Are You a Strategic Thinker?

Mary Rapaport, Chief Xceleration Officer, Xcelerate, LLC

Democratizing Strategic Thinking For Every Leader at Every Level

Strategic thinking is crucial in today’s fast-paced world. It’s about looking beyond immediate tasks and focusing on long-term goals, understanding how different parts of the business fit together, and using data to guide decisions. This kind of thinking can help you stay ahead of changes, make necessary adaptations easier and more effective, and strategic thinkers are often more creative and innovative because they see things others do not. Wonder if you are a natural strategic thinker? Here are some key characteristics of people who have cultivated a strategic mindset, and some tips on how to build this skill in your own thinking.

Make Future Focused Decisions

Strategic thinkers are always looking ahead and spend time thinking about the future, researching what's likely to happen, and imagining different scenarios. They consider how these scenarios might affect their business, projects, and the skills they'll need. By spotting potential opportunities and threats, they actively engage in discussions and create plans to address these insights.?

Being future focused also means knowing the company’s short- and long-term plans, reviewing strategic documents, and asking questions to understand how the company plans to succeed. Cultivating a clear vision of how key initiatives support the company’s goals and being aware of the changes and skills needed for the next 3-5 years means they operate in the present but are designing for the future. Future focused thinkers can usually pinpoint areas in their business or profession that are likely to undergo major changes in the coming years.

Thinking ahead is critical for people and organizations who want to be more proactive with less surprises in the constantly changing business world. By anticipating future trends and challenges, thinking about the future potential can help leaders position their teams to seize opportunities and avoid risks. This forward-thinking approach leads to better decisions, more efficient use of resources, and the ability to quickly adapt to market changes. Not only do are these individuals more resilient, but they also often have a competitive edge that can drive innovation, promote continuous improvement, and ensure their organizations are always ready for what’s next.

Want to strengthen this skill?

• Pay attention to current trends and influences: Take some quiet time to think about what might change in your industry or function. Look at emerging technology, shifting customer preferences, new regulations, and evolving needs of buyers and stakeholders. Reflect on how each of these factors could impact your area.
• Research and read: find out what thought leaders are describing as major trends and influences.? Consider what might happen in your space if their predictions come true.?
• Build a narrative describing a potential future state: Use these trends and predictions to create a story about how they might affect your profession or industry. Identify both risks and opportunities. Talk with your team about these trends to see how they could open up new possibilities or pose challenges.
• Build an opportunity/risk mitigation plan: Based on the risks and opportunities you’ve identified, brainstorm possible actions you might need to take. Think about what changes you'll need to make now to prepare for a different future.?

View the Environment as an Interconnected Organism

Strategic thinkers view the business world and their environment as interconnected and gets how decisions in one department can affect the whole company. They think about how changes in processes, the quality of work, and the success or failure of projects can impact everything. This awareness doesn't stop them from acting; it actually motivates them to think bigger and bolder about what they can achieve.

These folks regularly ask for feedback and input from stakeholders to see how their projects might affect others. They understand the goals of other leaders and know how their work can help meet those goals. They see how their efforts impact customers and recognize how their projects influence colleagues in other departments. Before making decisions about priorities or resources, they think about the long-term effects and any possible unintended consequences. This big-picture thinking helps them align their actions with the overall goals of the company, making their approach more strategic and connected.

Want to strengthen this skill?

• Understand your stakeholders and learn how they WIN; Hold interviews with key colleagues to understand their annual goals. Share your key initiatives with them and discuss how your success or failure might impact them. Get their input on how to align your work with their goals or identify potential obstacles..
• Find ways to better align your current initiatives with company goals. Learn what key goals and success measures your leadership has set. Consider how your initiatives contribute to these goals and how directly. If the connection is weak or indirect, think about how to adjust your approach or whether to replace the initiative with something more relevant.
• Consider potential consequences before making a decision; Identify and discuss both the immediate, direct results of your actions and the indirect, less immediate outcomes. For example, consider what might happen if you cut staffing to save on payroll, and how this might impact morale and productivity over time.

Cultivate an Outside-In and Data Driven Perspective

A strategic thinker uses data and information effectively and understands that their knowledge is just one piece of the puzzle, and that over-insular thinking can sometimes hide potential opportunities and threats. By actively seeking out data, research, and insights from experts helps build a fuller picture. They work to avoid bias or assumptions, knowing these can hide beneath the surface and can limit vision, can blind them to threats and can limit their impact.

Before making key decisions, they make it a point to gather and discuss hard data and research. Competitive or benchmarking data is critical to evaluating the quality of their processes, practices, priorities, and initiatives, and they know which data and measures truly indicate effective performance.

Strategic thinkers stay updated on industry developments and market or regulatory changes that could impact their key initiatives.? They monitor this information and regularly discuss it with their colleagues. By following key thought leaders in their field they find ways to incorporate new ideas into their work.?

Want to strengthen this skill?

• Challenge long-standing beliefs about success within your team, company, or market. Start by documenting what is commonly understood and believed, and then find data that supports these beliefs. If data is hard to come by, these beliefs might actually be assumptions, highlighting areas where your internal culture might be overlooking important influences.
• Use a PESTLE or STEEP framework to identify key external factors. These tools help you analyze political, economic, social, and technological influences, allowing you to consider how current and future changes could impact your business.
• Attend industry events and pay attention to what thought leaders are discussing. This can reveal important market shifts and emerging trends, keeping your knowledge up-to-date and sparking new ways to tackle challenges and opportunities that might not be visible from within your organization.
• Keep an eye on what your competitors are focusing on that you aren’t. Understanding their priorities can provide insights into market demands or innovations you might have missed, helping you assess and adjust your own strategies..

Engineer Extra Adaptability

Strategic thinkers make certain that their thinking and their approaches adapt to significant changes in the market, industry, or company performance. Different from adapting to changing leadership or company priorities, this kind of adaptable thinking makes time to discuss important external or internal shifts and thoughtfully evaluates the potential for impact before taking action.?

Strategic thinkers stay current with new trends, technologies, and best practices and proactively consider how these impact/could impact them. They actively document what they learn from past experiences so that they can improve their effectiveness. They are also willing to experiment with new approaches, even if there is some risk involved. This ensures they leave the door open to innovative solutions that can drive growth and efficiency.?

Want to strengthen this skill?

• Build a practice of voracious learning. Staying up-to-date with the latest trends, what thought leaders are saying, and key changes in related roles or industries helps you stay flexible and ready to adjust your plans when new opportunities or challenges arise.
• Participate in post-mortem discussions when projects are complete. Gathering and discussing data, team feedback, and stakeholder input at the end of a project helps you identify necessary shifts for current and future projects, allowing you to evolve your approach and establish best practices.
• Move beyond success measures; develop key indicators that show when something isn't working, an assumption might be flawed, or your plan is effective. Having clear criteria for reassessing and adjusting priorities ensures your approach remains agile and aligned with project goals, helping you stay resilient in a changing environment.

Building strategic thinking skills is not only possible but also incredibly beneficial. When you focus on long-term goals, understand how different aspects of the business are connected, and use data wisely, you make better decisions and drive progress. Strategic thinking helps you stay adaptable and innovative, making you more effective in your role and more likely to achieve success.

Wondering if you are a strategic thinker?? Take this simple quiz and see.