Knowledge Base: Strategic Thinking: what is it and how to do it by Maree Conway.
Citation:
Conway, Maree. (2009). Strategic Thinking: what it is and how to do it. Thinking Futures.
Link to Paper:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/253238955_Strategic_Thinking_what_it_is_and_how_to_do_it
Scroll down or click on a question to explore the paper:
What is the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning?
Why is strategic thinking important?
What are the characteristics of strategic thinkers?
Why is strategic thinking insufficient by itself?
What is the Three Level Strategy Development Framework?
How do you think strategically?
What is the "busyness syndrome"?
Quick Summary
The paper "Strategic Thinking: what it is and how to do it" by Maree Conway explores the concept of strategic thinking and its importance in developing effective strategies for organisations. It distinguishes strategic thinking from strategic planning, emphasising that strategic planning is about documenting actions to implement a strategy, while strategic thinking involves understanding and imagining possible futures to inform decision-making today.
Key points include:
Strategic Thinking vs. Strategic Planning: Strategic thinking is the first step in strategy development, focusing on exploring future possibilities and options. Strategic decision-making follows, where choices are made, and strategic planning is the final step, involving the implementation of actions.
Re-conceptualising Strategy: Traditional planning models often fail to deliver effective strategies because they do not adequately consider future uncertainties. Effective strategy requires a process that includes strategic thinking, decision-making, and planning.
Defining Strategic Thinking: It involves identifying, imagining, and understanding possible futures to make better-informed decisions today.
How to Think Strategically: This requires integrating the future into decision-making by thinking big (systems thinking), deep (questioning current practices and assumptions), and long (environmental scanning).
Characteristics of Strategic Thinkers: Strategic thinkers should be open-minded, curious, systems thinkers, accepting of diversity, and willing to challenge assumptions and think outside the box.
Proactive vs. Reactive Strategy: Proactive strategy involves anticipating changes and preparing for them, while reactive strategy responds to events after they occur.
Finding Time for Strategic Thinking: Organisations must commit to making time for strategic thinking despite the busyness of day-to-day operations.
The Imperative of the Future: Integrating future considerations into decision-making is essential for creating sustainable strategies that do not harm future generations.
Conway concludes that strategic thinking is crucial for developing robust and effective strategies and that organisations need to set up processes to support this type of thinking.
What is the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning?
Strategic thinking and strategic planning are distinct but complementary processes in strategy development:
Strategic Thinking:
Focus: It is about exploring possibilities and imagining potential futures for the organisation.
Nature: It involves creative, intuitive, and often disruptive thinking to understand the complexities and uncertainties of the future.
Purpose: The goal is to generate a broad range of strategic options and to develop a shared vision of futures that inform decision-making today.
Approach: It is more about synthesis, exploration, and considering alternative futures based on incomplete and evolving information.
Strategic Planning:
Focus: It is about documenting and implementing specific actions to achieve the strategic goals decided upon.
Nature: It involves analytical, logical, and pragmatic thinking to turn strategic decisions into formal, actionable plans.
Purpose: The goal is to create detailed plans that outline the steps needed to achieve the agreed-upon strategic objectives.
Approach: It is more about analysis, organisation, and ensuring that actions are implemented, monitored, and reported effectively.
In summary, strategic thinking is the process of envisioning and understanding future possibilities to inform decision-making, while strategic planning is the process of creating and executing detailed plans to achieve those strategic decisions.
Why is strategic thinking important?
Maree Conway argues that strategic thinking is important for several reasons:
Futures Focus: Strategic thinking allows organisations to anticipate and prepare for future challenges and opportunities, instead of merely reacting to current circumstances.
Informed Decisions: By exploring a wide range of potential scenarios, strategic thinking equips us to make more informed, resilient choices today.
Agility: It enhances an organisation’s ability to adapt swiftly and effectively to external changes, ensuring long-term sustainability and success.
Innovation: Strategic thinking drives creativity by encouraging exploration of fresh ideas and possibilities beyond the status quo.
