It’s time to be strategic about strategic thinking.
Stoke Leadership Notes & News

It’s time to be strategic about strategic thinking.

In our experience those in the most senior leadership positions—and the employees who seem to climb the corporate ladder the quickest—are the ones who have a lot of “Execute” energy. The “Ds” in a DiSC profile, the “Reds” in Insights and SDI assessments.

You know the type. They get sh** done.

They see an opportunity and jump to solve it. They blaze through barriers to make sure objectives are met. And they love the adrenaline rush that comes with crossing something off their to-do list. They execute!

Thank goodness for the Executers! They keep organizations running, especially in crises and chaos! But this magnetic focus on “what action to take next” has the potential to cripple organizations with short-sighted thinking. Their focus is on solving an immediate problem or issue. And with review systems where managers and/or employees are praised primarily for their productivity, no wonder the go-getters get all the credit.

In a recent poll from our Stoke Leadership newsletter, Strategic Thinking is the skill our network followers rated as the most lacking in their organization.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves with what to do to be better strategic thinkers (the execution of strategic thinking). Let’s first look at what we mean by Strategic Thinking, particularly regarding moving a company forward.

There is a tremendous amount of research that deep-dives into defining what strategic thinking is (and isn’t). Some of the best-known work in this field comes from researchers Donald Hambrick and James Fredrickson, who developed the Strategy Diamond. It gets a little technical, so we’ve included their model at the end of this blog.

In layman’s terms, Strategic Thinking means looking outwards—at market trends, competitors, disruptions, as well as inwards—at strengths, weaknesses, and competitive advantages. It means considering multiple scenarios, options, and outcomes. And being thoughtful and bold about what an organization (or team, or department) can realistically achieve. It relies deeply on critical thinking, problem solving and decision making to take action for long-term objectives.

So why might strategic thinking be lacking in our world in general, and particularly under Driver-leaders?

Well, for one thing it takes time. Because strategic thinking is the Yin to the Yang of execute energy. It requires slowing down, considering multiple options for the long term, and spending time with ambiguity. This is where critical thinking is key. For successful Driver-leaders, not having a definitive answer can seem like failure!

It also takes a change in mindset of your own role. Driver-leaders are naturally inclined to step in and put out the newest urgent fire. Short-term problem solving is their specialty! But to become more strategic you need to recognize what problems you should be spending your energy solving. It means the important-but-not-urgent task that can change/improve/expand what your company is doing is where you need to be spending your time. The dozens of urgent day-to-day tasks can be handled by others.

And it means resisting the adrenaline rush of a small achievement so you can invest in the long-term success of a well-constructed, thought-out strategy. It’s moving away from a To-Do checklist mentality. This means that those feelings of accomplishment or achievement won’t happen until much later, or maybe not at all. This is by far the hardest shift for Driver-leaders to make because they don’t feel like they can put anything in their “win” column.

Yikes.

And there’s another, even more elusive barrier to building strategic thinking skills. The uncomfortable vulnerability of maybe getting it wrong. What if you make the wrong decision? When identifying market trends, competitive advantages, anticipating potential outcomes or possible disruptions, assessing competitors’ … no matter how data-driven our decisions are, in some respects it’s like reading a crystal ball. Strategy is actually the art and science of trying to predict the future!

In the complexity of our world, it truly is impossible to know if our strategic choices are going to lead to success, at least not until much later when you can look back with 20/20 hindsight. It feels much safer to just play within our comfort-zone, where we trust our knowledge and experience, and where we feel the satisfaction of a task accomplished and a goal achieved.

When there is a risk of getting something “wrong,” how can you promote and encourage strategic thinking among leaders in your organization?

There’s no one clear-cut path to developing a strategic mindset, but we think that the following ideas help develop this skill.

Focus on making time because the need to execute is monopolizing the calendar

  • Purposefully carve out space on calendars for research, reflection, and conversation. This “no meeting” time is the perfect opportunity to think. Reward this behavior when you see it happening.
  • Delegate a portion of what they’re doing to staff below them. No one to delegate too? Prioritize goals and dictate what can be pushed off to later. (We’re not kidding…)
    • Additionally, look through all reoccurring meetings and determine which ones are unnecessary to attend because of reassigned work, decline those meetings and use the time for research, reflection and conversation.
  • Do a research project about a competitor, a new business line, a new technology, or a consistent business challenge. Have the research presented to the team with the goal to spark conversation about the ideas presented and how they might impact the organization.

Change mindsets when changing jobs.

  • When someone is promoted, think through what needs to be given up with the previous role, and what needs to be taken on.
    • Focus on letting go of previous tasks that are execution driven.
    • Build in time on calendars from the beginning to allow for thinking and problem solving.
  • Spend time asking what the future could look like, instead of asking if that report got done on time or if they completed their to-do list from last week.

Build excitement for changing mindsets when the job title is the same.

  • Walk through all current job duties and identify those that are primarily focused on execution and short-term problem solving.
    • Delegate all or a portion of those tasks to others, and implement a system where you are informed when those items are completed.
  • Take back time from unnecessary meetings and add time to calendars to allow for critical thinking and problem solving.
  • Analyze one task or job duty that needs to be restructured. Present findings and brainstorm solutions with teammates, and map out a plan for the changes to be made.

Broaden perspectives and outlooks

  • Go to conferences, networking events, industry meetings, and social events with customers and colleagues both inside and outside your organization.
    • Have conversations where you “talk shop” about challenges and wins.
  • Don’t roll your eyes or silently judge when you see others reading the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, or the Financial Times.
    • Be brave and ask about the most interesting story that they’ve read.
    • Find an industry periodical or other media source and spend time each week catching up on trends.
  • Encourage curiosity and critical thinking. Think with them, not for them.
  • Share some of the resources below with them, and then follow-up by asking what specifically they are doing to apply the learnings. Give them time to try.

Engage Others

  • Encourage dialogue within teams, rewarding curiosity, “what-if” and “devil’s advocate” stances.
  • Assign a project to make connections with 10 leaders in other areas who might have a completely different perspective to offer.
  • Hire a coach. A coach engagement can carve out reflection time on a regular cadence by asking questions that open new paths of thought. Plus built-in accountability helps redirect energies from an execution mindset.

Here are some of our favorite resources on strategic thinking:

We promised the technical language about strategic thinking that we really like, so here it is. Strategy researchers Donald Hambrick and James Fredrickson developed the Strategy Diamond that includes five elements:

  • Arenas: where your company competes; the specific areas of activity
  • Differentiators: how your business creates value and stands out from competitors
  • Vehicles: your strategic choices and actions
  • Staging & pacing: timing and sequence that allows for adaptability
  • Economic logic: the business model and profit generation

Taken together, these are what you need to understand and think about to move your business forward for the long term.

Finally, if you want to pull your leaders together for a Strategic Team session – give us a call! We would love to design and facilitate an impactful workshop for you! As Harvard Professor Michael Porter says, “Strategic thinking rarely happens spontaneously.”