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This is the final article in this five-part series about building or refreshing your strategic skills. The first four articles focused on the individual employee and self-management, but things get trickier when other people are involved.
You can think strategically and plan your work beautifully, but if you can't bring others along, your impact will always be limited. Strategic leadership is about influence, relationships and creating outcomes that work for everyone—including you.
In this article, we’ll cover some leadership principles and tools you can use to lead more strategically, noting that we defined being strategic as simply being more intentional.
The case study is based on a set of characters from the leadership novella I recently wrote.
This is a short and (hopefully) funny story that follows the journeys of four fictional leaders: Claire the Control Freak, Rob the Rebel, Quinn the Quiet Achiever and Gene the Chaotic Genius. They have different goals and challenges but are all on their way to being more strategic (and less annoying to themselves and others).
The link to the novella is at the bottom of this article. It’s free, no download or email is required, and you can probably finish it in a couple of hours.
You’ll note in the story that Claire, Rob, Quinn and Gene are asked to form a working group that pulls together and presents a response plan to a major review. And their contrasting working styles make for an interesting ride.
Let’s first cover some of the principles that underpin the suggested approach and then we’ll look at how to apply them when working with each of these four very different stakeholder types.
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Principle 1: Influence without authority
We all need to influence without authority.
First, no one can succeed on their own, especially in an organisational environment. We need to work with others to get to where we collectively want to go.
Second, even if the organisation has a set structure and hierarchy in place, no one is really the boss—even the CEO has someone to report to. And that’s a good thing because it creates accountability, which hopefully drives performance and promotes ethical behaviour at all levels.
Third, you can’t really make anyone do anything. That’s a good thing, too, but it also means that formal authority only gets you so far.
All this means that everyone operates within constraints and needs buy-in from people they can't simply instruct.
But that doesn’t mean we have no power at all. Some positive ways of influencing are with our expertise, by building relationships based on trust and by modelling behaviour.
In the story, Claire and Rob, who are equally senior and equally convinced they’re right, clash over how to run the working group’s very first meeting. Neither can simply instruct the other. And Quinn and Gene have to step in as peacekeepers.
Principle 2: Balance selfishness and selflessness
This is about being honest with yourself and fair to others—essentially, taking a grown-up approach to leadership. Again, we need to hit goals collectively, because we all matter.
Show respect for yourself by setting healthy and ethical boundaries. Show others respect by considering their interests and acting accordingly. Martyrs who give until they burn out and people who optimise only for their own advancement are both less effective, in the long run, than balanced leaders.
And maybe you won’t hit the right balance on every occasion; sometimes you’ll be short with someone or take something on when you’re already on the verge of burnout. The important thing is to notice it and course-correct as soon as you can.
Principle 3: Create triple-wins
Try to create triple-wins when working with others. These are outcomes that work for you, your team and your stakeholders, which make success more sustainable.
For yourself, consider your goals, development and wellbeing. For your team, consider their capacity, growth and working conditions. And for your stakeholders, consider the needs or objectives of those you serve, report to or collaborate with.
Sustainability matters. A project that succeeds but burns out your team isn't a win. A relationship maintained through heroic effort isn't stable. Build capability in others, create systems that work when you're not there and share what you know.
You'll see the group in the story eventually land on something closer to a triple-win, though it takes a few wrong turns to get there.
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Supporting tools
To create triple-wins, you need to understand your stakeholders. You can use stakeholder mapping when planning a project, preparing for a difficult conversation or reviewing your focus areas.
For each key stakeholder, consider:
who they are
what they care about
what they need from you
what you need from them
how you should engage with them.
Once you've mapped your stakeholders, review the relationships and decide where to invest. See which relationships are strong and just need to be maintained, in which you need to invest more and which ones are difficult and may need a deliberate strategy.
Pick one from each category to create your relationship focus for the next quarter.
In the story, we see the group taking a people-first approach to developing the response plan and using the mapping tool as part of this.
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How does this apply to you?
When you’re working with others, consider what they value and how they work, to build mutual trust.
With people like Claire, communicate clearly and directly, show how risks have been considered and explain what your advice is based on. They are risk averse, so clarity and rigour will help you build trust.
If your stakeholder is a Rob-type, connect to the work they value and be ready to answer the 'why' and the 'so what' questions. Show them how the answers affect planning and that you've already thought about ways of making delivery easier.
If you’re working with someone like Quinn, who is very process-driven and prone to overinforming, draw on their strengths of breaking things into clear steps and help them tailor the level of detail to their audience. You could also meet to tease out the key takeaways in person, so neither of you are swimming in a sea of data and paperwork.
When working with a Gene-type, be clear about what you need from them and vice versa. Lock in due dates in the diary as soon as possible and follow up in person or on the phone when needed. Show them the big picture and how things fit together. And keep things fun…because they’ll get bored and distracted by something else. (Don’t ask me how I know.)
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Want to see how this plays out in practice?
Follow the group’s story across the twelve chapters of the novella.
On the novella page, you’ll also find a couple of tools to help you figure out which of the four characters you’re most like and where you’re at with your strategic thinking. Don’t take these too seriously—and don’t take yourself too seriously either. Remember to have fun along the way.
I hope this is helpful.