Strategic and Tactical Thinking
Strategic Vs. Tactical Thinking
I recently came across the saying: "Keep your nose to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel, and your ear to the ground.” Imagine trying to get work done in that position! It’s meant to be funny, but when you stop and think about it, this quote makes a great point: If you're always focused on the task in front of you, you may miss the opportunity to get better results by looking at the bigger picture.
Unfortunately, many of us are so caught up in tactical thinking that we feel we don't have time to do anything else. It's easy to get caught up in reacting to the current symptom or problem that’s causing pain, rather than proactively finding its root cause to find a long term fix that will take us to a higher level of overall performance. For years, we’ve all used the quote: "When you're up to your (rear) in alligators, it's easy to forget your objective is to drain the swamp." Or, we talk about "firefignting." Despite the accuracy of this, if we can’t find a way to think more strategically, we’ll never get away from the gators, will spend our entire working careers in a dismal swamp killing them and hoping to keep our heads above water, and will miss the kinds of opportunities that lead to future success.
OK, I’m not saying that we don’t have to kill the gators or that we shouldn’t be as efficient as possible in taking care of those pesky problems. However, there’s a big difference between "doing things right" and "doing the right things." The first is tactical thinking, and the second is strategic thinking; the first is management, and the second is leadership. Clearly, both are needed to run a successful company but it's important not to get so hung up on the problems of the moment that we neglect to steer our ship where we want it to go. And while we're on ship metaphors, we shouldn't leave this topic without paying homage to that old adage about "arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," which really points out the futility of perfect tactical implementation of a flawed strategic plan.
Check out the following suggestions for thinking more strategically:
Be Your Own Customer. What do you want your business to be? In preparation for your strategic thinking, live the experience of your customers, both internal and external. What’s it like in their world? What challenges are they facing? Develop your strategy to help meet their needs.
Examine the status quo. Strategic thinking skills require you to examine “the way we’ve always done things,” critically in order to determine if that is the way things should continue to be done. Strategic thinkers are willing to look outside the norm to find more efficient and creative ways of doing things.
Look at the forest, not the trees. Strategic thinkers are not mired down by the details of managing day-to-day issues. Strategic thinkers look at the organization as a whole to assess capabilities and areas of opportunity.
Focus on the future. Strategic thinking is goal-oriented and guided by a Vision for the future. When you are developing strategies for improving your team and you results, those strategies must have clearly defined goals that contribute to your overall Vision.
Practice “What If?” and “Why Not?” Dream a little. Get into a what-if/why not mindset - and go for it. Your strategy should target your vision. By using what-ifs and why nots in a constructive and “real possibility” way, you will be able to step-by-step formulate your strategy. Remember – those who believe they can’t are right.
Benchmark. Get feedback from both inside and outside your company. It's a diverse world out there and, quite possibly, others with difference experiences have learned things you can use. And don't just look inside your industry, especially if you are in a staff position that is common in all organizations.
Check the facts. Even though strategic thinking involves making predictions about the future, those predictions must be realistic. Gather hard data, including financial reports and analyses from as many sources as possible to help you develop goals based in reality.
Consider the organizational structure of your area and assess how that team fits into your strategies for the future. You may have to reorganize your team or develop new capabilities among team members to achieve your goals.
Anticipate challenges. An important part of thinking strategically is being able to predict what issues will arise and then developing a plan to confront those issues ahead of time.
Here are a couple of simple actions you can take today:
Write a page from a point in the future about how your organization would operate if things were perfect (a vision). Be very descriptive about it.
Start talking “what ifs” and “why nots” with your people and get them thinking strategically too.
Ask yourself the following:
o “What would I want from my area if I were an internal customer; external customer, employee; consumer, etc.
o “What do I believe I can’t do, that if I could, would allow me to revolutionize how we do business?”
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Look for more leadership tips in April.
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