Strategic Thinking

The present global environment is very competitive. A strategy is an urgent need for all business organisations. The business organisation formulates strategy in order to remain as the market leader. The need of strategic thinking has been found in the current time.  Strategic thinking refers to a planning that is made comprehensively and that covers innovation, both strategic & operational planning. Strategic thinking is used to develop a business strategy to get success.

The organisations have understood that the past experiences cannot always help them to formulate strategies in the present time.  It is important for the management of the organisation to think considerably how to create value for the consumers.  Strategic thinking deals with ‘what’ & ‘why’ of the process of the planning (BISK, 2017).  For the successful strategic thinking innovation & creativity are required.  The strategic thinking includes a research phase that makes an assessment of the voice of the customers, employees & the best practices of the industry. Thus it is considered as the process of the assessment of our roles, needs of understanding the customers; requirements and also to ensure that all have been linked together for defining strategic imperative.

The objective of strategic thinking is to prepare a strategy that will help to make a framework for the making of decisions to direct the business & utilise the resources of the organisation.  The internal & external data is used for the strategic thinking (Burke, 2008).   Strategic thinking also uses the qualitative combination of the opinion & perception. The outcome of the successful strategic thinking process is a strategy.

In the process of the research phase, three things are taken into consideration. They are the customer’s voice, engagement of the employee and benchmarking.  In the strategic phase, the importance is given on innovation, strategic & operational planning. The measurement of the strategic planning is made in order to make the strategy successful (Dalton, 2007).

Innovation creates possibilities of meeting the needs & the expectations of the customers and the organisation.  In the process of the innovation, the requirements of the customer, organisation & the employees are incorporated.  Benchmarking is also incorporated in order to ensure that the best practices of the industry are inducted in the vision of the future.

The involvement of the employees in every stage of the process of the strategic thinking is important. For the successful execution of the plans, the employees remain involved.  The involvement of the employees brings success to the operational planning (Duncan, 2016).  The strategies are formulated and developed into the action plan which is easily achievable. This ensures that the expectations of the customers & the organisation are met. 

Importance of Strategic thinking

Measurement plays an important role in the strategic thinking. There is always a need for assessing the effectiveness of the on-going process. This is also important to see that the plans are implemented successfully.  For the benchmarking of the original requirements against the actions that are implemented, it is important to make the measurement (Gates, 2010).

The strategic change is implemented successfully with the complete cooperation of the employees and the employees should incorporate the change in every step of action.  The role of the establishment of values & principles is very important. This is required to ensure the organisation successful and strategic goals are achieved.

 The responsibility of the leaders of the organisation is to undertake the strategic thinking in the planning of their business. The quick decision of the leaders is always a risk and it does not have creativity & insights.  The lack of innovation makes the leader understand that the organisation is not performing in the right way (Duncan, 2016).  Thus strategic thinking is very much important in the process of the strategic plan.

The leader of the organisation focuses on strategic planning for the whole of the organisation and even for each department of the organisation.  The objective or goal of the leader is to make a plan that is beyond the thinking, plan and beyond the other forces of the competitors.  The leader works to pursuit fulfillment.  Thus the leader requires seeing something that has not be envisioned by the other competitors of the organisation.

Project management is also an important part for the successful outcomes of the strategic plans of the organisation.  Soon after the organisation sets its strategic plan, there are two things are taken into account. They are linked to the project management.  The most important thing is to identify the project which will ensure that the organisation will get success in the process of the execution of the strategic plan (Gates, 2010).  The organization will get success when it finds the appropriate projects for the completion of each activity.

Project management focuses on initiation, plan, execution, control & closing a work of the team in order to achieve the goals & meet the success criteria.  The aim of the project is based on designing unique products or services with a specific beginning & end so that it will meet the goal & objective. The aim of the project management is to bring beneficial change or to add value.

Process of the Strategic Thinking

The different projects are initiated in order to execute the strategic plan. Each project requires different sources and the different process to be completed so that each activity will be completed successfully (Highsmith, 2009).  The leaders of the organisation prioritize the projects that can deliver the success. The projects that are given high priority are always taken care by the management of the organisation. The proper resources are required to ensure the success.  Thus in this process of ensuring the success of the project the involvement of the employees is very important.  The commitment & the high involvement of the workers of the organisation can bring success. The commitment of the employees to spend the needed amount of time on the project can ensure success.

