I was struck this week by two comments on a discussion thread I initiated as I prepared to write about strategic thinking, and how to develop it.

One came from Alan Wingrove, on the discussion group Human Resources UK on LinkedIn.  Alan’s comments serve to illustrate just why strategic thinking is so important at senior levels, as well as hinting at what it takes to develop it.  He also makes a couple of reading recommendations:


I currently coach owners and senior managers around their vision and strategy and in my previous ‘life’ I delivered leadership development at a ‘strategic level’.


One continual challenge is to move them from the immediate (day job) to the future (the more holistic view). As John [another contributor] says, learning the theory is different to being able to do it, which is a change of mindset. As I became more and more senior I found myself having to take a more and more external view, to evaluate the impact these external events would or could have on my organisation. For example, I still hear owners of businesses tell me that they have little interest in the current Eurozone crisis, as they cannot see how it effects them. The truth is, it may not immediately, but the longer term effects definitely will.


This necessitated a change in perspective, which I find people grasp best through case studies and the power of stories. I do tend to agree with you about books like ‘Good to Great‘ and I have just finished reading ‘Good Strategy Bad Strategy‘ by Richard Rumelt. In this, he gives excellent examples of how some organisations have flourished through good strategy and other household names have ‘bombed’ through bad strategy, where people have not considered what is coming over the horizon – and he looks at the thinking of those creating the strategy.


A second posting by Fiona Pearson on the same thread also points to the realities of developing strategic thinking:


For managers in new roles the shift from operational responsibility to a wider remit is not always easy especially when day-to-day issues still demand attention. In the current climate people are often bridging two roles while reshaping is progressing. A common complaint I hear about newly promoted managers is a sense of frustration that they are not “thinking strategically” enough and are overinvolved in operational priorities and detail. New reporting relationships, perhaps into the senior team can highlight a surprising lack of awareness of strategic issues. Managers now charged with developing a vision for their service can flounder, unsure where to start, not daring to ask because everyone else seems to do it with ease. Previous experience of contributing to strategic planning often only exposes people to snapshots of the process rather than the full map. The underlying complexities described in an earlier comment can seem impenetrable.


I wonder, do these comments ring true for you?  And what have you found useful in developing your ability to think strategically?