Todays organizations are more dispersed and less hierarchical than ever before. All rights reserved. That may be because of our tendency to equate strategic thinking with strategic planning. Cultural intelligence improves my strategic thinking and sits at the core of my approach to planning. Strategic thinking skills are one of the most sought-after skills in the business world. For example, a companys Strategy includes topics such as where it wants to go, how to interact with customers, and how to revise its current trajectory if needed. proposes that when you change your questions in any given situation, this allows you to change your thinking. You can do this by reminding yourself or by setting goals centered around the following actions: Active listeningThe ability of an individual to understand, interpret, reflect on, and respond to what that individual just heard. What is the other person feeling, needing, and wanting? Expert strategic thinkers often credit their success to deliberate practice and life experiences rather than their innate ability. Strategic thinking is the key to the long-term survival of your organization. After all, its a good trait to have. For instance, lets say that you make $100 per week in income and you focus on increasing that income by just 1% per week. Eventually, we realized that our customers were being forced to transform their in-person meetings to virtual. When you get into the habit of cultural strategic thinking, you will begin thinking on an unconscious level and not even recognize that you are using strategic thinking. While strategic thinking is a valuable skill for everyone in an organization, it becomes increasingly essential as you ascend the ladder. In todays business context, it is described in terms of goals. Therefore, tactics shouldnt be left to chance but instead thoughtfully planned and executed. We tend to be less adept at divergent thinking, which involves generating lots of ideas with the goal of finding innovative solutions. Many of these customers had little or no experience organizing big virtual meetings. A good way to explain this is to think about playing Chess. Your Employee & Labor Relations team now supports both represented and non-represented employees. What does this mean and how do you achieve it? Pay attention to the verbal and nonverbal cues of various situations; look around your environment and note the various symbols and artifacts. Strategic culture is not merely a catchy phrase to drop in a business meeting. As a leader, this is a great way of providing a model for those who have difficulty with cultural strategic thinking. If you come across a situation in which a cultural fact seems to contradict what you know, take the time to learn about the difference and the nuances related to that cultural fact. Listen to the podcast episode here, or watch the summary video below. Its true that strategic thinking skills are valuable, and some people (like senior executives or policymakers) need them more than others. It can facilitate an effective cultural interaction with less conflict, confusion, and frustration. The benefits of strategic thinking are numerous. Every member of your organization should know this plan and understand the expectations it creates. Using that cultural situation as a Kodak moment, take the opportunity to reread the picture to see if you really understood how that cultural fact was used. Tactics are the specific steps you take to move toward your vision. Otherwise you will be prompted again when opening a new browser window or new a tab. In World War II, the company Textron made a fortune selling parachutes to the US military. For example, lets say we are rolling out new software for a sales team to submit their sales reports. Essential in cultural strategic thinking is your ability to conjure and be positive about your learning experiences. opportunities to explore cultural interactions and resolve cultural problems. What is your next strategic goal in your life? opportunities to explore cultural interactions and resolve cultural problems. Vision: A company wanted to groom managers who had the right skills and experience to complete unique projects the company is known for. What is Strategic Thinking? Or when you go for a walk in the evening. It worked like a charm. The LibreTexts libraries arePowered by NICE CXone Expertand are supported by the Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Project, the UC Davis Office of the Provost, the UC Davis Library, the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Program, and Merlot. In practice, it is a doorway to innovation, cultural change and proactive strategies All Rights Reserved. What is the other person feeling, needing, and wanting? You can best achieve that by encouraging problem-solving behavior on every organizational level. With the pace of change continuing to rise, its no longer feasible for people to wait for orders from above. All employees must keep an eye on the future, not just react to whats happening in the present. This process takes a lot of discipline. It is a critical skill in cultural intelligence because the behavior acknowledges that you have really heard what another person has said. Legal. Pay attention to the verbal and nonverbal cues of various situations; look around your environment and note the various symbols and artifacts. For example, most of us are comfortable using convergent thinking analysis, logic, and reasoning to come up with the best option from a set of choices. Strategic thinking is thinking about