What do you do if strategic thinking in the IT industry is proving to be challenging?

1 Assess your current situation

The first step to strategic thinking is to understand your current situation and the context in which you operate. This means identifying your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis), as well as the external factors that affect your industry, such as market trends, customer needs, competitors, regulations, and technology changes (PESTLE analysis). By doing these analyses, you can gain a clear picture of where you are, where you want to go, and what you need to do to get there.

4 Choose the best strategy and plan

The fourth step to strategic thinking is to choose the best strategy and plan that will help you achieve your goals and objectives. This means selecting the most feasible, effective, and efficient option among the alternatives that you have explored, and developing a detailed and coherent plan that outlines the actions, resources, timelines, responsibilities, and indicators that you need to implement your strategy. You can use tools such as SWOT matrix, cost-benefit analysis, risk analysis, and Gantt chart to help you with this process. By choosing the best strategy and plan, you can optimize your performance and results.

5 Execute and monitor your strategy and plan

The fifth step to strategic thinking is to execute and monitor your strategy and plan. This means putting your plan into action, and measuring and evaluating your progress and results against your goals and objectives. You can use tools such as dashboards, reports, feedback, and reviews to help you with this process. By executing and monitoring your strategy and plan, you can ensure that you are on the right track, and identify and address any issues or gaps that may arise.

6 Learn and improve your strategy and plan

The sixth and final step to strategic thinking is to learn and improve your strategy and plan. This means reflecting on your experience, and learning from your successes and failures. You can use tools such as lessons learned, best practices, and benchmarks to help you with this process. By learning and improving your strategy and plan, you can enhance your strategic thinking skills, and adapt to changing circumstances and needs.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?