How to get your employees to think strategically

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Dish out information

You need to encourage managers to set aside time to thinking strategically until it becomes part of their job. Provide them with information on your company’s market, industry, customers, competitors, and emerging technologies. One of the key prerequisites of strategic leadership is having relevant and broad business information that helps leaders elevate their thinking beyond the day-to-day.

Create a mentor programme

Every manager in your company should have a mentor. One of the most effective ways to develop your strategic skills is to be mentored by someone who is highly strategic. The ideal mentor is someone who is widely known for their ability to keep people focused on strategic objectives and the impact of their actions.

Create a philosophy

As the leader, you need to communicate a well-articulated philosophy, a mission statement, and achievable goals throughout your company. Individuals and groups need to understand the broader organisational strategy in order to stay focused and incorporate it into their own plans and strategies.

Reward thinking, not reaction

Whenever possible, try to promote foresight and long-term thinking. You should reward your managers for the evidence of thinking, not just reacting, and for being able to quickly generate several solutions to a given problem and identifying the solution with the greatest long-term benefit for the organisation.

Ask “why” and “when”

You need to promote a “future perspective” in your company. If a manager suggests a course of action, you need to him or her ask two questions: First, what underlying strategic goal does this action serve, and why? And second, what kind of impact will this have on internal and external stakeholders? Consistently asking these two questions whenever action is considered will go a long way towards developing strategic leaders.

Source: navigossearch.com ; Inc.com ; Linkedin.com ; forbes.com; Tlnt.com