On the Job by Anita Bruzzese How to Find Time to Think Strategically

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese How to Find Time to Think Strategically We often lament were busier than ever at work, running from meeting to meeting, firing off e-mails and trying toget something done without an interruptionevery five minutes. In other words, who has time tothinkanymore? If you feel like youre always putting out fires instead of thinking about how to prevent them, youre not alone. But thats a trend that worries Rich Horwath, CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute and author of Elevate: The Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking. Companies that dont carve out time for managers to think individually and collectively about their key business issues simply wont exist anymore, he says. He explains that research shows that the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy is bad strategy, and companies like Blockbuster, Circuit City and Borders are living proof as they failed to adapt to the changing needs of customers relative to their competition, He says. If a leader doesnt schedule time tothink strategically, it simply isnt going to happen, he says. But the cost isnt felt just by billion-dollar companies. Horwath says that failing to think strategically canimpact our own careers, no matter our jobs. Specifically, many industries are continuing to reduce head count, which means that those who keep their jobs need to continually build their body of expertise to remain essential to the business and actively learn from your daily experience, he says. For example, each of your work experiences such as a meeting or teleconference or customer interaction provides a learning opportunity. Ask yourself, What was my takeaway/ learning/ insight? If youre not continuing to build your expertise through new insights, you are vulnerable to becoming obsolete, he warns. Still, even if we commit to being morestrategic in our own careers, that doesnt guarantee others will share our enthusiasm. For those such as project managers, that can cause a lot of headaches. Horwath says one way that project managers can gain a greater commitment from others to stick to a strategy is finding acommon groundor what youre both trying to achieve. Once that is achieved, then you can gain alignment on how to get there, he explains. Once youve identified the commonality in the goals, its helpful to establish milestones (see more here)