Becoming a strategic leader (1): What is strategic leadership and why does it matter?

Welcome to the “Stop! strategy time” two-part series, where we demystify strategic leadership and get to grips with what you need to do to become a more strategic leader. 

In part one, I’ll be introducing the concept of strategic leadership, what strategy is and isn’t, along with three golden rules of strategic leadership. If you want to skip to the practical tips and jump to an actionable framework for daily, weekly, and quarterly strategic steps, you’ll find part two - How to lead strategically every day - here.

This article is an expansion of my LeadDev talk “Stop! Strategy time”, watch it here:

“Have a strategy, implement your strategy, and be done!” - this is what most books and articles about strategy feel like to me (even better if they had many military references sprinkled in).

And you may feel the same way! And, maybe it feels like “strategy” just isn’t for you.

• Do you have an ever-growing-taller pile of to-do’s? Are you swimming in useless meetings? Trying to climb out of a pile of tactical work? Or, perhaps you’re aiming for a promotion?

• Is your team struggling with prioritising work? Are they demotivated, or struggling with decision-making? Trying to understand another round of changes that came out of nowhere?

If you said yes to any of these questions, the chances are that you need - strategy!

Many leaders I work with have at least one of these challenges - from senior staff to principal engineers, engineering managers, VPs, and CTOs. No matter what level you’re at, I’ll show you how strategic leadership can really assist you in tackling these challenges.

What is 🦄✨strategic leadership✨🦄 anyway?

“Strategic leadership” is a nebulous concept for many leaders - and something that gets thrown around a lot without much explanation.

So let’s start with the basics, and deconstruct this idea of “strategic leadership”. I’ll start with what it’s not:

• It is not spending your whole work day in back-to-back meetings that are focused on running your team, spending your time fighting fires and responding to emails or slack.

Strategy is

• Setting goals and priorities which include risks, challenges and obstacles

• Determining actions to achieve these goals and priorities 

• Mobilising limited resources

• Executing the actions (this is also where your tactics happen)

• And, strategy is also an explicit acknowledgement of what you’re NOT doing

Strategy vs. tactics

• Strategy outlines the intent for the future 

  • Tactics turns that intent into daily action

• Strategy defines what and why you intend to do 

  • Tactics outline how

• Strategy looks outward, so not just at what is, but considers external information, and is about effectiveness, i.e. doing the right thing 

  • Tactics are more focused inward: what people, budget, time can we use to achieve this with as low cost as possible?

Finding your way

I love hiking. The photo below is from a hike I did in Sardinia in autumn 2022. I think of strategic leadership as a hike in an unknown area:

• I didn’t know the area very well, so I checked some maps and selected a mountain to hike 

• I created a route on a map

• I selected my gear: hiking boots, backpack, and sunscreen 

• I took turns that would take me closer to the mountain top

• On the way, I’d look at the mountain to make sure I was getting closer, and used a compass (okay, admittedly, my phone’s GPS) to make sure I was moving in the right direction

• But, I also kept my eyes on the ground to make sure I wouldn’t stumble or get caught in some thorny bushes 

Think about this as horizons of leadership: We look to strategy for direction, and our tactics and actions are the paths we take to get there. We may have a very long-term vision that we’re going towards - in this case, we’re embarking on more of a thru-hike. 

Strategic leadership rule #1: “Strategic leadership” = leading (daily) from an idea of the future (strategy)

We take actions and use tactics every day and always keep in mind where we want to go. 

Why is strategic leadership so important?

Put simply, strategic leadership helps you be a better leader and make better decisions. The impact on your teams is huge. Research shows only 14% of employees feel they have a clear understanding of their company’s strategy and direction. 

Ultimately, it decreases the risk of you or your team’s time being wasted on low-impact work and allows you to operate at a higher level. 

• You’ll set more impactful priorities

• You’ll gain a skill which is one of biggest differentiators in leaders’ growth

And strategic leadership is critical for teams: 

• Knowing the strategy is motivating for employees, improves commitment and resilience

• Lays the foundations for high-performing teams 

• Aligns your team’s work with the corporate strategy

• Increases your team’s ability to manage change 

Strategic leadership is for everyone

Strategic leadership doesn’t depend on your role or organisation size. Figure out what strategy means for you, whether you’re in a technical role, manage one team or several, and use the scope that you have.

You may be thinking: “This sounds great! So, why are we not all strategic leaders already, all the time?”

Well, strategic leadership requires a lot of work. 

• It takes time and effort and requires you to constantly be context-switching

• It needs to be balanced with operational work

  • Need to balance it with tactical work and not lose our head in the clouds 

• It may bring more change and involves saying no

  • E.g., letting go of work that your team has already invested a lot of time in,  in favour of new initiatives that could add more value

• It’s a bet based on incomplete information

  • Strategy is intentionally a bet on the future that you’re making - uncertainty can feel uncomfortable!  

This work goes against our cognitive wiring. 

• Our cognitive biases make us inclined to focus on what’s familiar - in how we spend our time, what we think and talk about - instead of seeking out the unknown and new information. But this is essential in strategic leadership.

• And the toughest one of all: strategic leadership means saying no to tempting near-term, urgent work, also known as those dopamine-hitting quickly done tasks!
  

Strategic leadership rule #2: Expect that you will have to trick your brain into working on strategy.

Strategic leadership means delaying the gratification we get from quickly-done tasks, which can even feel bad initially.

Strategic leadership rule #3: Strategic work is leadership hygiene.

Don’t delay working on strategy. Strategic work is leadership hygiene: the leaders who say they “don’t have any time for strategy” are usually the ones who need it the most.

So how do you make strategic work part of your leadership hygiene? In part two of this series, I cover practical steps on leading strategically and how to incorporate strategy into your daily schedule. It also includes a free, downloadable strategy cheat sheet to help you lead more strategically, every single day.