Strategic Thinking 101

Being strategic is all about planning ahead, focusing on your goal, and taking steps to get to it. It is important to consider all angles and their possible negative outcomes. Being prepared for anything to go wrong and having a few backup plans is always helpful. 

 

By focusing on strategic thinking, you are making a strategy to get to an end goal. Throughout history, some of the most revered strategic thinkers were political or military leaders. Some examples of some strategic individuals include Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Jeff Bezos. 

 

Let’s consider an example to explore strategic thinking. You are a high school student and you are planning to sell cookies at the school bake sale. You want your cookies to be the preferred choice and sell more than any other item. Now that you have a goal, you need to get your strategy together. 

 

Consider your assets. You need to have good cookies. If your cookies only look good, you might get some sales but no return customers. In order to have good cookies, you need to either make or buy good cookies. 

 

This means that you might be spending some time improving your cooking skills by taking classes, seeking out a tutor, and practicing. Not only do you need to know how to bake them, but you need good ingredients. By buying very good baking products, your cookies will taste better. Once you have determined the best time to make the cookies before the sale, your assets are covered. Now to consider the next part.

 

Consider your consumers. What type of cookies are the most popular amongst the students and staff? If you cook some really great oatmeal cookies, but no one likes oatmeal, you won’t get very many sales. Do some research to figure out what product might be best. You can ask your peers or have them sample a few of your cookies to see what they like. Take their preferences into consideration. Once you know what cookies they like, you need to market. 

 

If the bake sale is not already well marketed, you will need to help it out. It is very hard to sell cookies if no one is there to buy them. Putting up some flyers, talking about it to your friends, and posting on social media is a great place to start.

 

Bring a few sample cookies around and inform everyone who tries them that more can be purchased at the sale. As you finish preparing for the sale, you could consider your competitors, your presentation of the cookies, how to handle rescheduling dates, and more. Now you are ready to sell those cookies. 

 

In the previously explored exercise of bake sale cookies, there are many things to plan out and many steps to take in order to increase the possible positive results of the high school baker. This is just a small-scale glance into strategic thinking. 

 

Napoleon Bonaparte’s strategizing was most likely very different from Jeff Bezos.’ Every situation will be different when coming up with a strategy but every part of it is based around planning and action. Strategies involve having set ideas in place that can be followed in certain circumstances.

 

When coming up with your own strategy, make sure to consider all angles. You are forming a road to your goal and you want to make sure that you get there. Anticipate your opponent’s moves, plan for reactions, and counterstrategies.

Take plenty of time to think through your plan and ideas. Don’t rush or get distracted when working on your strategy. With plenty of time and practice, you can become a master at creating strategies. 

 

What It Means To Be An Effective Leader

Not every leader is effective. In today’s world, there are many leadership positions available and therefore, there are many people filling those leadership positions. But are they effective? Take a look at the leaders around you. 

 

Most leaders are people who are placed in higher societal positions such as being a manager or owner of an establishment. They are the coaches, principals, teachers, and counselors of schools. The captains or seniors of your sports teams. 

 

The individuals who hold positions within your clubs and organizations. Leaders are also the people throughout the world that others look to and follow. There are many leaders all around us. 

 

When you think of your boss or coach, what comes to mind? An effective leader is a successful one. They are able to help organize the people under them and call them to action. 

 

Let’s look at a sport’s team as an example. What does a coach do for their team in terms of leadership? Communication is one of the largest parts of being a leader. Any coach in a leadership position can talk to their team.

 

But do they light a fire in their team’s hearts? Do they cause the team to feel motivated, united, and ready to play? When an effective leader speaks, everyone listens. Not just because they are interested in hearing the material, but because they respect their leader. 

 

They might not always like what they hear, but they listen and are often willing to do what is asked of them. 

 

Another large part of leadership is being an example. There are many people in leadership positions who are not good examples. They give a bad image to the group they are representing and they influence their team to act poorly as well. 

 

An effective leader is a great example. They practice what they preach. For a sports coach, this doesn’t just mean doing the drills properly. It means having good sportsmanship, having a good attitude, and looking out for their team. It is really hard to respect and take a leader seriously if they are being a bad example. 

Being a good example doesn’t mean that they don’t ever make mistakes though. When an effective leader makes a mistake, they apologize and right their mistake, admitting to what they did and then making it better. 

 

Passion is another large part of being an effective leader. A lot of times, people will end up in leadership positions that they don’t really want. In the sports world, this most often happens when a team needs a coach, and a parent or other volunteer steps in even though they would much rather not. 

 

They may be fulfilling the leadership role, but without passion, it can be very difficult to be effective. When a person is passionate about something, they put all their energy and focus into it. You can tell in the way that they speak and the way that they act that they really care. When someone cares about something, they take a lot more steps to help them succeed. This passion can turn a leader into an effective one. 

 

There are leaders all around us. But once you take a look, you should be able to identify the effective leaders in your own life. You yourself can be an effective leader. Assess yourself and identify the ways that your leadership skills can improve. 

