Accountant - Speaking Like a Strategist

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The ability to think strategically is an important skill for accounting and finance professionals. It helps you understand your environment, set appropriate goals and plan for the future – all things that enable you and your organisation to thrive. But even great strategic thinkers sometimes struggle with how to speak strategically.

Speaking like a strategist isn't difficult, but it does require a specific approach – one that articulates your thinking process, explicitly identifies your understanding of a situation and opens up opportunities.

By looking beyond cliched buzzwords, this article identifies five fundamental principles of clear strategy speak.

1. Organise and prioritise your thoughts

Strategic thinkers think clearly, so speaking clearly is a must. Try to make time ahead of meetings to plan out one or two "strategic" questions you might ask. When you're responding in the moment, note down your thoughts and quickly group and order them so you can make succinct comments that get straight to the point.

Always present the key message first, before explaining the reasoning that got you there. And set operational detail to one side, to be followed up by email.

This

"We should invest in project A. It has the lowest risk of all the options and there's no easy way to reduce the high risks of Projects B and C."

Not this

"I've analysed the risk for projects A, B and C. Project B is extremely high risk. I think Project C is high risk too, and I can't see any way of reducing those risks. Based on the assumptions I used in my calculations, project A has the lowest risk of the three options. On balance, I think we should go for that."

2. Align yourself with organisational strengths and goals

Strategists foster confidence in their actions by demonstrating their ability to think broadly and in the long term. If you support projects and decisions that align with your organisation's strategic vision and core strategic objectives, you'll encourage confidence too.

So make these links explicit when you comment on a project or decision in a meeting. And try to focus on the organisation as a whole, not yourself.

This

"We should all support this plan. It's obvious that it takes us one step closer to achieving the vision, while building on our growing experience in this field."

Not this

"It sounds like a really great idea to me! Yes, you've got my support."

3. Challenge assumptions not your colleagues

A key component of strategic thinking is to think critically. That means questioning evidence, assumptions and decisions so you know you're making a considered, well-informed decision. In group settings it can sometimes feel difficult to challenge norms and intrinsic biases, but if you don't do this, you won't get the best out of any strategic process.

A simple way to do this is to ask why things have always been done in a certain way, or to question what impact a change might make. Sometimes, it can be useful to simply ask "are we working on any unfounded assumptions?". Questions like this don't judge others' work, but do spark useful conversations.

This

"That's a really interesting idea. Why have we always done it the other way? Is there any reason not to adopt this approach?"

Not this

"We've always done things like that. I don't see any reason to change."

4. Be optimistic

Strategy is as much about spotting opportunities as it is about minimising risk. Focus your comments on "what could be", not what could go wrong, and you'll open up a conversation.

You might even indulge far-fetched ideas if there's a chance they could generate creative solutions to entrenched problems. Asking "what if?" is a great way to encourage new perspectives and step away from how things have always been done.

This

"I can see how this might help us achieve our goals, but the upfront investment is a challenge. What if we started with a small-scale pilot project, so we could test out the impact before approving the whole investment?"

Not this

"There's no way we can invest all that money upfront. I don't have any confidence we'd ever get it back. It's a no from me."

5. Ask questions

Some people say questions are the language of strategy. That's because asking the right questions enables you to challenge the status quo, open up opportunities and encourage different ways of viewing situations.

Ask open questions like "why?", "why not?" and "what if?" to keep your options open. Use questions like "what does success look like?" or "where might this decision lead us?" to clarify what you're aiming for.

This

"Where might this idea lead us in the long-term? If we went ahead, what's the worst that could happen?"

Not this

"I don't see the point. Next!"

Sounding strategic

If you can follow these steps and demonstrate your strategic skills in front of others, you'll establish credibility and influence people. Speaking with a finely tuned strategic voice can therefore build trust and pave the way for promotion!

(Article Source: CPD Bites)

Take a moment to think about how you generally contribute to meetings and share your thoughts in the comments section to discuss it further.

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