Strategic thinking processual process 3 acumeninsights a critical proposition within our research is that the formulation and implementation of strategy is a continuous and iterative process. Thinking and problem solving heidelberg university. A good strategic management online course will help you distinguish between these two in a more detailed manner. Strategic thinking skills what is strategic thinking. Top management supervises the process and decides which issues it must address and which should be assigned to operating managers. Strategic thinking is different from strategic planning. It is also to enable brainstorming of approaches that can help to meet the strategic. Liedtka b ashing traditional approaches to strategic planning has become the favoured pasttime of lead ing business authors on both sides of the atlantic.
Strategic thinking is one of the important tools for the company as well as for the employees because it helps them in growing with greater understanding and taking better decisions in life. Design thinking in architecture design for work by akka. Sometimes strategic planning is confused with other planning modalities, each valid in its own right but geared toward a different end result. It is also for those who want to accelerate the improvement process in a subject matter or specific area of interest. Strategic thinking is the ability to think on a big and small scale, long and short term, and into the past and the present. This is joe dager, the host of the business901 podcast. Ten keys to successful strategic planning for nonprofit and.
Culture of thinking creating a classroom culture of thinking engaged, sophisticated thinking does not come about by chance. What is strategic management and strategic thinking. The 7 benefits of strategic planning strategic management. How to master strategic thinking skills in 5 simple steps. Thinking strategically requires research, analysis, and. A strategic thinking process urges the mandate for creativity and innovation and encompasses a research phase to study the voice of the customer, the employee and industry best practices. Strategic thinking is a process that defines the manner in which people think about, assess, view, and create the future for themselves and others. A process for negotiating tradeoffs among competing objectives that involves a comparison of initiatives against each other to ensure scarce resources go where they can create the best returns. Unfortunately, in most companies the strategy resides solely in the head of the ceo.
Pdf strategic management and strategic planning process. A noted speaker, he has written articles in numerous business magazines and journals, including the wall street journal. The discipline of strategic thinking in healthcare jon chilingerian introduction this chapter has been written for those who lead healthcare services or hope to in the future. This paper addresses the gap between mental model theory and strategic thinking theory. On a management and leadership level, strategy thinking is the main part of the strategic planning process which involves a wide range of activities such as goals settings, task delegation, developing plans, decision making, analyzing environment, and much more. Using a decisionmaking process model in strategic management orianahelena negulescu1 abstract. In contrast, operational thinking requires more b quadrant processes. A process to systematically drive strategic thinking is required within any organization.
The goal is to work through the strategicc thinking cycle that will assist in creating a strategic plan that will guide the organization back into relevance. They capture a christians thinking process, then control it. Wilson, for example, in describing the evolution of strategic planning processes, observes. Strategic thinking is a process of developing or examining the assumptions about the future upon which the organizations mission, goals, and strategy are based to evaluate whether they still reflect the realities the organization faces and how they should be realigned for the future. Strategic thinking in fast growing organizations merlin switzer executives in fast growing organizations are challenged to keep up with growth as they guide their respective organizations into the future. Developing your strategic thinking skills isnt enough to get you promoted. The authors analysis in the following discussions shows that strategic thinking manifests itself at two different levels. Strategic thinking and subsequent management must result in action. What is strategic thinking strategic thinking is defined as a mental or thinking process applied by an individual in the context of achieving success in a game or other endeavor. Longlasting intellectual development occurs when necessary elements come together with artistry and craftsmanship, much like a wellstaged performance, an elegant meal or an intricate jigsaw puzzle.
With strategic thinking skills, youll get a simple and comprehensive. It is a template and roadmap for how to manage by clearly thinking about where you want to go and then developing focused objectives and tactical action plans for getting the job. The eisenhower matrix it helps distinguish what is important and what is urgent. These sentiments are echoed by two other leading theorists in the field, prahalad and hamel 1989, who describe traditional approaches to planning as form filling. The litany of indictments against the types of planning processes in place at most large multinational firms is. Chaneta department of business studies faculty of commerce university of zimbabwe abstract wheelen and hunger 2002 say that strategic management is a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the longrun performance of an organization. May 25, 2009 an overview of strategic thinking what it is and how to get started building strategic thinking processes in your organisation. It is a look of the organization at some point in the future.
When applied, it harmonizes with other modes of thinking and closes knowledge and information gaps, creating order and re. Role of strategic thinking in business planning business. Strategic thinking is a planning process that applies innovation, strategic planning and operational planning to develop business strategies that have a greater chance for success strategic thinking is the ability to see the total enterprise, to spot the trends and understand the competitive landscape, to see where the business needs to go and to lead it. Unlike the additional work that is created by the process of strategic planning, we can understand strategic thinking as using a new lens to view the business. As touched upon earlier, strategic thinking encompasses ideation, strategic planning and operational planning to arrive at decisions and strategies that have a greater chance of success. Jun 17, 2005 strategic thinking is a planning process that applies innovation, strategic planning and operational planning to develop business strategies that have a greater chance for success.
