I’m sure you’ve seen them – those business owners who always seem to know where they are going and are solidly on a path to achieve their goals. They are confident and sure of their plans. Then, there are others who always seem to be fighting fires, catching up on yesterday’s tasks and are completely consumed by living in the moment. How do we move from too much time in the here and now to a little more in the pre-planned path?
Would it surprise you to know that strategic thinkers are more effective leaders, and are more inspiring to their people? So how do we become a strategic thinker? How do we develop strategic thinking in our organizations?
Strategic thinking is not just limited to the executive suite. You want to encourage strategic thinking among all levels of the organization. This is a skill that can be developed if nurtured and given time to grow.
Here are a couple of tips to develop a strategic mindset.
Look around you. What is happening in your company? Are there issues that arise over and over? Are your people complaining of the same things time and time again? What is going on in your industry, or with your competitors? Who’s doing what, and what are the current trends? Spending time thinking about these issues will help you develop a broader picture of what is going on, and will allow you to think about to tackle issues proactively.
Begin to visualize your company 6 months down the road, a year down the road, etc. Ask questions of yourself – mentally explore your potential future, and keep asking the questions that will help you create a roadmap to get to that future. Start talking about your company not as it is now, but as it will be. This is not pie in the sky type of visualization here, it will develop out of a solid understanding of what is happening in your company, where your industry is headed, and figuring out how your company fits with the rest of your industry.
Finally, in order to spend more time in the pre-planned path, you need to make a habit of taking time to do the strategic thinking. If you are consumed in the day-to-day firefighting, you will need to commit to taking time each day if possible, or at a minimum of each week and schedule an appointment with yourself. At first this will feel awkward, but you need to clear the time on your calendar to do this type of thinking. At first, its likely that you will feel some guilt – after all, there are a million other things to do. But creating this habit of taking the time to think about your business in a strategic way, will pay off later when the habit is fully formed and you become one of those people who know where they are going and are on track to reach their goals!
Take a few minutes now to begin this process by using the link below to access my free course, 3 Steps to Positioning your Business for Success – it’s only 15 minutes, but it will set you on the path to being more strategic about your business.
