This is where the concept of strategic thinking comes into play. Good strategic thinking uncovers potential opportunities for creating value and. Strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Strategic thinking in fast growing organizations merlin switzer executives in fast growing organizations are challenged to keep up with growth as they guide their respective organizations into the future. Follow the progression of strategic thinking in business. Centro san vicente strategic thinking planning project comprehensive strategic thinking planning workshop results october 2014 version 1. In fact, some organizations roll out a new planning process every year making adjustments for the latest business trends, a new business structure, or the whims of a chief executive. A strategist is always looking for opportunities to win at low or, better yet, no cost. Strategic thinking is the way people think about, assess, view and create the future for themselves and others. This process also envisions the future, but translates this vision into broadly defined goals, objectives, and a sequence of steps describing how to achieve them.
Strategic thinking is a planning process that applies innovation, strategic planning and operational planning to develop business strategies that have a greater chance for success strategic thinking is the ability to see the total enterprise, to spot the trends and understand the competitive landscape, to see where the business needs to go and to lead it. When applied in an organizational strategic management process, strategic thinking involves the. This paper presents an integration of leadership roles for innovation by focus on strategic thinking and planning in an effort to make important connections and important distinctions. A tool for strategic thinking among the many tools a manager can use for strategic planning, scenario planning stands out for its ability to capture a whole range of possibilities in rich detail.
A handbook for implementation lil foreword strategic management for senior leaders. Proactive and widespread communication of your strategic. What is strategic thinking strategic thinking is defined as a mental or thinking process applied by an individual in the context of achieving success in a game or other endeavor. Sixthly, strategic planning and strategic thinking have to sustain each other in order to contribute in an effective manner to the deployment of the strategic management process.
Spot the changes coming in the market you serve, test your ideas to find out which ones have. Strategic thinking is a process that defines the manner in which people think about, assess, view, and create the future for themselves and others. With this background in mind, consider how strategic thinking and planning is used in the. Comprehensive strategic thinking planning workshop results october 2014 version 1. This paper disentangles the relationship between the terms strategic thinking and strategic planning as found in the literature, identifying four main varieties of this relationship. Planning has been defined in various ways, ranging from thinking about the future to specifying in advance who is to do what when. Focused planning and strategic thinking will uncover the customer segments, market conditions, and product and service offerings that are in the best interest of your firm. Strategic thinking and strategic management strategic planning is only useful if it supports strategic thinking and leads to strategic management and, even more importantly, execution. The approach of strategic planning and strategic thinking these two approaches strategic planning and thinking are related to the ends of the 10 schools of thought of strategy which belongs to a recognizable and planning environment. Strategic thinking and planning are now essential elements of an effective leaders work.
Fifthly, strategic planning guides companys direction whereas strategic thinking strategic thinking makes foresights about the future olson and simerson, 2015. A key distinction between strategic thinking and strategic planning is that the former occurs on a regular basis, as part of our daily. Strategic thinking is characterized by an allpervasive unwillingness to expend resources. Dec 28, 2006 if strategic thinking respects operational planning, it is the case that strategic planning has a tendency to merge with the dictates of operational necessity. By working on a strategic plan together a team can. Faculty dr norman chorn is a strategy and organisation development practitioner who works in australia, new. Ideally, the leader will help the team to see and understand the bigger picture even as team members focus on the daytoday work. Your organization is using strategic thinking if it can look at the past and present, take the best from both, and decide what course to take for the future 3. As strategic thinking and strategic planning are often done in a group setting, its important to recognize the influence of groupthink. And, what use are both these processes if they arent able to yield executable results. Components of strategic thought and action in simple terms, strategic thinking and or planning consists of three phases that. In addition, strategic planning does the following. Current research suggests that strategic planning and strategic thinking are different sides of the same coin and each one on its own is necessary, but not sufficient for an efficient strategic management framework. Strategic thinking is the ability to see the total enterprise, to spot the trends and understand the competitive landscape, to see where the business needs to go and.
Strategic thinking and planning in a learning culture. Desire was to create a uniform strategic thinking and planning process for the organization while at the same. Poor strategic thinking or the lack of any strategic foresight at all will doom your organization. Strategic thinking is an extremely effective and valuable tool. Leadership, innovation, strategic planning, strategic thinking. Strategic planning is a disciplined process for making key decisions and agreeing on actions that will shape and guide what an organisation is, what it does, and why it does it. One can apply strategic thinking to arrive at decisions that can be related to your work or personal life. Groupthink occurs when there is a homogenous group of people with little influence from outside sources and a high level of pressure to conformity. The purpose of strategic planning, on the other hand, is to. Strategic thinking is the synthesis of the analysis done during the strategic planning process.