thinking. It is being conscious of your thinking processes, such as how you have gathered and organized the information and Strategic Thinking: 5 Characteristics of Strategic Thinkers Written by MasterClass Last updated: Jun 7, 2021 2 min read Strategic thinkers excel at problem It is how youll figure out how to reach your vision. If you want to see your team or function operate more strategically and are serious about strategic change, act like it. In that case, you are thinking strategically about which career path to follow in the next few years. Good ideas can come from anywhere. Most of us recognize the wisdom embedded in that statement, yet we still see strategy as the realm of our organizations senior leaders. Its actually a very powerful concept that can help you think through what your You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page. 4 videos (Total 35 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site. The example will prove you are a strategic thinker! Career and personal branding expert Dorie Clark shows you how to carve out time to think about strategy, gather data, learn from the past, create a vision for the future, and implement strategic thinking within your team. It also serves as a memory of your experiences, which you can later refer back to and learn from. This dichotomy between the creative versus the WebThe cultural inclusion approach is adopted by many businesses and organizations to promote equity and fairness. So, next time you face a challenge, consider approaching it strategically using a strategic planning tool of your choice. Once you have done your simple SWOT exercise, lets put it into an action plan. Multicultural team effectiveness. So focus on making Atomic changes to your personal habits and to your processes. A strategic leader would ask, Are my more seasoned sales reps going to resist this new process? You can do this by using multiple sources and venues. The ability of an individual to understand, interpret, reflect on, and respond to what that individual just heard. Other strategic thinking practices are useful for training yourself to see opportunities and threats well before they happen. Reactive thinkers see this analysis as criticism. There are two types of questions: questions that involve judgments and questions that involve learning. You will notice it when others marvel or comment at your ability to effectively manage cultural interactions. Strategic thinking is basically the practice of selecting a long-term goal and formulating an action plan toward reaching that goal. First, youll have to figure out your options and how theyll work in different scenarios. Here are a few of the reasons you should adopt it as one of your thinking tools: 1. It does so by sharing with them a language and a process, and by helping to point out the cultural strategic thinking pieces of the process, which can be done by asking and clarifying the situation for them. In that case, you will realize that it seems to mean different things to different people. Strategy is a state of mind as much as a documented plan, and a strategic leader must be able to instill that mindset in others. There are two types of questions: questions that involve judgments and questions that involve learning. As a result, they made another fortune selling the US military helicopters. Along the lines of processing your cultural situations out loud, it would be helpful to find a coach or mentor that can help you analyze your thinking. WebThinking about Strategic Culture | 33 shortcomings in ahistorical and non-cultural structural models of strategic choice at the heart of mainstream international security studies. As in peer learning, talking to someone else gives you the opportunity to break down your thinking processes. We may request cookies to be set on your device. For additional information about How to Build Strong Leaders within Your Organization, click the link to that article. As in peer learning, talking to someone else gives you the opportunity to break down your thinking processes. A useful tool I have used in my workshops and classes is writing down experiences and thoughts related to a cultural situation. There are many definitions of strategic thinking. Once we realized this, we were able to improve the quality of our training sessions and our instructors exponentially. Learn more about your compensation, benefits and everything that goes into a Total Rewards package. A strategy that is often employed in the practice of cultural strategic thinking is to create peer-learning opportunities to explore cultural interactions and resolve cultural problems. Strategies help you in achieving your vision or goal. If so, how do get them to be more enthused about the change?. The second advantage is that if you try a solution and it doesnt work, you have multiple backup plans at your disposal. Most of us dont even realize we need to learn it ourselves sinceits not taught as a valuable life skill at any point in our lives. You can do this by using multiple sources and venues. wrote that learning about a new culture requires putting all the pieces of a pattern together when you do not know the totality of what that whole picture should look like. To hasten the adoption of a culture of strategic thinking, you need to make it a part of your employees routines. Identify a few of the contingencies that you created prior to implementation. Being able to think strategically is one of the most important leadership traits. This is a brand new game.. Janice Molloy is a content researcher with Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. How far are you from your goal? We ask both types of questions, and we choose which ones to ask in any given situation. This is the type of resistance you need to overcome as a leader. Cultural strategic thinking helps you to discard what you think you know and to apply new information concerning what the situation could be. How do you know if you are not also an expert strategic thinker? To make strategic decisions, you need people on all sides of an issue to speak their minds. It requires experience with and reflection on the particular business organization to be most effective. WebBiomedical Engineer specialized in product and marketing management with strong commercial mindset. Lets simplify the strategic thinking definition since its still under development. They apply those insights as they carry out organizational priorities and provide input to the overall strategy. Doing this provides you with a language for how you process cultural interactions and problems, and your peers can help you to create that language and help solve the problems. Along the lines of processing your cultural situations out loud, it would be helpful to find a coach or mentor that can help you analyze your thinking. Marilee AdamsAdams (2004). Dont just stop with the first good idea. Beyond approaches covered previously to focus strategic thinking, broaden participation, and increase its rigor, a several principles can help create more tangible outcomes . Simply put, strategy is how you plan to achieve a goal. New page type Book TopicInteractive Learning Content, Textbooks for Primary Schools (English Language), Textbooks for Secondary Schools (English Language), Creative Commons-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, Culturally Intelligent Leadership Matters, The Difference between Managers and Leaders, Importance of Leadership in a Global Economy, Contemplate Your Motivation and Ability to Work with Others, Techniques for Developing Strategic Thinking, Selecting Intentional Thinking Strategies, The Role of Self-Efficacy in Cultural Intelligence, Support Others in Their Self-Efficacy Development, Reduce Anxiety and Stress Related to Cultural Interactions, Case Study: Young, Confident, and Moving too Fast. We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. When you think strategically, you have to And why are strategic thinking skills so important to business success? Cultural strategic thinking is essential because it is this higher strategic thinking that enables you to process the new information and reinterpret it in a new situation. You can do this by reminding yourself or by setting goals centered around the following actions: Active listeningThe ability of an individual to understand, interpret, reflect on, and respond to what that individual just heard. In others, the marketplace may change or we may uncover competitive intelligence where we change the goal altogether. Weve been using the principles from ancient times for a long time. In fact, you may have a difficult time being promoted or succeeding as a leader without it. For more information on the source of this book, or why it is available for free, please see the project's home page. The ability of an individual to understand, interpret, reflect on, and respond to what that individual just heard. Your writing serves as a reflection of your thinking processes and how you have dealt with, or how you could not deal with, the process. The term coverstopicsfrom military history to college football to corporate finances and human resource practices. We want to become the most efficient organization in our manufacturing sector., We want to use technology to transform the way we work., We want our employees to put customers first.. At the same time, they incorporated the new initiative into their marketing campaigns. Not quite. Suspend judgments of people and their beliefs, Be open to experiences that are unfamiliar. Track progress and reward strategic thinking. DonorsChoose.org helps people like you help teachers fund their classroom projects, from art supplies to books to calculators. The term is trendy in business circles. We need to get rid of goals that no longer serve a purpose and replace them with ones that work better. If you dont have milestones, it is hard to know what to measure. Good leaders are able to do this. Along the lines of processing your cultural situations out loud, it would be helpful to find a coach or mentor that can help you analyze your thinking. So if you are using strategic thinking, how do you know if you need to make an adjustment. Its difficult to find a space in life where the word strategy isnt used. First, if you only have two possible solutions, there is a high likelihood that neither solution will work perfectly. Not in the mood to read? The content weve added is geared to helping people boost their productivity and effectiveness by making strategic thinking a habit, and includes practical ways that enable them to do so. The Greek word strategy comes from Stratos (army or resource) and ago (to lead), so the definition is quite literal. Trusted, competent strategic thinkers enable a culture that is agile, empowered and collaborative. The leadership world has a few strategic leadership styles. You will notice it when others marvel or comment at your ability to effectively manage cultural interactions. In my latest books, I have defined strategic thinking as a top outer-core leadership competency. So, what is strategic thinking? In this way, strategic thinking