Effective leaders think strategically. They possess the ability to anticipate trends and plan accordingly. This skill is considered the number one necessary trait when it comes to ensuring the success of an organization.
The ability to be objective in decision making and think strategically shouldn’t be limited to just managers and executives. All employees should be enabled to plan and think strategically. Managers and executives who encourage strategic thinking will find the natural leaders in their organization easy to identify.
4 Keys to promote a culture of strategic thinking are:
- Allocate mentors – Mentors should be assigned to each new employee during on-boarding. Mentors help with training, accountability and growing within the position. Existing employees can be paired with colleagues who have more experience. Every manager should have a mentor at the executive level. The goal of every mentor is to help mentees at all levels grow in their respective positions.
- Encourage solutions – When problems arise, encourage managers and team members to devise a long-term solution, rather than merely reacting to the immediate problem.
- Inspire forward thinking – Encourage team members to consider how a proposed solution to any given problem serves the organization’s goals and how it will impact those goals.
- When everyone in the organization is aware of current market and industry trends, customers, competitors and goals, it promotes unity. A unified organization is one in which everyone works together toward common goals.
Nurturing a culture of strategic thinkers takes advantage of the shared education and experience of everyone in your organization. It also helps bring natural leaders to the forefront, whose skills can then be utilized to a greater extent within the organization.
David Klein is a leading Executive IT Recruiter & Headhunter with over 15 years industry experience. As Manager of Recruitment Strategy for KDS Staffing, Inc., he has achieved industry-leading success. David has successfully led, trained and introduced many in the art of Executive Recruitment and Headhunting. If you or your organization would like to discuss hiring needs, contact David at 646-650-2833 or david@kdsstaffing.com.
