Many people who have worked in larger organizations are aware of strategic planning sessions held by CEO’s and their executive teams, or in some cases, have had a strategic planning department within their organization.  Business strategy is an important part of setting a future direction for the organization, and making sure that there are clear and concise objectives that come from a well laid plan.  While that may be the case, it is equally important, if not more important for leaders at the lowest levels of an organization to engage in strategic thinking.

One of the comparisons I like to use to help people better understand strategic thinking at all levels is this - what’s the difference between problem solving and strategic thinking?  Problem solving is something leaders and their teams do every day.  It’s usually pretty transactional, and makes sure that today's business gets done in the most efficient and effective manner possible.  One possibility for strategic thinking, is to look at all of the problem solving that you’ve done over the past week, month, or quarter, and begin to ask how many of those problems are reoccurring?  Is there a systemic way to remove a category of problems from our regular activities?

In our session we discuss the five qualities of a strategic thinker as well as the five skills of strategic thinking.  We provide an assessment to determine your current strengths as well as opportunities for you to improve your strategic thinking.  

To learn more about how to bring strategic thinking to your team, listen to this segment on Michigan Business Network.