CHAPTER 3

Prove You’re Ready for the Next Level by Showing Off Your Strategic Thinking Skills

by Nina A. Bowman

One of the cardinal rules for securing a promotion is that you already need to be demonstrating many of the skills required at the next level. Emerging leaders must achieve results and manage resources and people well, but the most effective, “ready to be promoted” managers also display another critical skill—the ability to think strategically.

Showing strategic thinking skills tells your bosses that you’re able to think for yourself and make decisions that position the organization for the future. It assures them that you aren’t making decisions in a vacuum but are considering how other departments might be affected or how the outside world will respond.

We all know that developing strategic thinking skills is important, but many don’t realize how critical showing these skills to your boss and other senior leaders is to your career advancement. To really stand out, you have to both develop and demonstrate them.

• Developing great strategic thinking skills is a demanding challenge. It requires you gain exposure to strategic roles, synthesize broad information, participate in a culture of curiosity, and gather experiences that allow you to identify patterns and connect the dots in novel ways. That’s why high-potential and leadership development programs often include job rotations, cross-functional projects, and face time with senior leader ship—all of these accelerate the development of strategic thinking.
• Demonstrating strategic thinking, on the other hand, requires that you are simultaneously a marketer, a salesperson, and a change agent. You may be able to show your skills immediately and start to stand out today. Proactive and widespread communication of your strategic efforts combined with the courage to challenge others and initiate and drive your strategic ideas are what make your boss and peers take notice.

The case of one of my coaching clients illustrates the distinctions between developing and demonstrating strategic skills.

“Not Strategic Enough”

Tim Waters (not his real name), vice president of the U.S. supply chain for a growing medical products company, hoped to be named global senior vice president of supply chain but sensed that his promotion discussions were stalled. Tim had a good reputation for responding to business unit leads, and he worked tirelessly and effectively to keep the supply chain functioning well. He was therefore surprised to receive informal feedback from the head of HR, a longtime colleague and friend, who said that a few influential executives had voiced concern that Tim “wasn’t strategic enough.” These executives felt Tim was good at keeping the trains running, but he had not driven proactive change in the organization or set a strategic vision for supply chain. Tim agreed that strategic thinking could be an area of personal growth and decided to engage an executive coach to help him hone and demonstrate these skills.

Developing Strategic Thinking

Build a solid foundation of trends and insights

Any manager’s first step toward developing strategic thinking skills is learning more about what’s happening beyond their day-to-day work. By better understanding trends within the function, the company, the industry, or the macro environment, and asking, “How might this impact my function or organization?” new managers and seasoned managers alike can make thoughtful strategic suggestions.

Tim had over 20 years of experience in supply chain but had stopped attending industry conferences and engaging with his external network of analysts and supply chain peers due to time pressures. He knew, honestly, that he had been coasting lately, operating as if he already knew everything that he needed. His first concrete step was to recommit to updating his knowledge by reading relevant articles, getting outside his organization routinely, and reconnecting with external contacts. Tim quickly learned about the new ways in which peer companies were addressing challenges. He felt energized by this new knowledge and quickly saw himself developing sharper views on ideas for his own company and asking better strategic questions.

Prioritize strategic thinking

Finding time to plan, think, and stay up to date is challenging for managers at all levels. Strategic thinking is a textbook example of an “important, not urgent” activity that tends to get pushed aside by the day-to-day. It requires discipline to carve out dedicated time for learning and deliberate thought, and young managers in particular should build habits early to ingrain this mindset.

Tim realized that his packed schedule was keeping him from ongoing learning and reflection. Changing how executives perceived him was a long-term goal, so he knew that he needed to develop practical, sustainable processes to keep himself and his team up to date on trends. Without routines, urgent demands would always crowd out the need to look ahead.