Strategic thinking basically means an organization is thinking how to better position itself among its competition for future success 2. Strategy refers to a general plan of action for achieving ones goals and objectives. Planning is an important aspect of strategic thinking and management. Difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning. A handbook for implementation lxil how to use this handbook. Critical success factors for strategic thinking and planning introduction many organizations have planning processes in place for developing strategies.
To figure out exactly what strategic thinking is, we should look at this quote from consultant glenn ebersole. By identifying basic trends and uncertainties, a manager. In order to incorporate strategic thinking into planning processes, however, we must recognize three discrete aspects of the process. Schoemaker among the many tools a manager can use for strategic planning, sce narjo planning stands out for its ability to capture a whole range. Defining your business idea what is the basis of your success.
Strategic thinking and subsequent management must result in action. Strategic thinking, analysis and planning petroknowledge. While strategic planning is upward focused, looking at ensuring how tactics link up to corporate goals and strategies, strategic thinking is downward focused, looking to ensure that meaning and purpose are diffused throughout the. It is also to enable brainstorming of approaches that can help to meet the strategic intent and goals of a specific project or initiative. The goal of strategic thinking is much the same goal of organizational leadership. It shows you how to break out of reacting to daytoday problems, so you can build a team or organization that is more proactive and. Jagdish sheth, a respected authority on marketing and strategic planning, provides. There is no great tradition or heritage for strategic thinking in many organizations. By identifying basic trends and uncertainties, a manager can construct a series of scenarios that will help to compensate for.
Good strategic thinking can make your organization. Desire was to create a uniform strategic thinking and planning process for the organization while at the same time, build the strategic. Strategic thinking focuses on finding and developing unique opportunities to create value by enabling a provocative and creative dialogue among people who can affect an organisations direction, i. Strategic thinking and strategic planning are concepts that are not clearly defined both in the literature and in the practice of business organizations and sometimes they are used interchangeably with each other or with strategic management. Purpose the purpose of strategic thinking is to envision or develop a solution. A handbook for implementation has been developed as a companion volume to a handbook for strategic planning department of the navy total quality leadership office publication no. This article focuses on case studies of four executives in fast growing organizations who use strategic thinking and, to a lesser extent. However the importance of strategic thinking is critical for business success and this. A strategy or general plan of action might be formulated for broad, longterm, corporate goals and objectives, for more specific business unit goals and objec.
Pdf strategic thinking vs strategic planning john pisapia. One of our dear readers one of the dearest readers, let me say, for reasons that you will discern in the next sentence. Strategic thinking represents the vision of the analysis, the direction that the business should pursue. Sep 23, 2019 demonstrating strategic thinking, on the other hand, requires that you are simultaneously a marketer, a salesperson, and a change agent. Strategic thinking informs strategic planning, whereas strategic planning gives voice, action, and structure to strategic thinking. This paper disentangles the relationship between the terms strategic thinking and strategic planning as found in the literature. It shows you how to break out of reacting to daytoday problems, so you can build a team or organization that is more proactive and resilient to change. There is no agreement in the literature on what strategic thinking is, what strategic planning is, or on the nature of their interrelationship. On the other hand, the purpose of strategic planning is to operationalize the strategies developed through strategic thinking that support the overall business planning process. Can strategic thinking and strategic planning be accommodated within the same strategic management regime.
Pdf strategic thinking and strategic leadership essay. Having said all this, just thinking and planning strategically doesnt ensure proper and timely execution. Mar 03, 2014 strategic thinking and planning strategic thinking basically means an organization is thinking how to better position itself among its competition for future success 2. Recognise how strategic thinking has developed and how it influences strategies. Strategic thinking, on the other hand, is a synthesizing process utilizing intuition and creativity whose. Strategic thinking is a planning process that applies innovation, strategic planning and operational planning to develop business strategies that have a greater chance for success. Strategic thinking is usually indirect and unexpected rather than headon and predictable. Strategic surprisingly, here there is ready agreement. Strategic planning is the channeling of business insights into an action plan to achieve goals and objectives. Critical strategic thinking skills center for simplified. Developing your strategic thinking skills isnt enough to get you promoted. Distinguish between the process of formulating and implementing strategy. Components of strategic thought and action in simple terms, strategic thinking andor planning consists of three phases that.
For our purposes, we will define planning as the activity of preparing a plan and we will define a plan as. Execution planning in reality, eff ective strategic planning requires two very diff erent ongoing processes and teams if youre going to generate the kinds of results worthy of the eff ort that goes into a serious planning process. Planning and strategic thinking prepare your organisation and yourself for an uncertain and changing environment. Strategic thinking and strategic planning the daily reckoning. Shares an organizations vision with a large internal and external audience. Liedtka b ashing traditional approaches to strategic planning has become the favoured pasttime of lead ing business authors on both sides of the atlantic. In explaining the difference between strategic planning and strategic thinking, mintzberg argues that strategic planning is the systematic programming of preidentified strategies from which an action plan is developed.
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