What are the best ways to use strategic thinking for innovation and growth as a leader?

In my experience, most individuals do not know what their true strengths are, because we do them so naturally, like breathing. Strategic thinking, in particular, is not something that comes easily to everyone as emotions often hinder strategic thinking. So when assessing your strengths and lesser strengths, consider taking an assessment like strengthsfinders which will give you your top 5 strengths and help you see how to actively use them. Or you can reflect on your skills and consistently perform tasks. Keep in mind that many of our skills are ingrained and performed unconsciously, so consciously evaluating your strengths may require some effort, but it will help in the long run.

When formulating a plan for critical, strategic thinking, introspection and humility are key. Be aware of what you know, but question the “why” and “how” you know it, as we don’t know what we don’t know. When you come into a situation or lead a strategy, this surrender of ego will set you up best to receive inputs and information to coordinate the team and it’s efforts. The planning will have a stage set for collocation, innovation, and dynamic growth and adjustment as needed.

I agree to the point that we need to be aware of both the strength and weakness and be open minded to take any action immediately to address the gaps. Self analysis is crucial in this. Sometimes we follow unconscious patterns which are not deducted by our own selves. We need to be more open to resolve when pointed out by the tools & techniques or even by our colleagues.

Strategic thinking is crucial for leaders seeking to drive innovation and foster growth within their organizations. I will consider only three primary keys with 20% of 80% effects. 1. Develop a clear and inspiring vision for the future 2. Conduct a thorough SWOT analysis 3. Hire and develop a diverse and skilled workforce (me, lol)

Engaging an executive coach to identify personal strengths, weaknesses and blind spots, and to map out the Johari Window, is a great way to kick off this journey. Understanding one's own constraints and bringing the right complementary skills to the team are crucial first step.

-Write down your ideals (thoughts). -Be time conscious. -Be ready to implement your ideal at any given time. -Stay up-to-date. -Have team and work with them - Share your thoughts with your team -

I would agree that in scenario planning, it is seldom we have only one way of doing things, we always have several options and alternatives. The exploration or thinking divergent in finding paths or options is a key enabler of the number of options to be considered. Agreed that we need to be ready to understand the external factors that may play into the areas, either enabling or disabling.

A powerful thing happens when we can masterfully engage our teams in the tasks or plans we have. As we take the strategies down, a key goal would be to break it down into tasks, and build the plans that would be milestones for the project. The teams must feel like they are fully involved and can make a difference, then the leaders need to just check in, and guide the team through that journey as they accomplish those feats.

Creating a safe environment and bringing the team together on the journey to make the change are important. Proper delegation, creating ownership, and starting with small wins at the beginning are all important steps that bring us closer to executing the plan successfully.

As leaders, we should also anticipate that there may be a bumpy road ahead. Hence, accepting the fact that continuous improvement and openness to feedback are important for the success of strategy execution is essential.

Strategic thinking depends also on the process what can be helpful: -Embrace autonomy: allow creative, responsible and yet accountable teams to works without micromanagement, will create trusted players inside the organization and mirrors its power to outside environment. -Being open to constructive criticism: accepting the fact that your own personal point of view can be flexible and easy-to-adapt based on your people feedback and opinions, will help strengthen tactical activities. -Employees Engagement: being involved in the the process endorses loyalty and dedication when everyone in the organization feels he contributed to its success at some point. -Being purposeful and re-visit your vision if needed to align with it all the way