Strategic thinking is a whole person job

One thing that almost everyone will agree on is that strategic thinking is a complex task. It requires a certain quality of thinking. A person’s ability to think effectively is to a large degree determined by their raw mental horsepower and natural thinking styles. But other things play an important part too, and can significantly support or hinder actual thinking performance. 

Capacity. Possibly the biggest potential handbrake on thinking performance is the amount of resources a person has to draw on. Time and headspace are make-or-break factors. The most talented thinker is not going to access their best strategic insights if their schedule is jammed full and they have no quality time for thinking. But it is not enough to make the time if that time can’t be used effectively because of a lack of headspace. Headspace can be eaten up by stress, distraction and poor focus. Another common hurdle that reduces thinking capacity is confidence. Thinking time can be interrupted by worry, fear of failing, feeling unsure about what to do, or thoughts of being seen as an impostor in a strategic role.

Thinking skills. The development of thinking skills is a secret weapon for cultivating a strategic perspective, regardless of the intellectual hand we have been dealt. We can all learn to improve our thinking if we understand our cognitive limitations and personal strengths, and develop the ability to recognise and change our thought processes. Strategic thinking skills include managing complexity, recognising biases, navigating messy or incomplete information, thinking creatively, and thinking flexibly through uncertainty and change. 

Behaviour and personality. How we think and how we behave are closely linked, and each one influences the other. An awareness of how our patterns of behaviour affect our thinking is a powerful tool for a strategic thinker to wield because behavioural preferences affect how we gather information, what information we attend to, and what we do with that information in our strategic thinking process. Our strategic choices are also affected by traits such as how cautious we are, how structured we prefer our world to be, how quickly we like to work and decide, how much we talk to others, and how open to learning we are. 

Emotions. We humans have these pesky, at times inconvenient, things called emotions. As much as we like to pretend that emotions don’t have a place in the business environment, the inescapable fact is that emotions affect both how we think and how we act towards other people. Strategic thinking requires creativity and an ability to think broadly and to generate options and possibilities beyond what currently exists. Negative emotions work in the opposite direction by restricting our thinking, narrowing our perceptions, and focusing us on immediate needs. Strategic thinkers need emotional awareness and flexibility to connect with our best ideas. 

If you want to ‘do’ strategic thinking, you will be spoilt for choice looking for a step by step process to follow. If you want to ‘be’ a strategic thinker, or be the best strategic thinker you can be, consider it as a whole person job. 

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