I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people say to me 'my boss says I need to be more strategic' or that they got feedback suggesting they were 'great at executing plans, building teamwork  or developing their people, but are just not strategic enough.' What does that really mean? The people giving the feedback are well intended, the problem is the people receiving the feedback aren't clear about what specifically they need to change.

There are at least two elements to being strategic - strategic action i.e. what you do, how you behave; and strategic planning i.e. what you think and what you know. These are quite different. So the first thing I get people to do is to find out which area they need to improve on by requesting more specific feedback and examples of where they were expected to demonstrate this or an example of what someone else has done.

Strategic planning - learn about your business, customers, consumers, your link and impact on other parts of the business, products, processes, etc. Everyone should do this because no one can work and succeed in a vacuum. The thinking part is about looking for patterns and connections; considering both long term and short term impact; understand implications not just from your own shoes but the shoes of your boss or customer or other functions etc. it's about perspective and looking at the bigger picture.

Strategic action - Have you developed and shared your vision? Are you creating long term plans that you and your team can build action around and make plans? Are you communicating what you know and what you think and the basis for them?

“Strategic planning is worthless -- unless there is first a strategic vision.” ~ John Naisbitt