Focus strategically to create value

- A former student of mine, his name is Blake, had a problem. Blake is someone who's outdoors a lot. He's an athlete who runs, hikes and rides bikes and often needed a portable and healthy snack. But he found very few on-the-go foods that didn't contain some kind of nuts, and Blake is very allergic to nuts. So he decided to start a company Blake's Seed Based. They make snacks that are healthy, taste great, and are allergy friendly. Within a year of starting the business, Blake's products, were in more than 1,000 stores. The company is growing quickly. Blake's biggest challenge is figuring out what kind of people to hire. He needs people to make and package the products and they need to do their jobs well. These are what we call the tactical thinkers in an organization. They're trained to do specific things, sorting out information until they come to the right answer. They'll tell Blake the best material to use for packaging and what machines to buy. But he also needs colleagues who are strategic thinkers. These people help him think about growing the business and exploring new opportunities. Strategic thinkers rely on collaboration, listening, and learning to make the best choices. They know there will never be a guaranteed right answer and they're comfortable making the best decisions they can with the available data. When you become a people leader, you are likely to find yourself caught between these two schools of thought. As a tactical leader, you use data to ensure that things get done right, but there's also the need for strategic thinking, considering the organization as a whole and becoming more comfortable with ambiguous decisions. You can work through this transition by learning more about your organization. Start by reading your company's internal documents like brochures or even your website. Then, review what is said about your organization online or in the news. Try to answer these questions. What does your company do? What do you produce or provide? Who are your customers? What companies are your key competitors? And why might a customer choose you over the competition? Is your company growing? Well, if so, what products are responsible for that growth? Once you have a good idea, turn your attention to your own division or work group. How do you contribute to the company's big picture goals and strategy? What do you do that helps the company make money or cut cost? Let's take a look at Blake's Seed Based as an example. Imagine you work on the team that packages products. Your group helps the company make money by correctly packaging items so customers can buy them. When your job is putting food in packages, you use tactical thinking. You figure out how to make sure every product is in the right wrapper and sealed correctly. You decide on the best way to use your machinery or to position the product so that you don't make mistakes. But now you're promoted and managing the people in that packaging group. You need to shift to strategic thinking. You know that a big reason customers buy Blake's Seed Based products is that they're allergy free. So you are aware that customers will pay special attention to the list of ingredients on the package. You understand why packaging the product so customers can read that list is so important. So now the decisions you make for the packaging team are based on your strategic understanding of the company's value proposition. As an individual contributor, you think about how. How work can best be done or how to be more efficient. As a people leader, you shift to thinking about why. Then, as you come to understand more about the reasons behind your company's operations, you move into strategic thinking. The decisions are more complicated, but you have the knowledge to contribute.