Tim committed himself to attending two key events a year and blocked them off on his calendar before it got filled with other meetings. He set aside 30 minutes a week to read relevant articles and to connect with external resources. He made the discussion of new ideas a recurring agenda item in the weekly team meetings he ran and asked team members to take turns bringing in a provocative article. Tim realized that good ideas can come from anyone, and that developing the strategic thinking skills of his direct reports would accrue to his benefit as well.

Lastly, Tim instructed his assistant to block out 30 minutes on his calendar before important meetings. He knew that barely having time to collect his thoughts before going into meetings made him unprepared, less vocal, and certainly less willing to challenge other’s ideas. Just a half hour, once or twice a week, would allow him to begin to shape his point of view on important issues and identify a few strategic questions to bring up.

Demonstrating Strategic Thinking

Bring a point of view to the table

To display strategic thinking, you must synthesize disparate thoughts into a point of view and a vision that your bosses can see. You don’t want to be the manager and leader who, lacking confidence in your own vision, tries to hedge by staying quiet or deferring to the most senior person in the room. While being politically astute is important, your leaders want to know what you think, and they view your worthiness for promotion through the lens of how ready you are to make bigger decisions. By asking yourself, “Do people know where I stand?” before meetings, you can sharpen your ability to demonstrate this strategic skill.

Tim’s efforts to shape his ideas began to pay off over time. New thoughts emerged, and Tim was able to shift his contributions in senior executive meetings from operational input to strategic input. He took time to package his ideas into a vision for the organization and engaged his peers in new discussions about how the vision could impact their areas. Some conversations went better than others, and Tim quickly learned how to frame his thoughts in a way that was not threatening to his peers.

Having greater clarity of vision also enhanced Tim’s effectiveness as a supervisor. Tim was able to see how his team was missing the specific skills needed to support the vision. Now, instead of having reactive discussions with his HR business partner, he was able to engage in forward-looking discussions about strategic hiring and leadership development opportunities for his team. Demonstrating that you think strategically about hiring and talent development is a surefire way to make your leaders notice you.

Show that you can initiate innovation and bring strategic change

To be viewed as a strategic thinker, it is critical to go beyond offering ideas and showing understanding outside your area: You must also demonstrate that you can use your knowledge to put new ideas into action. The scope of such an initiative will depend on your role. But no matter your level, you can demonstrate strategic thinking by executing an innovative project that shows that your understanding extends beyond your current function and making your efforts visible to others.

Tim channeled the new energy and vision he had gained into a strategic planning process that culminated in formal recommendations for the supply chain group. Tim communicated the project and its milestones across the organization, allowing the executive team to see that he could lead a strategic initiative; previously, Tim would have kept it behind the scenes. Boldly suggesting value-added changes was a welcome shift to both Tim and his colleagues. Tim felt he had greater control, projecting greater confidence because he was no longer just reacting to others’ suggestions and issues, and Tim’s colleagues also appreciated that he was initiating improvements without their prodding.

Tim’s journey to demonstrating strategic thinking took him longer than he had expected, but over time, his boss, peers, and team noticed the changes and viewed them positively. Tim was promoted to the global role a year later and was ultimately better equipped to navigate the bigger job.

The need to develop strategic thinking, and making sure your bosses can see it, is universal. You can start small and begin your journey by practicing the individual skills involved. If you are a functional worker, you might begin by attending a conference or by raising your hand to assist on a interdepartmental initiative. You can gain practice with developing a point of view by making a list of strategic questions before entering meetings. As a new manager, you might focus on building your network outside of your department or addressing pain points within your own department. If you are not sure where to start, the rest of this guide provides many practical suggestions that will allow you to build your strategic thinking skills one step at a time.

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Nina A. Bowman is a Managing Partner at Paravis Partners, an executive coaching and leadership development firm. Previously, she held various advisory and leadership roles in strategy. She is an executive coach and speaker on issues of strategic leadership, leadership presence, and interpersonal effectiveness. She is also a contributing author to the HBR Guide to Coaching Employees (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015).