How to be more strategic than the next person!

We often hear the advice to be "more strategic," but what does that actually mean in practice? It's one of those things that's easy to say but can be hard to do.

I want to share a simple but powerful technique I've found incredibly helpful. It’s all about shifting your time horizon.

Think about it: in any organization, the more frontline someone is, the shorter their planning horizon usually is.

+   A specialist might plan in days or weeks.

+   Their manager typically plans in months or for the year.

+   A CEO should be thinking in decades.

Here’s the tip: If you want to position yourself as strategic to the person you're with, adopt a longer time horizon in your thinking and questions than they do.

For example, if you're working with a colleague who is laser-focused on the next few weeks, you can help by asking how their work connects to the annual goals. If your boss is planning for the year, you could gently inquire how their plan fits into the broader 2-3 year vision for the department.

In my view, this shift does something magical. It helps the other person zoom out, see the bigger picture, and spot new opportunities or better paths they might have missed. And that's the very essence of being strategic!

Try it out!

Observe the typical time horizon of the people you work with. Then, in your next conversation, try to position your thinking just one level higher (e.g., if they talk weeks, you talk months).

What's your own 'default' time horizon? We all have one!