The involvement of the employees in the project ensures that they have understood the strategic plan completely. The convinced employees are committed to the accomplishment of the strategy and they want to execute it successfully.  They completely realize that their involvement will help the organisation to complete the project and the company can achieve the goals (Kouzes & Posner, 2008).

The role of leaders in leading the people in the right direction is very much important. They engage people in the right direction and make them realize the needs of the strategic plan for the successful accomplishment of the goals. Thus it is very much important to formulate the plan for the completion of the project successfully. 

The strategic plan is defined as a document that is used to communicate all the stakeholders of the organisation about the goals of the organisation and the required actions for the achievement of the goals. The strategic plan also includes all critical elements that are developed during the exercise of the planning.

It is the complete collection of the continuing activities & processes that the company or the organisation use for the systematic coordination & alignment of the resources, actions, goals, and objectives & also the strategy all through the organisation. The transformation of the static plan has been made with the activities of the strategic management (Kumar, 2009).  This provides feedback on the performance so that it helps the decision-making to plan the requirements for the growth of the project activities and it also helps the management to make necessary changes as per the requirements of the project.

The strategic planning & management have different frameworks & methodologies.  These frameworks are based on the basic phases. They are:

1. Assessment or analysis

Role of leaders in the Strategic Thinking

In this phase, the project planning focuses on the development of the current internal & external environment of the organisation.

1. Formulation of the strategy

During the formulation of the strategy, a high level of strategy is framed and the documentation of the strategic plan is made.

1. Execution of the strategy

In this stage the plan becomes operational and action is taken.

1. Evaluation

In this phase, the assessment of the ongoing project is made. The reporting of data, communication & the assessment of the issues related to the strategic management is done.  This is very crucial as it predicts the success of the project.

The strategic plans are developed by the organisations. The creation of the future vision is made successfully by the organisation. For the successful future vision, strategies are required to be prepared.  Due to unsuccessful plan, the organisation cannot deliver the outcomes of the expected strategies.  The organisations fail to realize their future vision and they also cannot formulate the correct strategic plan (Wiedenbeck, 2010).  The project management cannot find out the faults in the growth of the project and they cannot make a proper assessment of the project development.  The project team goes on repeating the mistakes with an expectation that the plan will be corrected automatically in the next phase of the project.  The project cannot get success as the assessment of the development of the project is not done successfully. The proper assessment of the project helps the management to correct the faults (Luu, et al., 2008).

There are some important factors that contribute to the successful implementation of the strategic plan.  These factors are described below.

1. Engagement

It is a fact that strategic plan is not an event, it is a process.  The most important element required in the process is the engagement of all the employees of the organisation throughout the project.  The engagement of the employees gives additional benefits to the plan. This helps the plan to build commitment of the employees in order to end the plan.  Thus it is very important to engage all the employees in the strategic planning & in the direction of the organisation.  The issue, challenge, concern & opportunity are clearly understood for the engagement of the employees. The execution of the strategy becomes successful due to the involvement of the employees (Pree, 2008).

Thus it is very important for the leaders of the organisation to encourage the employees to involve in the execution of the strategic planning. This will ensure the success in the process of the execution of the plan.

1. Communication

Project Management

The processes of strategic planning will be successful if communication is made appropriately to all levels of employees.  The proper communication will help the employees to get involved in the process (Qureshi & Warraich, 2009).  The employees can give feedback about the growth of strategic plan if communication is made appropriately.

The leaders of the organisation play an important role in communicating the employees the strategic plan for the success of the goals.

1. Innovation

Innovation is very important for the success of the strategic plan. The leader of the organisation uses innovation for the success of the strategy. The leaders inspire people to work with innovative strategy.

1. Culture

The culture of the organisation is based on the attitude value, belief & behaviour of the employees. There is diversity in the culture of the organisation.  The employees become responsible and committed when they believe that change in the organisation is necessary (Velsor, et al., 2010).

In this context, the role of leaders is to motivate people to understand the need of the change.  The leaders will communicate the value of change and how it will help in the growth of the organisation.

Conclusion

There is always a need of establishing a clear & appropriate process of the strategic planning. The engagement of all level of workers is important to ensure the success. The communication is also very important for the success of the strategy.  Innovation is very vital for a successful process of strategy.  Projects are important to be created so that all the resources of the organisations will be monitored easily. The stakeholders are required to be conveyed the importance of the strategic plan for the growth of the organisation.

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