Developing Your Strategic Thinkers

The CEO cannot be the only strategic thinker in your manufacturing organization. Nor can the leadership team be the only source. Not every decision is strategic, but every decision is better made in the context of a larger picture. How big a picture do your employees need to have? Not all are the same and all require something to pull them out of myopia. You can ask these 4 questions when the opportunity presents, which will be multiple times per day: -- "How does that fit with...?" -- "What applies here?" -- "What is the distinction that is really important to this?" -- What other pieces of the puzzle are impacted?" Most of those questions are best leveraged with the addition of a very few situation specific words, but by themselves will get people thinking. Some of us are strategic, some conceptual, some linear, and some literal thinkers. Helping each move just a little toward a higher level as you ask questions will improve the quality of decision-making throughout your entire organization. These 4 questions are not a panacea, not a silver bullet. But they are easy and will move the needle. That's reason enough to use them.