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In a time of economic ambiguity, it is important to be able to develop techniques for dealing with uncertainty and change.
You need to be able to think strategically, and in a challenging situation good strategic thinkers tend to:
  • Question everything
  • Infer information from what they do know
  • Think the unthinkable
  • Articulate any assumptions they notice they have made
  • Imagine a range of different outcomes for any given strategy
In a study of 10,000 senior executives carried out by the Management Research Group, 97% said that strategic thinking was the most critical leadership skill for organisational success.

Thinking strategically is an essential leadership skill, and not only that, is a skill that better enables you to deal with and face periods of uncertainty and change in your working environment.

When making strategic decisions it is important to weigh up the risk of taking the wrong course of action. You can do this by:

1. Setting Realistic Goals – If you don't have enough information to guarantee a certain outcome then don't set unreasonable goals.
2. Balance the Risk – it's ok, even important, to take risky leaps into the unknown, but make sure you always do some "safe" things where you have a pretty good idea that you will succeed.
3. Start small – you could consider doing a small pilot scheme with low expectations. This means you can monitor performance and make changes before deciding whether to invest heavily in the concept.

Think about a challenge that you have faced at work recently, or that you are facing now. Take some time to consider the above and outline how you are going to use strategic thinking to tackle the challenge while also bearing in mind the risks involved in making a decision.

If you're intrested in finding out more about strategic thinking through Anna's full CPD course, click here.
 

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