 

Just like with everything else in life, practice makes perfect. The more you work on being an effective leader, the better you will become. Overall, the effective leaders around us are those we strive to be and look after. They are the best of us. 

4 Simple Strategies for Becoming a Better Leader

Do you aspire to be a good leader?

 

Maybe you're a bit nervous by the thought. You might be overwhelmed or think leaders are born not made. But you can learn to be a good leader by learning some simple strategies. 

 

Think of the leaders you know who you respect and admire. Chances are, they all have the following qualities in common. Here are four straightforward strategies you can use right now to be a better leader for your team.

 

1.    Earn respect

 

Good leaders earn the respect of their team and others. They are not afraid of getting their hands dirty or too important to dig in and work with their team when the going gets tough. 

 

A true leader doesn’t sit in an office on another floor and hand down ultimatums. How can you know your team unless you’re out there with them? A good leader will, at the very least, schedule regular team meetings and knowledge-sharing sessions. They will listen and work with their team to hit their targets and get the outcomes they want. 

 

2.    Keep Learning from your Team

 

Good leaders don’t think they know it all. They listen. They ask questions and learn from their team members. The final responsibility for making decisions lies with the leader, of course, but they know the value of their team's skills and experience. True strategic decision-making relies on everyone. 

 

Working alongside your team, really listening and observing what’s going on, will give you more significant insights into how your team works and how to get the best out of each team member. 

 

3.    Share Your Knowledge

 

In return, a good leader shares their knowledge. As well as learning from their team, leaders are committed to keeping the communication channels open. 

 

They value their team and believe in the importance of knowledge transfer. A leader can bring a different perspective to a situation, whether that knowledge comes from greater experience or knowing the context. 

 

4.    Make Good Decisions

 

A leader will make better decisions when comfortable in their skin, and they know their limitations. They know the skills sets and strengths of their team and how to cover and improve the gaps. 

 

Good decision-making relies on knowing the details of the project and the context, the way the team and the organization works, and how to get the best out of everyone. 

 

4 Ways to Be a Stronger Leader at Work

Right now, the world needs influential leaders more than ever. If you aspire to be a stronger leader, there are several character traits that you can cultivate to turn your leadership style from okay to exceptional. 

 

Analysis of transformational leaders has shown that they share certain qualities that make them inspiring and empowering. How can you hone your leadership skills to become the more influential, dynamic leader you aspire to be? Start by following these strategies to develop your leadership skills.

 

1.    Leader, Know Thyself

 

The first step in supercharging your leadership potential is to understand your leadership style. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses, the things you enjoy about leading, and what you find challenging. 

 

There are quizzes available on the internet to help you discern your leadership profile and what gaps you need to address. Once you know your style, you can begin to work out how to improve. 

 

2.    Focus on Your Communication Skills.

 

Effective leaders have excellent communication skills. That doesn't just mean they know how to work a room or deliver a presentation or negotiate a killer deal. It means they know how to talk with and listen to their staff. They know how to communicate their vision and inspire commitment and loyalty. 

 

Make it a habit to sit down with your team members to talk about both work and non-work related. Listen to what they have to say. Know what’s going on for them, their hope and fears. Make a real connection with your people. 

 

3.    Build A Collaborative Team

 

Great leaders know that they have all the answers. They value their team’s range of skills and experience and encourage team approaches to problem-solving. A more democratic leadership style yields positive results, with more innovative ideas, greater commitment, and better productivity than traditional management models. 

 

4.    Celebrate Success

 

Celebrating success is essential in keeping your team’s motivation high and will go a long way to making your leadership stand out as exceptional. 

 

Your people will feel appreciated if their hard work is acknowledged and marked in some way. Whenever the team hits a project milestone, have a celebration. You can even set up a rewards and recognition scheme, like public thanks or movie tickets, to acknowledge the exceptional effort.

 

You can make it a habit to mark every team achievement, big and small, by having a morning tea or after-work drinks or a team dinner to celebrate finishing a project or closing a deal. 

 

5 Common Leadership Challenges and How to Deal with Them

Every leader will face some difficult times during their career. Being the boss doesn’t mean that everything falls into place, and you know how to handle things all of the time.

 

If you want to be a good and successful leader, you need to be prepared for some of the common challenges that are bound to crop up. Here are five of the problematic issues you're likely to have to deal with as a leader. 

 

1.    Challenging People

 

Whether they’re on your team, elsewhere in your organization, a colleague, or a client, you can be sure there will always be someone around who can be challenging to deal with. They may even have a reputation for being ‘difficult.’ 

 

When you’re the leader, this is your challenge to overcome. It would help if you were prepared and have strategies to handle whatever difficult people you face. Don't let this challenge catch you off guard.

 

2.    Demands and Pressure

 

Pressure is another perennial challenge for all leaders. Everyone will want a piece of you, everyone’s issue is their top priority, and they want it to be your top priority too. 

 

Learn to manage pressure gracefully and strategically. Don’t let other people’s expectations draw you off course. Learn to manage priorities and to delegate. 

