.

As the famous author Michael Gerber said, you need to spend time working "ON"?the business instead of working?"IN"?the business. This is what strategic thinking is all about.

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Part of the #strategic thinking process is also to focus on opposing ideas or, as people used to refer to as playing the "devil's advocate". This is a good way of identifying any weaknesses in your #strategy or your thought process by considering the opposing point of view, as it enables you to think about things that you may have overlooked.

?Now let's talk a little bit more about strategic thinking and how it relates to #leadership from a strategic perspective. I know there are too many?strategics?in this sentence; however, we are just trying to highlight the difference between day-to-day operational-level thinking and looking at the big picture.

By now, you should know what strategic thinking is and how useful it can be in your life. To help you fully understand how the strategic thinking process works, we decided to work with you in solving some real problems and issues by applying this approach.

?We focused on this topic at a recent training seminar for one of our clients. We challenged the participants to work with us to solve problems of a strategic nature they were facing within the organisation. One of the participants identified that the critical problem for their organisation was a need for more #employee #engagement. Most of the employees in the organisations were treating their work as just a job and were not contributing anything other than the bare minimum.

So, the question then arose how do we deal with such a problem in the workplace, and how can strategic thinking help?

?Problem:?

Employee engagement level in the organisation is too low, resulting in a lack of productivity, innovation, and creativity.

?How can we solve this problem?

• Improve communication within the teams and across functions by scheduling regular meetings.
• Organise all company meetings quarterly with the senior management team to share information and seek feedback and suggestions.
• Arrange informal meetups of the teams.
• Fine-tune the performance management system to reward those who go above and beyond in their work.
• Initiate formal training sessions to enhance team collaboration, build relationships and encourage creativity.
• Start a structured coaching and mentoring programme for all levels of staff.

?Now that we have started the process, what else can we do? Go ahead and add your ideas to the list that we have begun.

?We can apply a similar strategic thinking approach to the personal issues that some of you may be dealing with in your lives.

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Problem:?

You appear to have reached a plateau in your professional career and need to learn how to break through to the next level.

?How can you progress?

• ?Skill up?– First, you must assess your skill set and identify gaps.?
• Train up?– Once you know where the gaps are, you need to find ways of improving yourself. It can be through professional development programmes, formal education, online courses, and finding a professional coach or a mentor.
• Show up?- Improve your #presentation skills – I believe this is an area where we can all use some help. How well do you present your ideas to others? The chances are you need to improve your presentation skills. You can enrol in a training programme to help you improve these skills. It is also essential to focus on how you present yourself at work.
• ?Speak up?- #Communication Skills – how good are you in written and verbal communication??

?If you are like most professionals out there, you may need to improve your written and verbal communication and not realise it.

?Can you present your ideas succinctly, professionally and in a way your team members and superiors can understand? Are your written emails, reports, and correspondence up to the mark?

?Once again, we have started the ball rolling; if this is an area of concern for you, please keep adding to the list and see how you can overcome this problem and progress to the next level in your chosen career.

?A key aspect for progressing to a #leadership role is to focus on your professional development continually, identify areas that need improvement, and then do something about it.

?Think about this. Tennis players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, considered amongst the greatest tennis players in history, have all had a #coach. If they can benefit from having a coach, our guess is that you too can benefit from having the right coach.

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