Many of the senior managers I coach want to be more strategic. They recognise this is an essential ingredient for them to be seen as credible options for more senior roles. But what is strategic thinking?
Strategic thinking is about seeing the long-term, identifying a vision, and putting in place plans to achieve that vision. Strategic thinkers also evaluate situations, decisions, risks and issues in the short, medium, and longer-term.
In this article we’ll explore:
- Key behaviours and skills of strategic thinkers
- The benefits of being a more strategic thinker
- Six ways to develop your strategic thinking skills
Key behaviours and skills of strategic thinkers
- They have an awareness of the broader issues and the impact of decisions on the wider business and organization. They achieve a good balance of focusing on the detail and thinking about the longer term.
- They understand the importance of and pay attention to the workings of the wider organisation and links this through to their own department, team, projects, and people.
- They keep up to date with developments outside their organization, sector, and pay attention to new ideas from a wide range of areas. This helps them to adapt and innovate.
- They pay attention to challenges in the wider context – both internally and externally to their team and organization.
- They remain objective to make decisions that are in the best interests of the business and their customers or clients.
Harvard Business School states that strategic thinking skills include:
Analytical skills: Being able to analyse and make sense of data from different sources. For example, key performance indicators (KPIs), financial data, market trends etc. Then using this data to develop a strategy to help your organisation navigate current and future realities.
Problem-solving skills: Being a strategic thinker and leader often involves solving problems and overcoming challenges. Creative and lateral thinking, and collaborating with others, can help identify potential solutions and subsequently, the best strategy moving forward.
Communication skills: It’s one thing to come up with a strategic plan, it’s another to help people understand and get on board with it. Being clear and concise is key, as is remember that good communication requires listening. Being open to other viewpoints to ensure the decisions made and plans are the best possible.
Planning and management skills: Successful strategy relies on good planning and implementation of those plans, as it does on the ideas behind the strategy. Being able to get people working together, on time, and on budget, is a critical aspect of strategic thinking and being a strategic leader.
The benefits of being a more strategic thinker
It can help you perform better
According to one study, a strategic mindset might be the key to success. The study found that people with a strategic mindset regularly asked themselves, “How else can I do this? Is there a better way?” and were more effective at achieving complex tasks, leading to better performance.
It can help you be adaptable and manage risks and crises
A recent study found that, among other things, leaders who took a strategic approach and thought ahead about crises, have crisis-ready organizations better able to navigate challenges. Unsurprisingly, another study found that CEOs who aren’t open to critical thinking – and who indulge flattery and conformity – tend to stick to the same plan rather than changing course, and they fail to handle a crisis effectively.
Six ways to develop your strategic thinking skills
- Expand what you read, watch, and listen to
If you only tend to read or listen to things specific to your industry or sector, then why not broaden your horizons? For example, one coaching client decided to start listening to the Financial Times podcast on their commute. Episodes are around 10 minutes but give a good overview of what’s happening in the business world and beyond. My client told me they are much more confident in participating in conversations with more senior leaders and putting forward suggestions at board meetings.
Another client, who works in healthcare, has been reading widely around AI. They’d previously dismissed this as “the IT director’s problem”. However, after reading an interview with a tech leader, they thought about ways they could experiment with using AI in their team. My client’s line manager, an executive director, has been incredibly impressed and I think it’s helping to show my client as a strategic thinker.
2. Ask more and better questions
There are two aspects to this. First, there are strategic questions you can ask yourself and others. The management expert, the late Peter Drucker, suggests five key questions:
- What is our mission?
- Who is our customer?
- What does the customer value?
- What are our results?
- What is our plan?
Then, there are questions to ask to help you think critically. Never has this been more important than now, with the rise of fake AI generated stories and unreliable data sources. The image below is a great list of questions to ask. It was created by www.globalcitizen.org and when I shared it on social media, it went viral.
3. Actively seek different views
Many of us can think of examples of decisions that have been made in a vacuum, perhaps by a solitary leader or manager. Good strategic thinkers and strategic leaders recognise the importance of getting the perspectives of those who might be affected by a change in direction.
