Contributing to Strategic Leadership

I believe it is a good thing when professional corporate planners construct strategic plans. It is an even better thing when people in the organization participate in the formulation of strategic priorities. But the best thing about strategic leadership is frequently missed by scholars and practitioners alike. The missing link is right under our nose. It is so obvious that it seems embarrassing.

The real key to strategic leadership lies with each member of the organization from the top to the bottom. Everyone can and should become a champion of strategy within their function or area of responsibility. If a company is to truly become or remain competitive, it needs to get everyone into the strategic leadership game, each person a strategic contributor. This means the organization needs more than just one grand business strategy. It needs an army of strategic thinkers not foot soldiers without direction or a cause of their own to pursue in conjunction with the overall business strategy.

To ensure future organizational success, people need to anticipate and get ahead of the game by figuring out what they need to be doing now to prepare for the future. This is a win-win deal: the organization gets an entire workforce that is more proactive and innovative, and the individual builds long term success, productivity, and eliminates the threat of obsolesce and irrelevance.

It means that people have to do more than participate in formulating organization strategy and business plans. They have to see themselves as strategic entrepreneurs over their own job. If people feel inspired to lead and execute their bottom-up strategic process, organizations can unlock the minds and talents of everyone to be a step ahead. What we are suggesting is that organizations need strategy to "filter down" from the top and then "filter up" from the bottom.

There is no question that personal or team strategy should be linked to and aligned with the grand corporate business strategy. But, personal strategy should also contain independent goals and plans that will address long term needs, opportunities, and threats that can only be perceived by those embedded in the organization. In fact, exercising individual strategic leadership unleashes creativity, innovation, and motivation. What better way to motivate people than encouraging them to pursue personalized priorities that will help them add value to the business over the long haul. It also helps them to achieve more of the elusive power that Abraham Maslow coined as "self actualization." By promoting individual strategic leadership, you will help your organization retain talent, motivate people to achieve their daily work tasks, and empower them to work on longer term strategic challenges and initiatives that challenge the status quo.

Fundamentally, it all boils down to having supervisors, managers, and key contributors operating like small businesses. People have to be entrepreneurially minded about the future. They need to read trends, identify and target ambitious opportunities and unmet needs, and innovate more. People will always have to accomplish their daily demands and emergencies - that goes without saying. However, long term sustained organizational success means we need everyone to engage in strategic leadership and continually tests ideas and channels energy and resources into their future success.

When people understand how they fit and why they matter, they will respond with commitment and give that extra discretionary performance that managers want. If people are encouraged to challenge the status quo and to formulate personal strategic initiatives, your organization can surge beyond the competition and become an unstoppable force in the market place.

Steven J. Stowell, PhD has been assisting organization around the world in the areas of Strategic Leadership, Strategic Thinking, Coaching Skills, and Leadership Development.

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