Goal Alignment: It ensures the organisation’s vision, actions, and long-term goals are aligned, creating a cohesive and purposeful strategy.
Risk Mitigation: By identifying potential risks and uncertainties, strategic thinking helps develop contingency plans to reduce negative impacts.
Competitive Edge: It positions organisations to stay ahead of the curve, gaining an advantage by anticipating trends and market shifts before they happen.
For Conway strategic thinking is crucial for developing effective, sustainable strategies that ensure an organisation's success and relevance in a constantly changing world.
What are the characteristics of strategic thinkers?
Conway writes that strategic thinkers possess a range of characteristics that enable them to effectively navigate uncertainties and complexities. Here are some key characteristics of strategic thinkers:
Open Minds: They are open to new ideas and information and are willing to challenge their own assumptions about how the world works.
Curious: They seek to understand why things have developed as they have, integrating an understanding of the past and present with exploring possible alternative futures.
Systems Thinkers: They strive to understand the whole picture rather than just focusing on their specific area or silo.
Accept Diversity: They recognise that differences of opinion, culture, and practice are neither right nor wrong but simply different.
Think Outside the Box: They explore beyond mainstream thinking to identify emerging issues and trends.
Think Outrageously: They recognise that what seems outrageous today may not be in our futures and explore what might be possible.
Challenge Assumptions: They continuously test their beliefs and assumptions as the external environment changes over time.
Aware of Own Worldview: They understand where their blind spots are and actively seek to address them.
Generous: They freely share their knowledge, support others, and participate in collective efforts to understand a range of futures.
Compassionate: They seek to understand rather than judge others.
Seek and Foster Collective Wisdom: They value collective activity and understand the power of working together to explore a range of futures.
Optimistic: They maintain a positive outlook about creating favourable futures.
These characteristics collectively enable strategic thinkers to be more effective in developing robust and forward-looking strategies.
Why is strategic thinking insufficient by itself?
Strategic planning is insufficient by itself for several reasons:
Lack of Future Orientation: Strategic planning often focuses on implementing actions based on current understanding and data, without adequately considering future uncertainties and possibilities.
Rigidity: Traditional strategic planning can be rigid and linear, making it difficult for organisations to adapt quickly to unexpected changes in the external environment.
Overemphasis on Execution: It tends to prioritise the creation of detailed plans and actions, potentially neglecting the importance of creative and innovative thinking required to identify new opportunities and threats.
Missed Strategic Insights: Without the foundation of strategic thinking, planning may miss critical insights and broader perspectives that are essential for long-term success.
Operational Focus: Strategic planning can sometimes blur the line between strategic and operational tasks, leading to plans that are more about day-to-day operations rather than positioning the organisation for the future.
Inadequate Engagement: It may not engage the whole organisation in thinking about a range of futures, leading to a lack of shared vision and alignment.
While strategic planning is essential for implementing actions and achieving goals, Conway says it needs to be preceded and informed by strategic thinking to ensure that those actions are relevant, innovative, and adaptable to future changes.
What is the Three Level Strategy Development Framework?
Diagram from Page 3, Conway, Maree. (2009). Strategic Thinking: what it is and how to do it. Thinking Futures.
Conway's three-level strategy development framework consists of:
Strategic Thinking:
Purpose: To explore possibilities and generate options for a range of futures.
Focus: Identifying, imagining, and understanding possible and plausible alternative futures for the organisation.
Outcome: A broad range of strategic options based on limited and patchy information, aimed at expanding perceptions of available strategic choices.
Strategic Decision Making (Strategy Development):
Purpose: To assess and choose among the options generated during strategic thinking.
Focus: Setting directions, making choices, and establishing goals.
Outcome: Decisions on which strategic options to pursue, selecting a future destination, and defining goals.
Strategic Planning:
Purpose: To implement the chosen strategic options.
Focus: Turning articulated goals into formal, documented action steps.
