“Strategy is for the C-Suite.” You may be thinking that as a manager deep in the organization, you are not paid to be a strategic thinker. You may think your job is only about putting out fires and keeping everyone on your team working hard. These thoughts may even be reinforced by the messages from upper management. Nothing could be further from the truth!
In an article two years ago, I shared data from Elevate, a book authored by Rich Horwath. He stressed that strategy is about the intelligent allocation of resources and time. Of the organizations he studied, managers said that a lack of time was the primary reason they are not strategic.
Every day your choices can help or hurt your organization, depending on how strategic they are. To make decisions that generate the best possible results overall, you need to consider the big picture and how to effectively allocate your time.
As you look for trends internally, externally, and globally, you may discover specific actions your team can incorporate in its strategy to use your time and resources in more productive ways. Making these changes can yield exponential dividends for the organization.
Here’s one set of tools to build a team of strategic thinkers.
Strategy: Look for Trends
Use this brainstorming activity individually or with your team to identify trends, business problems, and new opportunities.* You could do this annually or as the need arises. This tool will allow you elevate your perspective beyond the day-to-day and seek insight internally and externally.
Internal Trends
What are the signs of weakness or challenge in each of the three areas within our firm?
- People: How is our engagement, turn-over, growth in expertise, etc.? How are we duplicating or delaying work products or blocking each other’s efficiencies?
- Products: Think about backlog, contract negotiations, profitability, and other key measurables.
- Strategy: What are the company priorities/strategies? How is our team aligned?
Now, consider the implications of the changes you see. Where are the opportunities? What changes do we need to consider?
One manager we work with discovered an alarming trend of turnover in her business unit. She has taken employee engagement to a whole new level by using a simple tool to measure engagement and then working with her team with transparency and proactivity.
External Trends
- What are the signals of change outside the organization? Look for ways to monitor change in the industry and in your specific market segment.
- How do you stay well-informed of the changes outside the company? What publications do you read? Who provides you with insight and the latest research?
- How well do you keep the team informed? Do you encourage team insight or sharing of information learned?
- Record the most important insights and opportunities and track as a team.
We have a team leader who works with clients at least once a year to host an extended lunch where he listens to their concerns and ideas for the future. He fosters idea sharing by asking probing questions in advance by email.
Societal Trends
- Next, examine societal trends that impact you and the organization
- These will be very diverse trends to study: demographic, economic, regulatory, social, cultural, environmental, technological, and political. These trends are often long-term and are at best predictive and not prescriptive.
- Determine one or two that present threats to your organization as well as one or two opportunities.
- Continue studying these trends and facilitate conversations with your team about taking positive actions to prepare for the future.
Take Action
- Lastly, determine the trends that are worth monitoring
- Narrow the monitored list to just one to three areas that are critical to your team and market.
- Make assignments with volunteers and continue to expand insight
- Develop concrete action steps with deadlines for future meetings.
This exercise will help everyone on the team to “zoom out” from the strategic paralysis of day-to-day tasks and explore the possibilities for the future. As strategies, action plans, and follow through occur, the team will become more cohesive and individuals will feel empowered to be more strategic in their roles.
* These ideas originally appear and are expanded in the “Worksheet: Spotting Trends” in HBR Guide + Tools for Thinking Strategically published by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2019.
