What Does it Mean to be “More Strategic”?

I was recently speaking at an event geared towards mid-level managers. One question that came up from a few of the participants was “what does it mean to ‘be more strategic’ in my job”? Apparently quite a few bosses tell their people that they are too “tactical” and not “strategic” enough- without any clarity around what they really want to see. Here are my thoughts:

1. The fact that someone doesn’t feel comfortable asking their boss what in the heck they mean when they give a directive like this, shows that the relationships are fractured. A bigger issue than not being “strategic” is that the lines of communication that would be necessary to really have a mutual understanding isn’t happening. So what else is being missed when signals are crossed like this? If you are the boss consider whether you have invested in the relationship with your employees sufficiently to enable them to feel free to ask you questions.
2. As the recipient of this sort of feedback, it absolutely makes sense to ask the boss “what would you be seeing from me if I were being more strategic”? Nothing wrong with asking how you are going to be evaluated or for clarity. In fairness to your boss, they make think you know what they mean, and it is totally fine to admit that you don’t. Better to put it all out there and get the answers you need.
3. My direct answer to the question was — if you come in every day and execute on the processes that you were taught to do for your job, you are not showing any strategic thinking. You may be doing an amazing job at the task at hand — but that is not strategic. If, however, you are coming up with process improvements, new things to do that would grow or enhance the business, or otherwise stepping back and coming up with a better way- congratulations, you are being more strategic!
4. As a mid-level manager, by definition you have people working for you. That means there are opportunities to delegate — and you need to delegate enough so that you free up some time every week to step back and think about how to improve what’s going on (otherwise known as, “the big picture”). No one is going to come and invite you to set aside this time- that’s your job to do as you move up the ladder.

We assume that as people move up in managing, they automatically know how to do it- but why would they? Spending a little time developing the managers who work for you is an investment that will pay enormous dividends.