Many leaders receive feedback that they need to be more strategic. The text defines strategic leadership as "Individuals and collectives enact strategic leadership when they think, act, and influence others in ways that promote the enduring direction, alignment, and commitment of the organization." Treating strategy as a learning process allows individuals to work on thinking, acting, and influencing skills while focusing on how the organization strategically operates.
One way practice strategic leadership is through viewing strategy as a learning process. Strategic Learning Process (SLP) can be done in five steps: 1. Assessing where we are, 2. Understanding who we are and where we want to go, 3. Learning how to get there, 4. Making the journey, and 5. Checking our progress. Leadership must emphasize strategy as a learning process in order to develop a strong strategic culture inside an organization. This will help the organization focus on the right things to create growth and maximize resources, develop strategies, and create a learning culture that helps the organization perform at a higher level.
A personal example of strategic leadership is in my job as a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant. Although I am my own boss, I am a team member to my unit. We needed to qualify for a car in March, so around December we assessed where we were, and set a goal. Our Director (leader) helped us set individual goals as well as an overall strategic plan in order for our unit to reach our goal. We researched and used our skills in order to "learn how to get there." Individually, we made the journey by selling and recruiting (we had to sell about $5000 more product by March). We checked our progress at the end of March when we achieved our goal and became an 8-time car qualifying unit. Later, we discussed ways we each gained commitment through the process and ways that we could improve.
What do you think about strategic leadership? Does it discourage change? Whether it is using the five steps or an example of how a better learning culture was created, can you think of an example where an organization you've been involved in practiced strategic leadership? Any ways you or your organization can improve strategically?
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I think strategic leadership is good because it provides a vision and direction for the growth and success of an organization. However, this can be difficult if not everyone in the organization has the skills that are required in order to reach the shared goal of the organization. It is important that the members of the organization work together and help others learn the required skills. I do not think it discourages change because there is more than one way that the members of the organization can reach their goal. If something doesn't work they have many people who have ideas that can give their input to figure out a new idea. However, this type of leadership requires members to commit, adjust, and adapt quickly to different plans in a variety of situations.
ReplyDeleteI work at a Nursing Home and we use strategic leadership when dealing with state. We know what the requirements and regulations are that we must follow, so we have a meeting to discuss what we are doing correctly and what we need to work on. Then we follow up with what we need to work on by having an in-service meeting that teaches us how to do tasks that are not as good as others. Once we learn the task we perform in on our unit and have our supervisors follow up and make sure we are performing the task correctly. This organization can improve strategically by having stricter requirements to make sure everyone in the organization comes to the meeting and gets taught the class by the professionals and not just another employee.
Strategic leadership doesn't necessarily mean that it discourages change. With setting for a strategy to obtain a goal, everyone who is involved with trying to accomplish this goal should be told up front that although the strategy is set in place, changes may occur. Things out of the control of the people in the group happen, and changes and adapting to these out of control situations is what makes a group be able to stay afloat. A strategic plan is necessary for almost all goals set. Although this plan should be carefully reviewed and followed, it is necessary for changes to be made if there are unforeseen circumstances as the group proceeds to accomplish their goal.
DeleteI believe the strategic plan is good for short term leadership goals. I would not make it a first option for long term goals as it does not seem detailed enough. I do not not think that it discourages change, but it does not start the change either. I believe it only insist once the change that has to occur is realized.
ReplyDeleteI think the jobs I had where is was more skill based than anything and less about intellectual contribution were the ones that practiced these things. I know in a lot of sales jobs they practices this style with employees because they are short term goals made for the lowest workers as the heads are thinking in terms of long term goals. In fields such as sales, customer service, etc. this planning works perfectly.
Developing strategic plan is neccessary for great leadership in todays world. Being a business major I see how it is a part of every successful business leader and helps them guide them for long term goals. Does it start change fast? Maybe not but what it does do is have a set plan that will be there for years instead of followers having to guess at what their goals are.
DeleteSkill based jobs do practice these I agree ass well more than intellectual. But you see strategic planning set at a the highest levels whether its executives or CEOs.
