How to develop strategic thinking skills in business

Strategic thinking is a process in which you develop a vision for your business and then work backwards to develop a plan to accomplish that vision. Without vision, a business will have no direction, but it’s impossible to achieve a vision without a strategy. Strategic thinking involves developing skills in creativity, problem solving, teamwork, critical thinking and flexibility. Strategic thinkers are able to see the big picture, as well as how to attain it.

Learn to think strategically

•Examine the status quo

Strategic thinking skills require you to examine how things have always been done critically in order to determine if that is the way things should be done. Strategic thinkers are willing to look outside of 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 organisation as a whole to assess attributes and areas of opportunity.

•Focus on the future

Strategic thinking is goal oriented and guided by a vision for the future of a company. When you are developing strategies for business growth, those strategies must have clearly defined goals that contribute to the overall vision for the company.

•Consider external forces when you develop a strategic plan

Governmental regulations, legal developments, market conditions, economic factors and technological developments can all affect how you plan for the future.

•Get feedback from within your industry

Market research, particularly in product-driven industries, can help you match the vision for your company to consumer expectations.

•Check the facts

Even though strategic thinking involves making predictions about the future, those predictions must be realistic. Gather hard data, including your organisations financial reports and analysis of your industry, to inform your predictions and help you develop goals based in reality.

Consider the organisational structure of your business and assess how that team fits into your strategies for the future. You may have to reorganise your team to achieve your goals.

•Anticipate challenges

An important part of thinking strategically is being able to predict what issues will arise and devising a plan to confront those issues ahead of time.

Develop a vision for your company by thinking about the future needs of your industry. Use past indicators to predict the evolution of your market, and then define your role within that future market. Remember that any plan based on assumptions or predictions must be flexible in case the future does not turn out the way you thought it would. Flexibility is an important part of strategic thinking skills.