As a Strategic Thinker, how do you show off your abilities?
We all know that having strategic thinking abilities is crucial, but many don’t realise how important it is to your career advancement to demonstrate these talents to your supervisor and other senior leaders. Your supervisors will be impressed with your ability to think on your feet and make judgments that will benefit the company in the long run if you demonstrate strategic thinking skills. Your decision-making doesn’t come from a vacuum; you take into account the impact on other departments and on the public at large.
At times, when I’m working with my coaching clients, I emphasise that learning and exhibiting these abilities are completely distinct tasks.
If you want to become a great strategic thinker, you’ll need to get a lot of experience in strategic jobs, synthesise a wide range of knowledge, and participate in a culture of curiosity. As a result of this, high-potential and leadership development programmes frequently incorporate work rotations as well as cross-functional initiatives and one-on-one meetings with senior executives.
- Being a change agent and a marketer at the same time is required to demonstrate strategic thinking. Getting the attention of your boss and colleagues depends on being proactive and widely communicating your strategic efforts while also having the guts to question others and launch and drive your strategic ideas.
One of my coaching clients outlines the actions you need to follow to demonstrate your strategic thinking abilities.. For a flourishing medical goods firm, Pete Santos (not his real name) hoped to be promoted to global senior vice president of supply chain, but he suspected that his promotion negotiations had been put on hold by the company’s board. As a supply chain manager, Pete had a reputation for being quick to respond to business unit leaders and working relentlessly to keep things running smoothly. A longtime colleague and friend of Pete’s, the head of human resources, told him that some influential executives had expressed concern that Pete“wasn’t strategic enough,” which startled him. In the minds of these executives, Pete was excellent at keeping the trains moving, but he had not been proactive in changing the organisation or setting a strategic vision for supply chain. His managers didn’t recognise Pete’s strategic thinking because it wasn’t done in a way they could understand. He made the decision to hire an executive coach to assist him in mastering these abilities.
Bring your own perspective to the discussion.
If you’re being considered for a promotion by your bosses, they want to hear what you think. You can improve your capacity to display this skill by asking yourself, “Do others know where I stand?”
However, Pete understood that he was not putting the information he had gained into practise, and he made an effort to keep up with current trends and refresh his network. In the beginning, he had his assistant block off 30 minutes on his calendar prior to all of his key appointments. He was aware that rushing into meetings made him less prepared, less vocal, and less capable of consolidating and disseminating his information. In just a few minutes a week, he might shape his views on crucial matters.
At the long run, Pete’s hard work paid off, as his contributions in senior executive meetings went from operational to strategic. He organised his thoughts into a unified vision for the company, and he enlisted the help of his coworkers to brainstorm new ideas for how the vision might affect their regions.
Additionally, Pete’s supervisory skills were boosted by his ability to see things more clearly. Pete was able to identify the areas where his team lacked the expertise necessary to carry out the vision. He was able to engage in forward-looking discussions with his HR business partner about strategic hiring and leadership development possibilities for his team instead of having reactive interactions with his HR business partner. It’s a certain method to get noticed by your bosses if you show that you think strategically about hiring and training.
Show that you are capable of initiating new ideas and implementing strategic changes.
To be seen as a strategic thinker, you must also show that you can put fresh ideas into practise. In every position, you can demonstrate strategic thinking by implementing an innovative project that demonstrates that your understanding extends beyond your current role.
A strategic planning process that resulted in formal recommendations for the supply chain group was the result of Pete’s newfound drive and vision. This allowed executives to see that Pete was capable of leading a strategic endeavour, something before Pete would have done behind closed doors. Pete and his coworkers welcomed Pete’s boldness in proposing value-added adjustments. Because he wasn’t merely reacting to recommendations and difficulties from others, Pete felt more in charge and projected more confidence, and his coworkers enjoyed that he was making improvements without their pushing.
Pete’s journey to exhibiting strategic thinking took longer than he planned, but over time, his supervisor, colleagues, and team saw the changes and perceived them as positive developments. Pete was promoted to a global post a year later, and he was more prepared to handle the responsibilities of the position.
