Six-Step Process for Strategic Thinking
Strategic thinking is a diagnostic and situational analysis of the business. It is used to gather information and summarize it into a format for evaluating business possibilities. While strategic thinking isn’t planning, it represents the initial stages of developing a strategic plan.
The strategic thinking process is a tool to help management formulate their thoughts and ideas into a plan. Just engaging in a process of strategic thinking provides a benefit and adds value.
Here is the six-step process that represents the flow of strategic thinking and creation of a strategic planning framework:
- Understand the present
- Establish a Vision of the Future
- Identify the Critical Issues
- Establish Objectives and Goals
- Develop Action Plans
- Plan for and Allocate Resources
These six steps might be different based on the approach. Everyone has their own spin. However, it is a formal or informal process that every business uses to engage in a strategy.
Strategic thinking focuses on understanding the present and identifying the critical issues. This is a worthwhile effort since it gets management and business owners to think about their business. Business owners tend to get too immersed in day to day issues and fail to think about a vision for the future.
Spending more time thinking strategically about the future produces increased profitability and increases business value.
