Years ago, I was blessed to be in a position to hold seminars with groups of educators designed to discuss and build leadership skills both informally and formally, internally – for the individual and externally for the school. As we discussed leadership skills and qualities, we would talk about new tools being put in our toolboxes as leaders. This year in Teach & Serve, I have decided to talk about many of those tools.
STRATEGIC THINKING
“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction” – Hamilton (but someone else said it first!)
Frequently, leaders are expected to be experts on the “next big thing” before the next big thing is even a thing. Because they lead groups and are, likewise, expected to sustain them, leaders must be able to anticipate what is to come if they are to be in their positions long-term. Leaders must be able to look forward while living in the moment, they must be able to envision the outcome of each lever they pull and each choice they make as it impacts both the short and the long-term future.
This is not an easy thing. It may be one of the most difficult tools to wield.
Often, this tool is referred to as “strategic planning.” But planning implies a start and a stop. One makes a plan. When the plan is made, it is done. Enact it and move on.
Strategic thinking is an ongoing process. It does not stop. Every action is intended to move the group being led forward. Every choice has purpose. Every decision, meaning. Leaders who are effective at strategic thinking are seeing the whole chess board. They are ten moves ahead.
It is important to note, however, that one of the knocks on leaders can be that they are manipulative. That they are moving people around their institutions as they enact master plans. Strategic thinking can be misread in this manner. If you are a science fiction fan or a comic book media fan, you are very familiar with the idea of a multiverse. To me, the best strategic thinkers are, too. They are considering many possibilities – good and bad – in any given moment. They are anticipating multiple outcomes. They are Schrodinger and his cat (though nothing bad can happen to the cat!). They bet the odds when they think and they are right more often than they are wrong.