Outcome: Detailed plans that outline the actions needed to achieve the agreed-upon results, ensuring that actions are implemented, monitored, and reported.
Conway's framework ensures that organisations systematically develop and maintain a shared view of the future, make informed decisions, and effectively implement strategies.
How do you think strategically?
For Maree Conway thinking strategically involves integrating futures thinking into decision-making processes by focusing on three key aspects:
Thinking Big:
Systems Perspective: Understand how your organisation connects and intersects with other organisations and the external environment.
Holistic View: Consider the broader ecosystem and the interconnections within it.
Thinking Deep:
Questioning Assumptions: Challenge the way things are done today and question whether current assumptions will hold true in a range of futures.
Exploring Beyond the Present: Move beyond interpretations of the past and present to anticipate future trends and changes.
Thinking Long:
Long-term Orientation: Look far into the future to understand potential alternative futures for your organisation.
Anticipating Change: Consider how current and emerging trends might impact your organisation in the long run.
By incorporating these elements, Conway argues strategic thinking helps organisations to better understand the complexities and uncertainties of a range of futures, leading to more informed and robust decision-making today.
How do you think BIG?
For Maree Conway thinking big involves adopting a systems perspective to understand the broader context in which your organisation operates. Here are some key steps to thinking big:
Understand Interconnections:
Recognise how your organisation connects and interacts with other organisations and the external environment.
Consider the larger ecosystem and how different elements within it influence each other.
Adopt a Systems Perspective:
View your organisation as part of a larger system rather than in isolation.
Focus on the interdependencies and relationships between various components of the system.
Consider External Impacts:
Analyse how changes in the external environment might affect your organisation.
Be aware of broader trends and shifts that could influence your strategic direction.
Build Shared Understanding:
Foster a common vision and understanding within your organisation about its role in the larger system.
Encourage collaboration and collective thinking to align internal capacities with external realities.
By thinking big, you can ensure that your strategy is not myopic and that it takes into account the broader context and potential impacts from the external environment.
How do you think DEEP?
Conway's thinking deep involves critically examining and questioning the underlying assumptions and mental models that shape your organisation's current practices. Here are some key steps to thinking deep:
Question Current Practices:
Regularly challenge the way things are done today.
Ask whether current methods and assumptions will remain valid in a range of futures.
Examine Worldviews and Mental Models:
Understand that everyone has a particular worldview that influences how they interpret information.
Identify and question the deep-seated assumptions and thinking habits that guide decision-making.
Move Beyond Data:
Recognise that data-driven decisions are influenced by human biases and patterns.
Look for disconfirming evidence and challenge the status quo rather than just seeking information that supports existing beliefs.
Identify Blind Spots:
Be aware of the information and trends that are often overlooked or dismissed.
Continuously test and reassess assumptions to ensure they are relevant and robust in the face of changing external environments.
By thinking deep, you can uncover hidden biases, challenge entrenched assumptions, and develop a more nuanced and forward-looking understanding of your organisation's strategic options.
How do you think LONG?
For Maree Conway thinking long involves looking far into futures to understand potential developments and their implications for your organisation. Here are some key steps to thinking long:
Environmental Scanning:
Systematically explore the external environment to identify trends, opportunities, challenges, and potential future developments.
Use formal methodologies to gather information relevant to your organisation.
Consider Alternative Futures:
Create and evaluate multiple scenarios of how futures might unfold.
Avoid assuming that tomorrow will be a simple extension of today.
Focus on Long-Term Implications:
Assess the long-term consequences of decisions and actions taken today.
Ensure that strategies are flexible and can adapt to changing circumstances.
Integrate Future Thinking into Decision Making:
Make future-oriented thinking a regular part of your strategic planning process.
Encourage discussions about long-term trends and their potential impact on your organisation.
By thinking long, you can better prepare your organisation for future uncertainties and ensure that your strategies are resilient and adaptable over time.
What is the "busyness syndrome"?
