Strategic Thinking – It’s All the Rage
If you are not a natural strategic thinker, learning how is one of the most difficult challenges for a small business owner. Most small businesses are run by people who specialize in watch repair or dry cleaning or hairstyling or cooking or — well, you get the idea. And just because you can fight your way through a broken Timex or a superb Hollandaise recipe does not necessarily mean you have the talent to think strategically about the development of your business.
The five basic components of strategic thinking in business are: Organization, Observation, Views, Driving Forces and Ideal. It just may be best to start with your business’s eventual ideal position. It is often easier to think through the others when you have a well-defined dream, then backtrack to define the organization and other strategic factors and behaviors that will get you there.
By its very nature effective strategic thinking is abstract, yet specific and personal. There are guidelines, but no rules, and guidelines are also made to be broken. Here is a good place to start to organize your strategic processes – or, to see how your thinking measures up.
