To maintain their organizations competitive edge, leaders at all levels of an organization need to evaluate and prioritise work, according to strategic goals. Strategic thinking represents the vision of the analysis, the direction that the business should pursue. 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. A strategist is always looking for opportunities to win at low or, better yet, no cost. By identifying basic trends and uncertainties, a manager.
Strategic surprisingly, here there is ready agreement. 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. 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. Strategic planning is defined as a part of this 145. 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. Pdf strategic thinking vs strategic planning john pisapia. 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.
Shares an organizations vision with a large internal and external audience. It is also to enable brainstorming of approaches that can help to meet the strategic intent and goals of a specific project or initiative. Comprehensive strategic thinking planning workshop results october 2014 version 1. A handbook for implementation lxil how to use this handbook. 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. When applied in an organizational strategic management process, strategic thinking involves the. In addition, strategic planning does the following.
There is no agreement in the literature on what strategic thinking is, what strategic planning is, or on the nature of their interrelationship. 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. Planning is an important aspect of strategic thinking and management. Leadership, innovation, strategic planning, strategic thinking. Desire was to create a uniform strategic thinking and planning process for the organization while at the same. Strategic thinking is usually indirect and unexpected rather than headon and predictable. 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. Ideally, the leader will help the team to see and understand the bigger picture even as team members focus on the daytoday work. Strategic thinking, analysis and planning petroknowledge. Fifthly, strategic planning guides companys direction whereas strategic thinking strategic thinking makes foresights about the future olson and simerson, 2015. One can apply strategic thinking to arrive at decisions that can be related to your work or personal life.
However the importance of strategic thinking is critical for business success and this. Difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning. 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. Defining your business idea what is the basis of your success. Liedtka b ashing traditional approaches to strategic planning has become the favoured pasttime of lead ing business authors on both sides of the atlantic. The purpose of strategic planning, on the other hand, is to.
There is no great tradition or heritage for strategic thinking in many organizations. Strategic thinking is the synthesis of the analysis done during the strategic planning process. 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. By working on a strategic plan together a team can. 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. Strategic thinking and subsequent management must result in action. 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. This paper disentangles the relationship between the terms strategic thinking and strategic planning as found in the literature. In order to advance in your career, you need to demonstrate them. 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. Can strategic thinking and strategic planning be accommodated within the same strategic management regime.
The litany of indictments against the types of planning processes in place at most large multinational firms is. 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. 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. 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. A key distinction between strategic thinking and strategic planning is that the former occurs on a regular basis, as part of our daily. Follow the progression of strategic thinking in business. Sep 23, 2019 demonstrating strategic thinking, on the other hand, requires that you are simultaneously a marketer, a salesperson, and a change agent. 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. Desire was to create a uniform strategic thinking and planning process for the organization while at the same time, build the strategic. Strategic thinking and strategic planning the daily reckoning.
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. And, what use are both these processes if they arent able to yield executable results. Critical success factors for strategic thinking and planning introduction many organizations have planning processes in place for developing strategies. 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. By identifying basic trends and uncertainties, a manager can construct a series of scenarios that will help to compensate for.
Groupthink occurs when there is a homogenous group of people with little influence from outside sources and a high level of pressure to conformity. 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. With this background in mind, consider how strategic thinking and planning is used in the. 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. Strategic thinking is a process that defines the manner in which people think about, assess, view, and create the future for themselves and others. As strategic thinking and strategic planning are often done in a group setting, its important to recognize the influence of groupthink. Components of strategic thought and action in simple terms, strategic thinking andor planning consists of three phases that. Recognise how strategic thinking has developed and how it influences strategies. Strategic planning is the channeling of business insights into an action plan to achieve goals and objectives. This article focuses on case studies of four executives in fast growing organizations who use strategic thinking and, to a lesser extent.
Planning and strategic thinking prepare your organisation and yourself for an uncertain and changing environment. 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. Critical strategic thinking skills center for simplified. 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. Good strategic thinking uncovers potential opportunities for creating value and.
Jagdish sheth, a respected authority on marketing and strategic planning, provides. 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. Strategic thinking is an extremely effective and valuable tool. Poor strategic thinking or the lack of any strategic foresight at all will doom your organization. Purpose the purpose of strategic thinking is to envision or develop a solution. Distinguish between the process of formulating and implementing strategy. Components of strategic thought and action in simple terms, strategic thinking and or planning consists of three phases that. In order to incorporate strategic thinking into planning processes, however, we must recognize three discrete aspects of the process. Pdf strategic thinking and strategic leadership essay. 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. Centro san vicente strategic thinking planning project comprehensive strategic thinking planning workshop results october 2014 version 1. Strategic thinking basically means an organization is thinking how to better position itself among its competition for future success 2. The goal of strategic thinking is much the same goal of organizational leadership. This is where the concept of strategic thinking comes into play.
A handbook for implementation lil foreword strategic management for senior leaders. Strategic thinking, on the other hand, is a synthesizing process utilizing intuition and creativity whose. Strategic thinking and planning are now essential elements of an effective leaders work. 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. 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. Good strategic thinking can make your organization. Strategic thinking is the way people think about, assess, view and create the future for themselves and others. Strategic thinking is characterized by an allpervasive unwillingness to expend resources. One of our dear readers one of the dearest readers, let me say, for reasons that you will discern in the next sentence. 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.
Strategic thinking and planning in a learning culture. Strategic thinking informs strategic planning, whereas strategic planning gives voice, action, and structure to strategic thinking. 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. 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. For our purposes, we will define planning as the activity of preparing a plan and we will define a plan as.