I think strategic leadership is very important as well in order for an organization to essentially succeed in the long run. It is important for a leader to know what they are reaching for and how they are going to reach that goal. The leader can give better direction to their followers using the strategic plan that was identified. I don't think strategic leadership discourages change at all, on the other hand, I think strategic leadership will encourage change because they will have more of a vision for change.
ReplyDeleteStrategic plans are used all the time at my current job. We are constantly coming up with how we are going to meet goals by using the strategic learning process. There are ways we can improve however, as it is important to get those five steps down to a T. Sometimes one or two of the steps can be missed while coming up with a strategy.
I feel strategic leadership that is something that should be used in all situations that fit the system. I think in the majority of teams there should be a time where they try and look at the 5 steps of the SLP. I don’t feel it discourages change, but encourages change to a certain extent. There could be times where a team does not have a unanimous goal or direction. I wonder how to handle disagreement if it comes up within the SLP. I will be starting a new job starting in June. This is the type of process that I hope they have at my future employee. As a new employee I understand that I will need to be trained. I would like my trainer to set goals for me and let me know how I can achieve them along with making the goal achievable for me. Sending feedback and checking on the progress of a trainee is important to see if they are going in the right direction and obtaining their goal.
ReplyDeleteI think strategic leadership is important to most organizations. I feel that a leader of any organization needs to have the ability to let the followers know the vision/ goal of the group. Being a follower and not knowing what the ultimate goal of a group is makes it hard to be motivated. For example, in an offseason for football we meet with coaches and assess where we are. After we assess where we are we figure out the best way we can get to where we want to go. This is true for any organization, the process repeats itself all the time.
ReplyDeleteStrategic learning is important to any leader, learning how to change and improve is important for any type of person. Weather people believe it or not we can all use improvement in many parts of our lives and leadership is just one of these parts. By being evaluated through strategic leadership leaders can learn when they have done wrong in order to not repeat it in the future. I can think of many situations where this has been useful to me. Most recently I can of the examples of teachers acting as leaders, when you turn in a paper and then get it back the feedback is how you can improve on the paper for future assignments with that professor. This is also seen when working with others in group projects you may receive strategic feedback from group members telling ways that you could improve on working with others. Receiving criticism is part of life and know how to handle and take it from others can make or break a relationship.
DeleteI don't think strategic learning discourages change, instead, I think it discourages rash, fast, and ill-planned change that you're probably not ready for. Currently, my organization (NRHH) is undergoing a lot of changes. At the beginning of the year, in a quest to restore the org to its former glory, I was ready to do everything and anything right away. Unfortunately, that was not a possibility, and I would have been in a very bad place had I tried. So we set goals for the org as a whole, and then manageable semester and monthly goals. Now, we have a plan to pass on to the next group as I move on and new leadership takes over. We just have to make sure we always have someone to support us and people who are willing to persevere and continue to strive toward the final goal.
ReplyDeleteI think strategic leadership is a good thing. I do not think strategic leadership discourages change. Like Susan, I think it is important for there to be strategic leadership because everything is not always perfect, and things involve change. I have not really had to work within an organization that required a huge change recently so I have not really dealt with strategic leadership. However, in the future I know I will, so I think it is important to be educated about strategic leadership.
ReplyDeleteI think that strategic leadership is a great way of practicing leadership skills and accomplishing a goal in a timely matter. This is a great way for the organization to set out a goal and be focused on that goal so that they can be motivated on what they need to do. Strategic leadership is important so that people in and out of the organization can develop an understanding about where they are now and where they see themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is an effective way to accomplish goals for the team or organization and is important for the orgs to focus on certain areas that need to be focused on in order to reach the goal.
I am very found of this type of leadership. I think it looks at leadership form a very different perspective. From my view a fault of it may be that it only focuses on the leader but I guess through the SLP followers could apply that to themselves as well.
ReplyDeleteI dont think it disaqualifies change. I think the SLP is pretty borad and could apply through the changing times. I also feel this type of leadership could be applied to many different types of organizations. From bussiness oranizations and educational programs. I think this type of leadership is very veritile, and that is what i like the most about it.