Contrary to the common one, the strategic decision is being made in a longer time and on a detailed basis. Strategic thinking, on the other hand, is a synthesizing process utilizing intuition and creativity whose outcome is an integrated perspective of. Pdf strategic thinking skills course guidebook researchgate. Strategic management process strategic management process dr i. For example, bailin 2002 defines critical thinking as thinking of a particular quality essentially good thinking that meets specified criteria or standards of adequacy and accuracy. For the organization, to create a strategic plan which will. As management attempts to implement the strategy, the organization zigzags from event to event, lacking clear direction. Poor strategic thinking or the lack of any strategic foresight at all will doom your organization. Strategic thinking is built on a systems perspective, intent driven, hypothesis driven, intelligently opportunistic capitalizing on new possibilities as the situation changes, and involves the ability to think in time linking past, present, and future. Some of the conceptual and methodological challenges associated with good strategic thinking are considered. Ultimately, strategic leadership is both an organizational and a personal process, and it is one that todays businesses cannot afford to. As management attempts to implement the strategy, the organisation zigzags from event to event, lacking clear direction. Strategic surprisingly, here there is ready agreement.
A strategic plan is a tool that provides guidance in fulfilling a mission with maximum efficiency and. Critical strategic thinking skills center for simplified. Michel robert is founder and president of decision processes international, inc. Desire was to create a uniform strategic thinking and planning process for the organization while at the same time, build the strategic. Everything we see, touch, taste, hear and smell stems from ideas. An effective planning process requires really good strategic thinking abilities and. A comprehensive strategic thinking process leadership. By understanding some of the components involved, a leader can begin to create conversations around critical issues and foster a shared understanding of who we are, where we are going, and. While strategic thinking begins with some vision for the future there typically isnt a formal process for strategic thinking. As a cognitive activity, it produces thought when applied in an organizational strategic management process, strategic thinking involves the generation and application of unique business insights and opportunities. The importance of individual mental models for strategic.
The importance of individual mental models for strategic thinking in organisations. In order to advance in your career, you need to demonstrate them. Spot the changes coming in the market you serve, test your ideas to find out which ones have. Strategic thinking online course in business strategy. This article focuses on case studies of four executives in fast growing organizations who use strategic thinking and, to a lesser extent. Strategic intent is our term for such an animating dream. Strategic management is a widely studied field because it is through strategy that organizations attempt to reach their goals and outthink the competition.
The 5 steps to strategic thinking that really matter instead of barreling through a todo list, especially when were short on time already, try. Strategic thinking extends both to the formulation and. Strategy, strategic thinking, strategic planning, leadership. Strategic thinking process decision processes international. Process thinking in strategic organization sage journals. Strategic thinking process a clear, wellarticulated strategy defines the corporate mission for those charged with carrying it out.
It represents what is going on in the mind of the business owner and entrepreneur and on how to shape and clarify the organizations strategic profile. Understand grand strategies for domestic and international operations define corporatelevel strategies and explain the. A key distinction between strategic thinking and strategic planning is that the former occurs on a regular basis, as part of our daily activities, while the latter occurs periodically quarterly, semiannually or annually. Learn to spot and identify coming trends in your market and be ready to serve that market, wherever it is, when the time comes. Geologists, geophysicists, engineers, managers, and executives responsible for defining, assessing, and developing business alternatives and strategy in the petroleum industry. Dec 27, 2016 4 ways to improve your strategic thinking skills. The decisionmaking process represents an ongoing activity of managers.
By working on a strategic plan together a team can. Strategic thinking is an extremely effective and valuable tool. Design thinking is a cognitive and intellectual process that balances the rational and emotional. The swot analysis method of evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of businesspersonal decisions.
It is important to recognize that design thinking is. Strategic management involves the related concepts of strategic planning and strategic thinking. Describe the strategic planning process and swot analysis. Jagdish sheth, a respected authority on marketing and strategic planning, provides.
The program is unique in the range of strategic alternatives you will be exposed to. Strategic thinking is a process of thinking, analyzing and accessing the information so as to create the future for themselves and the company. In todays highly competitive business environment, budgetoriented planning or forecastbased planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The jonah sm program focuses participants common sense and intuition through the theory of constraints thinking. Design thinking for creativity and business innovation series. Strategic thinking is different from both strategic planning and operational planning. In strategic thinking, the future should be created based on todays capabilities which are the organizations.
It has not gone through a professional editing process and may contain grammatical errors or incorrect formatting. Obviously, strategic thinking cannot replace strategic planning. The theory of constraints and its thinking processes. The 5 steps to strategic thinking that really matter.
