Your people want three things from you as their leader: competence, capability, and clarity. Competence is the knowledge to perform at a high level. Capability includes the resources and skills to transform expertise into value. And clarity is understanding the direction to reach your destination. Are you ready to lead people from confusion, uncertainty, and reactivity to competence, capability, and clarity? If so, you’ll need to overcome the following eight barriers that prevent teams from thinking, planning, and acting strategically.
The Eight Barriers Preventing Strategic Thinking
Barrier 1: Unclear direction
Research with 10 million managers by Gallup found that only 22% of employees believe their leadership team has set clear direction for the business. Utilize a simple strategic thinking process to identify the current situation, the desired destination by defining success, and then the path in which to allocate resources to reach it.
Barrier 2: Fire drills
Is your company culture addicted to the adrenaline rush of fighting urgent but unimportant fires that distract your team from their priorities? If so, create a basic protocol that identifies the cause of fire drills, who specifically should evaluate them, and the criteria in which they should be either attended to, delegated to, or dismissed.
Barrier 3: Silos
My research with 880 managers found that only 35% are aware of the strategies in the other functional areas of their organization. Establish an intentional collaboration cadence with your counterparts in other areas to understand each other’s strategies and find common ground on which to align.
Barrier 4: Too many priorities
According to research out of Cal-Berkeley by Professor Hansen, nearly 1/3 of employees blame their bosses for setting too many priorities. How many priorities does your team have? If it’s more than 3-5, you’re diffusing your talent and resources and haven’t designed a strategy that’s made the requisite trade-offs.
Barrier 5: Reactionary
Nothing better than a summer afternoon at the local carnival bouncing around in bumper cars from one crash to the next, but it’s not an effective way to run a business. Forge the discipline to stay focused on a few priorities and not get distracted by short-term prizes and those mouthwatering funnel cakes. Don’t be a carny, be strategic.
Barrier 6: No time
Jeff Weiner, former CEO of LinkedIn said, “The key of time management is carving out time to think as opposed to constantly reacting. If you don’t take the time to think proactively, you will increasingly find yourself reacting to your environment rather than influencing it.” Book time in your calendar to think strategically about the business on a weekly basis and make it a foundational part of your work.
Barrier 7: Unproductive meetings
A business is a composite of conversations and the primary vehicle for these interactions are meetings. Research by Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow found that 83% of executives reported that meetings were not a productive use of time. Use the scaffold of the Strategic Meeting Framework I designed to ensure that every meeting includes intent (agenda, purpose, pre-work), decisions (cutting topics off from future time), and insights (learnings, action items, and next steps).
Barrier 8: Tactical weeds
Richard Parsons, former Chairman and CEO of Time Warner said, “When you have noncritical thinkers within the group, they are always chasing rabbits. They hinder the quality and the results of the discussion, because they ask the wrong questions or focus on the wrong issues. This can ultimately limit what you as a group can achieve.” Set aside meetings for purely strategy conversations and quickly “parking lot” tactical topics as they arise.
Overcome the Eight Barriers to Strategic Thinking
A young woman was hiking a mountain trail she had never explored before. An hour into the hike, she passed several older women who waved and said, “You’re hiking awfully fast. Why not slow down and enjoy the scenery?” So, the young woman slowed her pace.
An hour later, she came upon two men seated on a rock. They smiled and said, “You better pick up the pace if you want to get to the top and back down before dark.” So, the young woman hurried along.
As she was nearing the top of the mountain, she spotted a young man on a different path above her and he said, “Why are you walking down there? The view is much prettier up here.” So, the young woman changed course and took the higher path.
She finally reached the beautiful, breathtaking summit and soaked it in. As she was about to hike back, she saw a Monk seated on the edge of the cliff, finishing his meditation. “My child,” said the Monk, “You seem rushed. Sit here, breathe in the fresh air, and become one with the mountain.” So, the young woman sat down, closed her eyes, and meditated. When she finished, night had fallen, and it was pitch black. She got up and walked straight…off the edge…of the cliff. She did indeed, become one with the mountain.
There will always be people telling you, “Do things this way, not that way…go faster…no, go slower…stop here, no…stop there…,” critiquing your every move. While you should be aware of what others say to gain relevant insights, you’ll want to rely primarily on the greatest navigational instrument ever designed…your mind. If you chart your course by continuing to develop your ability to think, plan, and act strategically, and use these skills as your compass, then your journey will be as fulfilling as your destination.
Strategic Minds Podcast
Are you tactical or strategic? Research shows that it’s the difference between bankruptcy and a Kevlar competitive advantage. In a world where bad strategy is the leading cause of business failure, and only one out of every four leaders use strategic thinking, strategic fitness is the meta-skill of elite executives.
On Strategic Minds, you’ll journey with New York Times & Wall Street Journal bestselling author Rich Horwath into conversations with extraordinary leaders and world-class experts to learn new ways to think, plan, and act strategically. You’ll discover game-changing insights, tips, and techniques to turbocharge your performance and position you as a true difference maker in your arena.
Following the deep dive guest interview, stay tuned for three valuable segments: “Practice Makes Profit” where Rich shares tools and techniques to practice becoming more strategic; “League of Strategic Minds”: Rich answers questions submitted by listeners; and “Winsights”: Rich closes with a quote and question to apply to your business.
Subscribe to the Strategic Minds podcast page on YouTube or submit your question for the League of Strategic Minds segment.