is part of everyones job whatever their role or level of responsibility. If your culture doesnt work, your strategy cant work. In those cases, you want to increase the goal. You think strategically when you pick a long-term goal and plan how to get there. We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. A strategy explains how an organization will achieve its goals and objectives. For additional information about The Five-Step Problem-Solving Process, click the link to that article. I struggled for the first year or so. Using that cultural situation as a Kodak moment, take the opportunity to reread the picture to see if you really understood how that cultural fact was used. Metacognition simply means thinking about thinking; in this context, thinking about your The questions arent meant to test our strategic thinking skills but to help us rethink, reflect, and realize theres always room for improvement. WebStrategic thinking is an organization member capability. For example, if your goal is to jog 10 miles by the end of summer, you can plan how many miles you intend to jog each month. It starts by assessing where you are now and where you want to be. proposes that when you change your questions in any given situation, this allows you to change your thinking. "@type": "Answer", In your review of the situation, you may need to research unfamiliar terms or gestures used, or you may need to break down the picture and rebuild it, step by step, to understand if you really understood the whole picture. In my case, I opted for sometimes, it depends or mostly for each question. Showing strategic thinking skills tells your bosses that youre able to think for yourself and make decisions that position the organization for the future. Fully understand the business on the level of your organization. We should have been measuring the results that the students receive from the training. A better strategy is to study the pitcher. However, in week #52, exactly one year later, youd make $200 that week. Hereare some benefits youll experience when you apply your strategic thinking consciously in your day-to-day situations. Practicing to be an active listener is making a conscious choice about your responses to others. Suppose you start paying attention to some of the statements around the word strategy in your organization or the media. 1. Your writing serves as a reflection of your thinking processes and how you have dealt with, or how you could not deal with, the process. A strategy that is often employed in the practice of cultural strategic thinking is to create peer-learningWorking with peers to question and explore cultural interactions to resolve cultural problems. To download a .zip file containing this book to use offline, simply click here. Strategic thinking is a skill that can be valuable in many different industries, as it allows for planning ahead and preparing for future projects or tasks. The cultural changes are more numerous and important. Achieve a goal. This paper aims to discuss all the above aspects. Theyre more specific than vision, and theyre what will get you from point A to point B. The basics of developing and practicing cultural strategic thinking are to (a) connect new information to the old, (b) select the appropriate You would go from making $5,200 per year to $177,817 per year. Can you think of a story of amazing success in your life? Are you aware that focusing exclusively on streamlining operations, reducing costs, and eliminating errors may threaten your companys long-term survival? Lets break it down into its three primary components: 1. Case Study: From Hometown to Global Village. Research on the symbolic elements of strategy suggests that strategic culture may not have a direct Profitability and cost savings. I have certainly come across leaders who have attended my sessions because leadership told them they had to, and it affects their learning environment in a negative way and often interrupts the learning of their peers. Cultural Competence and Patient Safety December 27, 2019 Background Culture can be defined as the personal identification, language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions that are often specific to ethnic, racial, religious, geographic, or social groups. Having a culture like this will give a big boost to the growth of the company. The final step in strategic thinking is to create a system of continuous improvement. Marilee AdamsAdams (2004). Cultural strategic thinking may seem overwhelming at first, but as with any new learning, you need to break your plan into smaller steps that will help you to accomplish your goals. When I see that action, I can capitalize on it. I have certainly come across leaders who have attended my sessions because leadership told them they had to, and it affects their learning environment in a negative way and often interrupts the learning of their peers. Strategy: The company decided to source raw materials from suppliers who adhere to sustainable farming practices. Case Study: Building a Multicultural TeamIs it Worth it? WebStrategic thinking is the ability to envision, plan, and execute long-term goals and initiatives that align with your organization's vision and mission. What exactly is strategic thinking? Forward-thinking, strategic, and commercially-minded global people and culture leader with extensive experience in helping companies rapidly scale internationally, build high-performing collaborative teams, develop internal leadership capability, and foster agile, innovative and purpose-driven