"Life is a sum of all our choices" - Albert Camus
Strategic thinking is a skill in how we think, assess, view, solve problems and create our future for ourselves and others. It’s basically knowing what you want to achieve and how to achieve it. It’s not always easy to develop a strategic approach, as it’s both mindset and techniques.
Strategic thinkers are able to see the big picture, identify the possible impact and set up a plan to get there.
Strategic thinkers have seven main qualities in common:
- Vision
- Perceptiveness
- Assertiveness
- Framework
- Flexibility
- Emotional Balance
- Patience
Let’s look at what those are in more detail.
1. They have the ability to think logically and creatively, using both left and right sides of the brain.
2. Strategic thinkers can develop a clearly outlined and focused vision for business or personal needs.
3. They are able to create flexibility into their plans by creating benchmarks to guide them and recognize opportunities to revise plans when they need to.
4. Strategic thinkers are aware and perceptive of themselves and what’s around them. They recognize subtle external and internal clues to guide their direction and seize upon opportunities for themselves or their company or organization.
5. They listen, hear, and understand what others say. They read and observe whatever they can to use as a guide.
6. They often have “Aha” moments while relaxing or doing other activities.
7. Strategic thinkers have a clear definition of their objective and develop an action plan broken down into tasks that have a list of needed resources or a specific timeline.
8. The best thinkers take time for themselves. It can be a retreat, a walk in someplace special to them, relaxing in the lobby of a historic hotel or an afternoon alone with a blank sheet of paper or document just for thinking.
9. Strategic thinkers are often lifelong learners, learning from every experience put before them and in every part of life.
10. Strategic thinkers are able to balance their immense amounts of creativity with a sense of honesty and realism about what can be achieved in the long term. They refer to themselves as realistic optimists.
11. They are committed to and often seek advice, confide in, and offer ideas for feedback from others.
12. They are non-judgmental and don’t allow themselves to be restricted by judging their own thoughts.
13. Strategic thinkers are patient and don’t rush to conclusions. They know great ideas require time to develop into success.
14. They see a potential for how the world should be and take the steps to get there.
15. Strategic thinkers set up and commit to deadlines.
16. They are conscious of their own biases.
17. They are observant, watching before forming a judgement.
18. They understand other people’s intentions, desires and hopes.
19. Strategic thinkers make quick, informed decisions.
20. They are good communicators, effectively communicating what they want and need through clear directions or orders.
21. They respect the thoughts and desires of others.
22. They react calmly under pressure.
23. Strategic thinkers have a high level of confidence and self-esteem.
24. They know their weaknesses and seek advice from others in those areas.
25. They are flexible thinkers, so they can shift gears and think about things in more than one way.
Strategic thinkers develop skills that allow them to have a vision, to see where they want to go and to create the plan and implement the steps to get there. You can develop these skills to become a strategic thinker.
10 Signs You Are a Strategic Thinker
Maybe you’ve never heard the term strategic thinker, or you’ve been told you need to be a strategic thinker. There’s a good chance you might be one already. Strategic thinking is a type of mindset, a soft skill if you will, that requires you to analyze the present to shape the future for yourself and your organization.
Look for the following signs to help you see what attributes a strategic thinker has.
1. You are inclined to self-reflect. You find yourself regularly reflecting on tasks you’ve already completed, conversations you’ve had or the experiences you hoped would have gone differently. Strategic thinkers can take apart an event after it’s over to understand it fully, and then adopt that knowledge for learning to do better next time. You relive key moments, so they can understand the bigger picture.
2. You’re always asking questions. When you don’t understand something, you want to ask questions. Some people don’t bother to do this or aren’t sure how to ask the right questions. They simply make assumptions or do the project and then ask questions later.
3. You are continually trying to learn, working ahead to understand, or heading off potential problems, you are a strategic thinker. You ask questions like: “What’s the desired outcome and who benefits? Why is this important to us? Who will this decision effect? What will this mean to our team a month from now? If this doesn’t work, what is the fallback plan?”
4. You don’t waste effort by duplicating efforts. You become frustrated when two or more parties are performing the same work or some of the same tasks that end up wasting resources and time.
5. You compartmentalize distractions easily. You find it easy to group and sort your many responsibilities. You push distractions aside and focus on what your most immediate task is. You don’t shut down mentally or start to panic at the thought of having multiple tasks that have to be seen to completion at the same time or soon after each other.
6. You are decisive when necessary. You gather the necessary information competently while keeping a cool head. You don’t allow a difficult decision to cause you stress. You are confident and knowledgeable in your choice.
7. You set goals for yourself on a regular basis. You break down major goals into smaller tasks. You understand why something is worth your time, it takes to do. You get excited, setting professional and personal goals for yourself. You have an eye towards your future.
8. You’re thrilled helping others be their best. You want to help them reach their potential.
9. You willingly accept feedback. You accept help from others. You have an open mind and enjoy working with others.
10. You plan your career in years or months. You imagine who you’ll be in one to five years’ time. You begin doing the groundwork now for what you want it to look like.
If you see yourself in any of these areas, you have the signs of a strategy thinker. You most likely carry these traits out in every area of your life.
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