The "busyness syndrome" (term taken from Johnston, S. (2007) What do you do for a living? A bold new vision for leaders, Melbourne: Hardie Grant Books) refers to the phenomenon where individuals are constantly occupied with tasks and activities, often to the point of feeling overwhelmed and stressed. This state of perpetual busyness can lead to a lack of time for strategic thinking and reflection. Key aspects of the “busyness syndrome” include:
Constant Activity: Individuals are always engaged in work, meetings, emails, and other tasks, leaving little room for downtime or deep thinking.
Stress and Overwhelm: The continuous stream of tasks and responsibilities can create a sense of stress and overwhelm, making it difficult to focus on long-term goals and strategic planning.
Lack of Reflection: Being constantly busy prevents individuals from taking the time to reflect on their work, assess their priorities, and think strategically about the future.
Short-Term Focus: The busyness syndrome often leads to a focus on immediate tasks and short-term goals, rather than long-term planning and strategic thinking.
Inefficiency: Despite being busy, individuals may not be working efficiently or effectively, as they are caught up in the cycle of reacting to immediate demands rather than proactively planning and prioritising.
To overcome the “busyness syndrome”, it is important to intentionally carve out time for strategic thinking, prioritise tasks, delegate responsibilities, and create a culture that values reflection and long-term planning.
What can you do the help change the way you think?
To change the way you think and adopt a more strategic mindset, Maree Conway invites us to consider the following actions:
Reflect on Your Practice:
Dedicate time in your daily routine to think strategically, scan the environment, read relevant materials, and reflect on your findings.
Encourage your team to adopt an outward-looking perspective and think beyond their immediate tasks.
Show Leadership:
Lead by example by integrating strategic thinking into your routine.
Set up systems to bring in information that challenges the status quo and encourages innovative thinking.
Be a Good Ancestor:
Accept responsibility for future generations by fostering a culture that considers the long-term impact of decisions.
Promote a futures-focused organisational culture.
Think Big, Deep, and Long:
Regularly engage in thinking workshops to explore trends and their implications for your organisation.
Encourage open discussions and reflections on how external trends might affect your organisation now and in a range of futures.
Challenge Assumptions:
Be aware of your own worldview and mental models.
Constantly question and test the assumptions that underpin your thinking and decisions.
Foster a Culture of Curiosity and Openness:
Encourage curiosity and openness to new ideas and perspectives.
Support a culture where diverse opinions are valued and explored.
By implementing these actions, you can shift your thinking from reactive to proactive, enabling your organisation to better navigate future uncertainties and develop more robust strategies.
How can you find the more time the do strategic thinking?
Conway puts forward a range of ideas for finding more time to carve out time for strategic thinking:
Schedule Dedicated Time:
Block out specific times in your calendar for strategic thinking sessions, just as you would for important meetings.
Treat this time as non-negotiable and free from interruptions.
Prioritise Strategic Thinking:
Recognise the importance of strategic thinking and prioritise it over less critical tasks.
Delegate routine tasks to free up time for higher-level thinking.
Integrate Strategic Thinking into Regular Activities:
Incorporate strategic thinking into regular meetings and discussions.
Use team meetings to explore long-term trends and their implications for your organisation.
Create a Strategic Thinking Culture:
Encourage a culture where strategic thinking is valued and practiced by everyone in the organisation.
Provide training and resources to help employees develop their strategic thinking skills.
Use Tools and Frameworks:
Utilise strategic planning tools and frameworks to streamline the process and make it more efficient.
Tools like SWOT analysis, scenario planning, and environmental scanning can help focus your strategic thinking efforts.
Limit Distractions:
Minimise distractions during strategic thinking sessions by turning off notifications and finding a quiet space.
Encourage a focused environment where deep thinking can occur without interruptions.
Reflect and Review:
Regularly review and reflect on your strategic thinking processes to identify areas for improvement.
Adjust your schedule and approach as needed to ensure you are making the most of your strategic thinking time.
By implementing these strategies, you can create more opportunities for strategic thinking, leading to better decision-making and more effective long-term planning.
