Leadership in Action: Strategic Aims: Making the Right Moves in Leadership

THREE SKILLS

At some point in their careers, many managers are told that they need to become more strategic. CCL has found that achieving this goal requires sharpening managers' skills in the areas of strategic thinking, strategic acting, and strategic influencing. These three processes work interdependently—in other words, the way one thinks affects the way one acts, and the way one influences largely determines the kind of information one gets from others and thus will have available to consider. Collectively, these three skills drive a leader's progress through the five elements of strategy as a learning process.

Strategic thinking involves having a vision of what the organization can and should become; it offers new ways of understanding ...