The strategic thinking and planning toolkit will help businesses navigate the process of developing a clear profile of what they want to become and how to achieve it. Teams can engage in a process that clarifies organizational values and use these as a basis of practices. While strategic thinking is a valuable skill for everyone in an organization, it becomes increasingly essential as you ascend the ladder. Strategic issues are hung on the framework like ornaments on a christmas tree. They refer to strategic thinking as crafting strategic architecture but. It is an exercise in examining everything we do in our various roles, addressing the needs of our customers and ensuring that all of this is directly or. In this textbook youll receive an insight into the strategic thinking and planning process. Others have said this before in different ways meyer et al. An interesting example of a strategic thinking insight involved an activity which used metaphors for products, customers, distributors, vendors and competitors. Strategic thinking gives you the tools to undertake a thorough strategic analysis. Strategic thinking skills is a simple and comprehensive guide to the skills, tactics, techniques, tools, case studies, and lessons behind this allimportant process. Strategic thinking capabilities that are widespread throughout the company, not limited to the top echelons. The process does not only focus on creating a space, but also a community. Strategy can, for example, be examined as discourse and practice in order to probe its historical roots and how it came to be constituted in its current form knights and morgan, 1991.
Within the departments and offices, it means aligning a division, section, unit or team to a higherlevel strategy. If you believe that strategic thinking is only for senior executives, think again. Robert is the author of the power of strategic thinking, product. To put it simply, not every plan is a strategic plan. In conjunction with updating our creating a strategic perspective workshop, were sharing both the structure and links to a subset of the relevant brainzooming content underpinning our strategic thinking workshops. Good strategic thinking can make your organization. Pdf strategic thinking is a powerful and invaluable skill, one that. Teaching approach follows an iterative process of interactive discussions, application of materials, discussion of results, and reapplication of materials to new contexts. An insiders guide to design process at akka architects. Planning is an important aspect of strategic thinking and management. A walkthrough of wells 1998 strategic thinking cycle. Define the strategic business mental models and its underlying assumptions relating to the four bullet points above. Given the multidimensionality of thinking, it may come as no surprise that different researchers, all claiming to study the phenomenon of thinking, have in the past differed widely in their definitions of the term thinking.
Paul explains that false teachers do this in three ways. Nov 10, 2014 the 5 steps to strategic thinking that really matter instead of barreling through a todo list, especially when were short on time already, try reframing the way in which you approach the. Unlike the additional work that is created by the process of strategic planning, we can. Strategic thinking process by wendy phillips on prezi. Explore the methods of strategic thinking practice the seven major skills of how strategic thinkers process information outline the strategic thinking process, both the major processes and their related subprocesses practice the strategic thinking model within a small group. A simple three step process that may be used at an individual or group level for improved strategic thinking is to. How to improve strategic thinking skills at workplace.
You also will identify capability and resource gaps that have to be closed. Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. Strategy is also a bridge between the present current situation and future ideal situation. Perhaps it could be argued that for better strategic planning, we must also be equipped with strategic thinking. Understanding what strategic thinking is, and how it differs from operational thinking, is the first step in becoming an accomplished strategic thinker. Purpose the purpose of strategic thinking is to envision or develop a solution.
Given all that strategic thinking content, its a good time to update our framework. It involves setting goals, developing longrange plans, anticipating the unexpected, analyzing your environment, and even cooperating with your competitors. Strategic thinking and strategic management strategic planning is only useful if it supports strategic thinking and leads to strategic management and, even more importantly, execution. It also implies a particular point of view about the longterm mar. Strategic thinking is a thinking in the organization that links the past, present and future to each other. The three strengths of a true strategic leader forbes. When applied in an organizational strategic management process, strategic thinking involves the. Second, the paper evaluates the strategic management process within the framework of its strategic planning and strategic thinking components. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Thinkingaboutthinking7 capture and control false teachers kidnap the minds of christians by dominating and holding down their thinking.
Strategic planning is analytical in nature and refers to formalized procedures to produce the data and analyses used as inputs for strategic thinking, which synthesizes the data resulting in the strategy. Strategic planning is a disciplined process for making key decisions and agreeing on actions that will shape and guide what an organisation is, what it does, and why it does it. Jun 22, 2016 strategic thinking is easy to say but much harder to achieve in reality. Six thinking hat process guidelines the person wearing the hat is to make sure that all contribute to herhis thinking hat area discussion spend 5 minutes on each thinking hat, starting with the blue hat discuss the specific given topic using the thinking hat make sure that at least one unusual idea is discussed and recorded use the form to. Strategic thinking is defined as a mental or thinking process applied by an individual in the context of achieving a goal or set of goals in a game or other endeavor. Difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning. In order to incorporate strategic thinking into planning processes, however, we must recognize three discrete aspects of the process. Strategic planning defined strategic planning is a process of looking into the future and identifying trends and issues against which to align organizational priorities of the department or office. It presents a framework of core elements of strategic thinking to explore the link between these elements and mental models.