Step 1: Think and Talk Strategy!
If you are following this post: https://www.idrivehr.com/post/in-10-steps-become-a-more-strategic-thinker then read on, otherwise you may want to go back to that post to find out all about this post.
Key Points of this post:
Thinking and talking strategy means you can confidently join the conversation, be clear and
hold your own in a meeting where people are discussing strategy (usually senior leadership). You'll have a broader understanding of the different elements of strategy and
understand the difference between some strategic terms.
Clausewitz, On War, 1833 "The first task of any theory is to clarify the terms and concepts that are confused…only after the terms and concepts have been agreed can we hope to consider the issues easily and clearly…"
Strategy is a set of decisions designed to develop and deliver a specific long-term, significant outcome
Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle, 1996 "The first step in developing strategy is to lock the managers in a room and have them debate what is meant by a vision statement and how exactly it differs from a mission statement.This is important because one wrong move and employees will start doing ‘Vision’ things when they should be doing ‘Mission’ things and before long it will be impossible to sort it all out…"
You can have a strategy at lots of different levels, but always answering one question
- organisational level
- a department or function level
- a specific product, service or offering
- personal level
You can have a strategy at lots of different levels, but always answering one question
Are you thinking like a strategist.... Do you?
Make your decisions after assessing information and weighing up different possibilities for action?
take decisions to commit you as an individual, a group or company to specific steps?
follow steps that have some kind of logic or sequence and are designed to deliver a specific trackable outcome?
reach an outcome that has a significant impact and represents a longer term commitment?
If so; you could already be thinking like a Strategist.
REMEMBER: No matter how senior you are, you are unlikely to be delivering a strategy by yourself!