Try this: If an important topic is being discussed or a key decision being made at your team meeting, allocate 5 minutes to each person in your team. This is their time to make comments, contribute other ideas, and ask questions. By allocating equal time, you ensure that everyone has a voice, and that it’s not just the loudest most confident voices you always hear. This is a tactic that a few of my coaching clients have told me has transformed the nature of their team meetings.
4. Engage in daily or weekly reflective practice
One study found that leader who engaged in regular reflective practice, thinking about the kind of leader they wanted to be, were more likely to be seen as helpful, more strategic, and feel more leader like. The leaders who participated in the study answered reflective questions at the start of each workday for three weeks. However, you could try once a week. The researchers used the following prompts with the leaders in the experiment:
- What are some of my proudest leadership moments?
- What qualities do I have that make me a good leader, or will in the future?
- Thinking about who I aspire to be as a leader and imagining everything has gone as well as it possibly could in this leader role. What does that look like?
- What effect do I want to have on my employees? Do I want to motivate them? Inspire them? Identify and develop their talents? What skills or traits do I have that can help with those goals?
Try this: Book out time once a week to reflect. Lots of my clients like to do this on a Friday afternoon. Choose a question to reflect on and set a timer for 5 minutes. Write until the timer goes off.
5. Make time in your diary just to think
As internal communications expert, Rachel Miller, says in her book Internal Communication Strategy, “Prioritizing and valuing thinking time is often an indicator that you’re operating in a more strategic space” (p.37). Yet, all too often, the managers and leaders I work with have barely any time to think deeply or make sense of things.
The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, used to pack his schedule full. Back-to-back meetings and sending emails out at 2am. A conversation with financial expert, Warren Buffet, changed Bill’s approach. He told Bill, “You control your time … It’s not a proxy of your seriousness that you fill every minute in your schedule.”
Try this: Start with blocking out 30 minutes at the start of one of your working days. Phone off. Email off. No distractions. No to-do list. You might want to listen to a podcast or book that’s relevant to you or read a trade magazine. Alternatively, you might just want to drink a coffee and just think and note down any ideas that come to mind relating to your team and how you can improve things.
6. Use this three-step process and tools
Back when I was in corporate leadership roles, I was responsible for developing several major strategies including organisational change, technological transformation, information management, and customer service experience. One of the things that helped me immensely was the brilliant book, Strategic Thinking, by Simon Wootton and Terry Horne. The book outlines three stages of strategic thinking and planning. Here’s my summary of those stages and the tools I and my clients have found helpful.
Stage 1 – Gather and make sense of information.
Two tools that help at this stage are a SWOT analysis and a PESTLE analysis. You can do this on your own but it’s even better when you gather other perspectives. After all, you’re unlikely to know everything about everything!
Stage 2 – Formulate ideas and think about the future.
Three techniques that can be helpful at this stage are:
SCAMPER model – developed by Bob Elerle.
CLEAR IDEAS METHOD – developed by Professor Kamal Birdi.
De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats – developed by Edward de Bono.
Stage 3 – Plan action.
When it comes to planning, I’ve found it useful to carry out a gap analysis, exploring the gap between where we are now and where we need to get to. A useful technique is the scaling technique. Often used in one-to-one coaching, I’ve also used it with teams developing strategy. Download this instruction guide if you want to use this as part of planning.
Post author: Dr Hayley Lewis. First published on the HALO Psychology website 8 December 2025.
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If you liked this post, you might also like these:
Why leaders should engage in reflective practice
6 tips for effective communication in the workplace
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REFERENCES
de Bono, E. (2004). How to have a beautiful mind. London: Vermilion.
Elerle, B. (1971). SCAMPER: Games for imagination development.
Grant, A. (2021). Think again: The power of knowing what you don’t know. London: WH Allen.
Mahdawi, A. (2021). Strong female lead. London: Hodder & Stoughton.