I’ve Been Told to ‘Think More Strategically’: Strategic Thinking

Published on: 29th July 2015, Updated on: 14th November 2024

Written By:

Darren has been working in the world of soft skills training and coaching for over 20 years. He began his career as a buyer at big 4 UK supermarket and after 13 years he decided to leave to set-up Making Business Matter (MBM) because he wanted to help people to be the very best version of themselves. Connect with Darren on Linkedin and his Google Profile.

Improving Your Strategic Thinking

I’ve been told to ‘Think More Strategically‘! We have heard this many times from our learners. It is born from a need by others for you not just to solve the day-to-day challenges, but to also ‘look-up’ and help with future challenges. In essence, they want you to help them. This page is a build on a piece of work by Rick Howarth from the Strategic Thinking Institute.

The Boston Matrix below demonstrates that there are 2 important axes when considering to ‘Think More Strategically’; The insights that you generate & their impact on the business and the frequency that you generate those insights.

Related reading: Check out our ultimate guide on HBDI.

The Impact on Your Business

For example, if you were to discover that recommending using video conferencing at your multi-sited business would save £10,000 per year. This might be a high impact insight for your business and would be a tick against ‘Think More Strategically’.

If that insight turned out to have a low impact on the business because you have only 2 sites and most people don’t need to talk to each other across sites, then this would be a cross against ‘Think More Strategically’.

The Frequency That You Generate Those Insights

One insight per year. If it fundamentally improves the performance of the business would still put a tick against Think More Strategically. Though 1 insight per year that has low impact would put a cross against Think More Strategically. So the answer is a balance between frequency and impact.

Consider the Dimensions of Your Business

Customer insight – What is the 80:20?
Sales – What is the 1 insight from all of last year’s sales, that if the sales team did more of it, would increase sales?
Production – On a Friday between 10am and 1pm, we achieve more widgets per hour. What if that were the goal for all of Friday?

Box diagram highlighting the frequency of stragetic thinkers. — Which type of swimmer describes you and your insights?

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