cultures. Tactics are the steps you take to reach a goal. However, there are two big advantages to this. Your writing serves as a reflection of your thinking processes and how you have dealt with, or how you could not deal with, the process. As in peer learning, talking to someone else gives you the opportunity to break down your thinking processes. WebPut simply, a strategic plan is the top three or four things that the board has agreed the organization has to get right in the next two or three years. You will notice it when others marvel or comment at your ability to effectively manage cultural interactions. Cultural strategic thinking helps you to discard what you think you know and to apply new information concerning what the situation could be. Adapted from Marilee G. Adams, 2004, Change your questions, change your life: 7 powerful tools for life and work, San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, p. 49. This section of the chapter provides ideas that will help you to increase your cultural strategic thinking. Here at UC Berkeley, we value your growth and development throughout your career journey. In gaining cultural knowledge, it is very helpful to get into the habit of checking your facts and knowledge about a culture. So if you get blindsided with the tell me how you are a strategic thinker question, here is a way to respond. I saw the words dozens of times every day. Determine how the hospital can increase their cultural strategic thinking to ensure patients are addressed with care and compassion regardless of their individual culture and beliefs. Strategic thinking is really nothing more than planning on steroids. Someone who holds a negative perspective about, or who had a negative experience, working with different cultural groups will continue to have difficulty working with the groups. How to Build Strong Leaders within Your Organization. You have to think positively about a situation, and you need to be and stay positive, maintaining a positive energy and attitude throughout. Marilee AdamsAdams (2004). Disela is a business analyst with a passion for researching and sharing information on technical topics. I wasnt sure exactly what the interviewer was asking. Think about a situation in your past where you were working on a project or putting together a plan. WebCultural strategic thinking helps you to discard what you think you know and to apply new information concerning what the situation could be. This is Cultural Strategic Thinking Techniques, section 4.4 from the book Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (v. 1.0). To address these problems, you need to invest time, energy, and resources into developing a vision, building strategy skills, and drawing up a viable strategic plan. And it all begins with strategic thinking. They shouldnt be ongoing projects or initiatives without a defined end. When you get into the habit of cultural strategic thinking, you will begin thinking on an unconscious level and not even recognize that you are using strategic thinking. The process includes planning combined with adapting to changes in order to reach the ultimate goal." One of the best things to do in developing cultural strategic thinking is to learn to be an observer. Change the beliefs. "mainEntity": [{ We ask both types of questions, and we choose which ones to ask in any given situation. /wp-content/uploads/2018/12/HBPubCorpLearn_wide_crimson.svg, Strategic Thinking: Because Good Ideas Can Come From Anywhere. The best time to do strategic thinking is when youre most focused and alert. In your review of the situation, you may need to research unfamiliar terms or gestures used, or you may need to break down the picture and rebuild it, step by step, to understand if you really understood the whole picture. By training your mind to think at a Culturally intelligent leaders must have excellent observation skills, never failing to hear and see the tangible and intangible. Address the problem by showing such employees the benefits of change and offering them support. In my experience, strategic plans are as important at a personal level as they are at an organizational level and drawing up a strategic plan is not a daunting undertaking. }] Values reflect the culture of an organization. Cultural strategic thinking may seem overwhelming at first, but as with any new learning, you need to break your plan into smaller steps that will help you to accomplish your goals. If you also didnt answer yes to all three, you might have an opportunity to reflect and sharpen your critical thinking. It took a little longer, but eventually, I consistently hit that milestone as well. The basics of developing and practicing cultural strategic thinking are to (a) connect new information to the old, (b) select the appropriate strategies, and then (c) plan, This article shows a five-step approach on how you can keep track of The Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) fosters community and engagement for staff, develops programs and experiences for employees to increase their racial literacy and cultural fluency, and is committed to creating a community where all employees can be their authentic selves at work everyday. Doing this provides you with a language for how you process cultural interactions and problems, and your peers can help you to create that language and help solve the problems. Resource Allocation. Acknowledge the progress that they make and devise a reward system. "acceptedAnswer": { is your ability to understand, interpret, reflect, and respond to what you have heard.