Strategy

Strategic thinking

Everyone has some sense of what would make for a future we’ll be glad to have reached. But how can we arrive there and not somewhere terrible? There’s a lot of terrible about.

Being strategic is about considering the big picture landscape where the paths to possible futures lie. It involves thinking ahead and predicting the implications of the actions we might take.

The three-step process of leap, see and keep can work well.

Leap

Strategic thinking has to begin by disentangling ourselves from the immediate demands of our situations and making the mental leap to a big picture perspective.

Instead of keeping the camera lens of our attention focused on our immediate surroundings, we start conceptualising our situation as a whole, picturing what things look like to other people, or imagining what it would be like in some not-so-distant future.

It can be hard to make the time for even this initial step, for there’s always something directly in front of us begging for our attention. It can take a mental effort to break away from those demands and to think about matters that aren’t of immediate importance.

See

We then have to see life’s big picture landscape.

The more perspectives we can draw upon, the more complete our awareness will be. We can gather evidence. We can draw from what other people have seen. We can picture possibilities. We can think through what would happen in different scenarios.

Once we get our bearings, we can work out the best way ahead. Are there hazards to avoid? There’s often some wisdom in fear. And what opportunities are there to be seen? What passageways of possibility can run all the way from where we are right up through one open door, then another? How many steps ahead can we see?

Keep

Strategic thinking doesn’t end there, though, for the best of insights are often wasted. They become empty abandoned dreams, then evaporate altogether.

To keep what we’ve seen, we have to capture it in a form that’ll be useful once we’re back in the thick of things and our focus, if we’re not distracted, is again on what’s immediately in front of us. We can capture the specific actions that we intend to take at specific times. We can use to-do lists, or calendars. Different types of reminder work for different people.

The aim is simply to ensure that, when the pivotal moments where choices are made arrive, the strategic vision won’t be forgotten. It’s all too common for people to choose what’s most convenient at the time, rather than the course of action that they’d most be proud of. It’s easy to make wonderful plans that never get put into practice.