How can you develop a strategic thinking mindset?

"Begin with the end in mind." This is a core philosophy in both my work and life, a principle I extracted from Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People." In essence, it urges you to incorporate a fundamental practice in any endeavor or initiative you undertake. Always start by asking yourself: - Where do I want to get? - What does success look like? Understanding the final destination allows you to unfold the process of reaching it and ensures that every action you take is genuinely guiding you towards the right destination.

A vision is what a company, a goal or an idea looks like as a "SUCCESS" in the future. Strategic thinking involves planning for both the short term and the long term. Meaning that it doesn't just consider the now. It also considers the future. You should consider the immediate impact of your decisions as well as their long-term implications.

Broaden Your Perspective: Step back from the immediate details and consider the bigger picture. Understand the broader context, industry trends, and competitive landscape to make informed decisions. Ask Strategic Questions: Challenge assumptions and delve deeper into the underlying causes of problems. Ask questions that encourage critical thinking and uncover new insights. Analyze and Interpret Data: Develop data literacy skills to effectively collect, analyze, and interpret data. Use data to identify patterns, trends, and potential opportunities. Consider Multiple Perspectives: Seek diverse perspectives to gain a well-rounded understanding of the situation. Engage with colleagues, experts, and stakeholders to broaden your perspectives.

Vision is always the first step. It is impossible to take actions, without clear plan. Taking time for evaluating life values, professional goals and how we want our life to look like in the next few years is very important. When you know your vision, it is actually possible to start building your strategy with specific steps and timeline.

Read widely: Immerse yourself in books, articles, and thought-provoking content related to strategy, business, and leadership. Engage in strategic discussions: Participate in discussions and debates about strategic issues to challenge your thinking and broaden your perspective. Play strategic games: Engage in games that require strategic thinking, such as chess or sim games, to practice critical thinking and decision-making. Seek mentorship: Find a mentor or coach who can provide guidance and support as you develop your strategic thinking skills. By cultivating these habits and practices, you can continuously develop a strategic thinking mindset that will empower you to make informed decisions, navigate complex challenges.

Monitoring result is necessary to track your progress, discover what should work differently, be improved or changed. Reviewing data can help you celebrate successes, but also make your next steps more efficient and know, what should be the priority.

To develop a strategic mindset an individual needs to be able to see the pattern not just the latest event. In my experience, when people want to be strategic they tend overly focus on the latest events that led to the need to be strategic. A missed sales goal, costs increased in the latest quarter or new competitive entrant. In those cases, they will solve for that specific issue rather than the group of things that led to that event. To be strategic, an individual needs to see how patterns fit together and what can be done about those patterns. When you start thinking of how things fit together, you can increase your strategic capabilities.

Developing a strategic mindset starts with understanding the big picture. You've likely come to an organization with great experiences you can draw from. They will have their place. In your current role, it's important to understand how things are connected. You can start by understanding how your role fits into the larger strategy. You also want to make sure you challenge the status quo in a way that feels collaborative and curious. Often, your voice won't be heard if you are the person that always enters a discussion with "At my previous company". Start with "What if" questions. Broaden your curiosity by asking "have we always done it this way" or how can we improve on this?

Mindset - A habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations. And we often have some biases in our interpretations. In developing a strategic mindset, it about all the pieces of the puzzle that fits together to make it one whole. As we begin to develop that kind of mindset, we need to go deeper and ask: "Where am I going and what does the end result look like?" "What are my top 5 best qualities and core values that will align with this particular outcome?" So as one leans into the idea of developing a strategic mindset, it is good to note and understand that it becomes a continuous process and not just about a one-off event in life.