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Strategic Thinking

Definition
Strategic Thinking is analyzing an organization's competitive position and developing a clear and compelling vision of what the organization needs for success in the future.

Behaviors
An employee demonstrating this competency:

  • Understands the organizations strengths and weaknesses as compared to competitors
  • Understands the industry, market and product/service trends affecting the organization’s competitiveness
  • Develops distinctive strategies to achieve and sustain competitive advantage; translates strategies into clear goals and objectives
  • Communicates a clear vision that energizes others to accomplish what the organization needs for success in the long term; consistently restates and reinforces that vision and direction
  • Focuses on ways to build the organization’s capabilities for the future  
Importance of this Competency
Strategic Thinking involves analyzing an organization’s strengths, weaknesses and potential in its marketplace and industry and developing a medium to long-term plan based on a competitive strategy. This ensures that the organization establishes a direction that will maximize its chances for competitive success. This competency is especially important for senior managers and for middle managers in marketing and sales, who are most likely to have interactions with customers and competitors.
General Considerations in Developing this Competency
This competency requires several kinds of knowledge. First, in-depth market and industry knowledge is required: knowledge of one’s own and one’s competitors’ products, processes, customers, and suppliers, and knowledge about trends in the marketplace and industry. This knowledge is gained by attending industry and trade shows, reading trade and industry publications, and talking with actual and potential customers and industry and market experts.

Second, company knowledge is required: an understanding of the strengths and limitations, both actual and potential in one’s own staff, equipment, resources, and processes. This knowledge enables a company to identify the opportunities it is best positioned to exploit. Company knowledge is gained through company experience and through analysis and evaluation of company processes, staff, and equipment, and other resources.

Another component of this competency is strategic analysis, which is best learned through books and courses.

Strategic Thinking is the product of three other competencies: Diagnostic Information Gathering, Analytical Thinking, and Conceptual Thinking.
Practicing this Competency
  • Obtain a copy of your company’s strategic plan and any related documents. Read the document(s) and identify the implications for your unit: what should your unit be doing to ensure the success of the overall strategic plan?
  • Attend an industry or trade conference and identify several trends in the industry or marketplace that have implications for your own organization.
  • Talk to contacts inside or outside of your company who have familiarity with your industry and/or marketplace. Ask what they see as trends in the marketplace or industry. Identify possible strategies or action steps that your organization/business unit could take to exploit these trends. Discuss your ideas with your manager, unit, or other appropriate group.
  • Work on a team that is developing a strategic plan for your organization or unit.
  • Use a consultant or a self-study guide to help a team from your unit develop a strategic plan.
Obtaining Feedback
Prepare a strategic analysis of a product line or of your business unit and ask someone whose strategic judgment you respect to review and critique your analysis.
Learning from Experts
Interview someone strong in strategic thinking. Ask what this person does to gain and analyze strategic information.
Coaching Suggestions for Managers
If you are coaching someone who is trying to develop the compentency, you can:
  • Provide assignments that require strategic thinking, such as conducting strategic or market analysis, managing a product line, or developing a strategy for an organizational unit.
  • Involve this person in meetings where strategic issues are discussed.
Sample Development Goals
By June 1, I will read Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy and prepare a list of ideas that I can apply in my own business unit.

By July 15, I will complete a course on strategic planning offered by the American Management Association.

By September 15 I will convene a team to do a strategic analysis and develop a strategic plan for our department.
Development Resources

BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS

Ahead of the Curve: A Guide to Applied Strategic Thinking, by Steven Stowell & Stephanie Mead. Sandy, UT: CMOE Inc., 2005.

Beyond Strategy: Leading Your Organization To Remarkable Growth, by Michael Kouly. 228 pages. Michael Kouly, 2019

Choosing the Future: The Power of Strategic Thinking, by Stuart Wells. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006.

Essential Managers: Strategic Thinking, by Andy Bruce and Ken Langdon. New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc., 2000.

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, by Richard Rumelt. New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group, 2011.

Leading with Strategic Thinking: Four Ways Effective Leaders Gain Insight, Drive Change, and Get Results, by Olson and Simerson. Wiley, 2015.

Learning to Think Strategically, by Julia Sloan. 326 pages. Routledge; 4th edition, 2019.

Morrisey on Planning: A Guide to Strategic Thinking: Building Your Planning Foundation, by George L. Morrisey. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2001.

Strategic Renaissance: New Thinking and Innovative Tools to Create Great Corporate Strategies Using Insights from History and Science, by Evan Matthew Dudik. New York, NY: AMACOM, 2000.

Strategic Thinking for the Next Economy, by Michael Cusumano & Costas Markides. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2001.

Strategic Thinking: A Step-By-Step Approach to Strategy, Second Edition, by Simon Wootton & Terry Horne. London, UK: Kogan Page Limited, 2002.

The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage, by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton. 336 pages. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2008.

The Lean Strategy: Using Lean to Create Competitive Advantage, Unleash Innovation, and Deliver Sustainable Growth, by Balle, Jones, Chaize, and Fume. 304 pages. McGraw-Hill Education, 2017.

WORKSHOPS & COURSES - PUBLIC, ONSITE, ONLINE

Educations Media Group (EMG). 50 courses. findcourses.com
https://www.findcourses.com/search/trainings?q=strategic%20thinking

LinkedIn Learning. 50 videos and online courses.
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/search?keywords=Strategic%20Thinking

Applied Strategic Thinking® Workshop.
https://cmoe.com/products-and-services/applied-strategic-thinking-workshop/

Leading Strategically. Five days. Center for Creative Leadership. Tel. 336-545- 2810.
https://www.ccl.org/open-enrollment-programs/leading-strategically/

Strategic Thinking. Two days classroom or online. American Management Association. Tel. 877 566-9441.
https://www.amanet.org/strategic-thinking/

Strategic Thinking. Certification. Online, eight weeks. IMD.
https://www.imd.org/st/online-course-strategy/

Strategy in the Digital Revolution. Webinar series. Duke Corporate Education.
https://www.dukece.com/work-offerings/ready-to-learn-offerings/strategy-in-the-digital-revolution-webinar-series/

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
See Appendix


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