Having worked with managers as they move up in an organization, I have seen one key issue arise again and again over the past 20 years.  One of great challenges seems to be how to shift from having an operational perspective (for which middle managers are typically rewarded) to having a strategic mindset.  This became so prevelant that I developed the following tag line for my coaching:  ”I help individuals who know how to manage out and down become leaders who lead up and out.”  

The Center for Creative Leadership has a great article on this very topic in their October issue:  Shifting Gears: How to Successfully Move Into a Strategic Role.  The article is adapted from Becoming a Strategic Leader: Your Role in Your Organization’s Enduring Success by Richard L. Hughes and Katherine Colarelli Beatty and does a great job of summarizing what it means to be a strategic leader as well as list a number of critical questions to be addressed by the leader.  I particularly enjoyed the questions under “stratgic influencing” and believe that they point to the need for leaders to become more collaborative if they are to be successful strategically.

Strategic influencing is about building commitment to the organization’s strategic direction by inviting others into the strategic process, forging relationships inside and outside the organization and utilizing organizational culture and systems of influence. 

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