To
be effective as a leader, you must develop skills in strategic thinking. Strategic
thinking is a process whereby you learn how to make your business vision a reality
by developing your abilities in team work, problem solving, and critical thinking.
It is also a tool to help you confront change, plan for and make transitions,
and envision new possibilities and opportunities.
Strategic
thinking requires you to envision what you want your ideal outcome to be for your
business, then work backwards by focusing on the story of how you will be able
to reach your vision.
As you develop a strategic
vision for your business, there are five different criteria that you should focus
on. These five criteria will help you define your ideal outcome. In addition,
they will help you set up and develop the steps necessary to make your business
vision a reality.
The following is a list of
the five criteria of the strategic thinking process:
- Organization.
The organization of your business involves the people you will have working for
you, the organizational structure of your business, and the resources necessary
to make it all work. What will your organization look like? What type of structure
will support your vision? How will you combine people, resources, and structure
together to achieve your ideal outcome?
- Observation. When you
are looking down at the world from an airplane, you can see much more than when
you are on the ground. Strategic thinking is much the same in that it allows you
to see things from "higher up." By increasing your powers of observation,
you will begin to become more aware of what motivates people, how to solve problems
more effectively, and how to distinguish between alternatives.
- Views.
Views are simply different ways of thinking about something. In strategic thinking,
there are four viewpoints to take into consideration when forming your business
strategy: the environmental view; the marketplace view; the project view; and
the measurement view. Views can be used as tools to help you think about outcomes,
identify critical elements, and adjust your actions to achieve your ideal position.
- Driving Forces. What are the driving forces that will make your ideal
outcome a reality? What is your company's vision and mission? Driving forces usually
lay the foundation for what you want people to focus on in your business (i.e.,
what you will use to motivate others to perform). Examples of driving forces might
include: individual and organizational incentives; empowerment and alignment;
qualitative factors such as a defined vision, values, and goals; productive factors
like a mission or function; quantitative factors such as results or experience;
and others such as commitment, coherent action, effectiveness, productivity, and
value.
- Ideal Position. After working through the first four phases
of the strategic thinking process, you should be able to define your ideal position.
Your ideal position outline should include: the conditions you have found to be
necessary if your business is to be productive; the niche in the marketplace that
your business will fill; any opportunities that may exist either currently or
in the future for your business; the core competencies or skills required in your
business; and the strategies and tactics you will use to pull it all together.
By working through these five areas, you will begin
to get a clearer picture of exactly how your business vision can be accomplished.
As your vision becomes more focused, your ideas will appear stronger and more
credible. Not only will it be easier to convince others that your idea is a good
one, but it will also be easier to maintain your own conviction and motivation
when you reach any pitfalls or obstacles in the road.
Overall,
you can apply strategic thinking skills to any area of your life. But by making
a concerted effort to apply them specifically to your business venture, you will
have a much better chance of bringing your vision to life. And isn't that what
you want?
NBA
Strategic Partner - U.S. Small Business
Administration
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