 

3.    Firing People

 

Letting staff go is something that can be fraught with emotions and bad feelings. Develop strategies, and even a script of sorts, to help you manage these situations calmly and constructively. Don’t fire a staff member in the heat of the moment. Make a measured decision in the best interest of the organization and try to depersonalize it. 

 

4.    Giving Bad News

 

There will be times when you have to deliver bad news to your staff, your board, your client. Projects can go off course, timelines will blow out, or a product may be a flop. Frequently something may fail for reasons outside your control. Regardless of how the situation came to be, a good leader has to deliver bad news in a calm, clear way that will minimize the impact on their listeners while still delivering the message. This is not a time for blame or recriminations. Keep it factual and calm. 

 

5.    Dealing with Change

 

It is a simple fact that nothing stays the same. Your organization, the field you're working in, the job you started, the world's problems can all change seemingly overnight. Good leaders know how to anticipate change if they can roll with change when it arrives and help their staff, colleagues, and clients manage the change as well as they can. 

 

5 Excellent Leadership Characteristics You Should Embrace

Do you aspire to be a strong leader, respected in your field? Maybe you want to inspire your team and lead them to great success. If you want to step up and become a transformational leader, you should consider adding these characteristics to your management style toolbox. 

 

1.    Know Your Leadership Style

 

There is no one right way to be the best leader. The style that will work for you is the one that comes naturally. To improve your leadership skills, you need to know what your preferred personal style is. Take some quiet time and reflect on your skills, your strengths, and your weaknesses. What do you enjoy about leadership? What do you find difficult or shy away from doing? There are plenty of resources on the internet, like quizzes, to help you work out where your talents lie and give you insight into your management style. 

 

2.    Choose to be a Positive Role Model

 

Whether you like it or not, your team member will echo your management style. They will live up to your expectations and follow your example regarding work practices, professional relationships, and motivation. 

 

You can choose to be a leader who only expects the best from their staff, which places the greatest importance on integrity, behaving ethically and professionally, and working hard to get the job done. 

 

3.    Encourage Creativity

 

Leaders get better results from their team members if they encourage creative thinking. You will get more innovative approaches if you encourage staff to challenge the status quo and think outside the box. 

 

Practice active listening and collaborative problem-solving. Share and celebrate successes and foster creative thinking. 

 

4.    Be Passionate

 

Enthusiasm is contagious. Share your passions with your team members and show them that you care about the projects you're working on. Get them to look beyond the immediate tasks to see what impacts the project intends to achieve. Make their work meaningful beyond just hitting targets. 

 

5.    Be Positive

 

True leaders stay positive, no matter what the circumstances. It’s a given that there will be hiccups, setbacks, even failures that you will have to navigate with your team. Their motivation and confidence rely upon you taking an optimistic, constructive perspective no matter what. Celebrate those successes and use failures to learn, adapt, and move forward. 

 

With you to inspire them, your team will stay energized and focused on more and more success. 

 

5 Toughest Issues Leaders Have to Learn to Handle

One of the first things you learn as a leader is that the buck does stop with you. It's your responsibility to steer the ship and to deal with the challenges that will inevitably crop up from time to time. That's just part of the deal!

 

Some issues are almost inevitable for every leader, and it's up to you to prepare for them. Here are five of the most common challenges you are likely to face. 

 

1.    Learning the Difference between Being Respected and Being Liked

 

People may not always like leaders, but they should respect them. It's your job to make decisions that benefit the organization, the team, or the project. Not everyone will be happy with that. But if you try to please everyone, you will inevitably fail in your job. Choose being respected over being liked. 

 

2.    Office Culture

 

Sometimes office cultural issues can get out of hand. An office can become a hotbed of gossip and rivalry if not carefully managed, which can undermine everything you are trying to achieve. 

 

Set a good example, and don’t gossip or encourage gossip. Make it clear that talking or criticizing colleagues behind their backs will not be tolerated. 

 

Strive to create a positive atmosphere based on pleasant, open communication. 

 

3.    Dealing with Failure

 

Failure of some kind is inevitable. There will be a deal that comes unstuck or a product that flops. Maybe your project overruns its timelines, or an external event might jeopardize the whole thing. 

 

You need to help your team deal with failure, analyze what went wrong, and move on.

 

4.    Communication Issues

 

Human communications can be fraught with problems. People can reply to an email in the heat of the moment, not think things through before they snap back with a smart or angry comment. Or maybe someone is too anxious or scared to be honest about whether they can meet that deadline or not. 

 

Be prepared to have to step in and smooth things over from time to time. Be clear in your communications about what you expect, what’s acceptable, and what’s not. And stay calm if things go off the rails.

 

5.    Staying Focused

 

When you’re the top guy, everyone wants a piece of you. Everyone wants their priority to be your priority. Part of becoming be a good leader is learning not to get distracted from your primary purpose. 

 

It’s your responsibility to stay focused on the project, the team, and the organization. You need to deliver the outcomes that people expect of you. Keep your eye on the prize and your hand on the tiller!