Distinguish between the process of formulating and implementing strategy. 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. Proactive and widespread communication of your strategic. 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. A strategist is always looking for opportunities to win at low or, better yet, no cost. A handbook for implementation lil foreword strategic management for senior leaders. Difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning. A handbook for implementation lxil how to use this handbook. This is where the concept of strategic thinking comes into play.
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. Pdf strategic thinking and strategic leadership essay. Desire was to create a uniform strategic thinking and planning process for the organization while at the same. 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 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. This paper disentangles the relationship between the terms strategic thinking and strategic planning as found in the literature. Strategic planning is defined as a part of this 145. 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. 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. The litany of indictments against the types of planning processes in place at most large multinational firms is. In order to incorporate strategic thinking into planning processes, however, we must recognize three discrete aspects of the process.
Strategic thinking basically means an organization is thinking how to better position itself among its competition for future success 2. Strategic thinking and planning are now essential elements of an effective leaders work. Pdf strategic thinking vs strategic planning john pisapia. Liedtka b ashing traditional approaches to strategic planning has become the favoured pasttime of lead ing business authors on both sides of the atlantic. Defining your business idea what is the basis of your success. Jagdish sheth, a respected authority on marketing and strategic planning, provides. 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. By working on a strategic plan together a team can. 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. 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. There is no great tradition or heritage for strategic thinking in many organizations. Strategic thinking is an extremely effective and valuable tool. Strategic surprisingly, here there is ready agreement.
Strategic thinking is the way people think about, assess, view and create the future for themselves and others. 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. Strategic thinking is usually indirect and unexpected rather than headon and predictable. A key distinction between strategic thinking and strategic planning is that the former occurs on a regular basis, as part of our daily. 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.
Strategic thinking and planning in a learning culture. 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. The purpose of strategic planning, on the other hand, is to. By identifying basic trends and uncertainties, a manager can construct a series of scenarios that will help to compensate for. Leadership, innovation, strategic planning, strategic thinking.
Strategic thinking and strategic planning the daily reckoning. Comprehensive strategic thinking planning workshop results october 2014 version 1. Good strategic thinking can make your organization. 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. The goal of strategic thinking is much the same goal of organizational leadership. Can strategic thinking and strategic planning be accommodated within the same strategic management regime. Strategic thinking is the synthesis of the analysis done during the strategic planning process. 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. Centro san vicente strategic thinking planning project comprehensive strategic thinking planning workshop results october 2014 version 1.
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. Planning is an important aspect of strategic thinking and management. When applied in an organizational strategic management process, strategic thinking involves the. 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.
Fifthly, strategic planning guides companys direction whereas strategic thinking strategic thinking makes foresights about the future olson and simerson, 2015. 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. Strategic thinking and subsequent management must result in action. By identifying basic trends and uncertainties, a manager. Strategic thinking informs strategic planning, whereas strategic planning gives voice, action, and structure to strategic thinking. One can apply strategic thinking to arrive at decisions that can be related to your work or personal life.
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. Follow the progression of strategic thinking in business. With this background in mind, consider how strategic thinking and planning is used in the. Good strategic thinking uncovers potential opportunities for creating value and. Strategic thinking is a process that defines the manner in which people think about, assess, view, and create the future for themselves and others. This article focuses on case studies of four executives in fast growing organizations who use strategic thinking and, to a lesser extent. Shares an organizations vision with a large internal and external audience. 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. 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.
In addition, strategic planning does the following. To figure out exactly what strategic thinking is, we should look at this quote from consultant glenn ebersole. 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. 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. 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. Planning and strategic thinking prepare your organisation and yourself for an uncertain and changing environment.
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. Strategy refers to a general plan of action for achieving ones goals and objectives. 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. Purpose the purpose of strategic thinking is to envision or develop a solution. Strategic thinking, analysis and planning petroknowledge. Critical strategic thinking skills center for simplified. To maintain their organizations competitive edge, leaders at all levels of an organization need to evaluate and prioritise work, according to strategic goals. It is also to enable brainstorming of approaches that can help to meet the strategic intent and goals of a specific project or initiative. Groupthink occurs when there is a homogenous group of people with little influence from outside sources and a high level of pressure to conformity. Ideally, the leader will help the team to see and understand the bigger picture even as team members focus on the daytoday work. There is no agreement in the literature on what strategic thinking is, what strategic planning is, or on the nature of their interrelationship. For our purposes, we will define planning as the activity of preparing a plan and we will define a plan as.
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. Spot the changes coming in the market you serve, test your ideas to find out which ones have. Faculty dr norman chorn is a strategy and organisation development practitioner who works in australia, new. Developing your strategic thinking skills isnt enough to get you promoted. Recognise how strategic thinking has developed and how it influences strategies. Sep 23, 2019 demonstrating strategic thinking, on the other hand, requires that you are simultaneously a marketer, a salesperson, and a change agent. However the importance of strategic thinking is critical for business success and this.
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. Components of strategic thought and action in simple terms, strategic thinking and or planning consists of three phases that. Critical success factors for strategic thinking and planning introduction many organizations have planning processes in place for developing strategies. One of our dear readers one of the dearest readers, let me say, for reasons that you will discern in the next sentence.
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. Components of strategic thought and action in simple terms, strategic thinking andor planning consists of three phases that. Strategic thinking is characterized by an allpervasive unwillingness to expend resources. Having said all this, just thinking and planning strategically doesnt ensure proper and timely execution. In order to advance in your career, you need to demonstrate them.
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. 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. Planning has been defined in various ways, ranging from thinking about the future to specifying in advance who is to do what when. Strategic thinking, on the other hand, is a synthesizing process utilizing intuition and creativity whose. Desire was to create a uniform strategic thinking and planning process for the organization while at the same time, build the strategic. Strategic thinking represents the vision of the analysis, the direction that the business should pursue. Strategic planning is the channeling of business insights into an action plan to achieve goals and objectives. 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.
543 1210 697 1164 1299 237 1118 1280 1070 1325 1205 1054 485 140 211 598 632 934 1112 775 506 725 1341 1179 398 1234 1227 670 311 1087 1011 1399 750 236 221 680 1220 735 1179 1242 783 1319 1038 1103