Strategic Leadership-The-Esssential Skills

Core Competencies Assignment 1 Martina Duggan 20081521

Introduction

In the Harvard Business Review article by, Paul Schoemaker, Steve Krupp, and Amanda Howland, (Vol. 91, #1-2, p. 131-134), https://hbr.org/2013/01/strategic-leadership-the-esssential-skills. Research was conducted at The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a

Discussion

The article describes the six skills in detail and when combined, an adaptive strategic leader has learned to use all six skills at once. Each skill has received attention in leadership literature research, but usually as separate skills. They are rarely used in the context of high risks interests and deep uncertainty in the industrial environment, they can be a factor

When leaders are trying to improve their ability to anticipate they should talk constantly to stakeholders in understanding their challenges. They should imagine and plan for different future situations, look at what successful rivals companies are doing. Try to figure out what’s going on with recognized failures and attend conferences in other fields.

Challenge: Strategic thinkers challenge their own and others’ assumptions and encourage different points of view. After careful reflection and thorough examination of a problem from different viewpoints, only then should they take decisive action. Learning these skills requires a leader to be patience, courageous, and to have an open mind. Leaders should concentrate on the root causes of a problem as opposed to the symptoms; ask “Why?” five times when confronted with a problem; list long-standing assumptions and ask a wide-ranging group if these assumptions still hold true. They should encourage debate by holding “safe zone” meetings in which open discussions and conflicting opinions are expected and welcomed; get input from people who are unaffected the decisions

By dividing big decisions into smaller pieces, it enables a better understanding of component parts which provides a clearer picture of unintended consequences. Leaders need to reframe binary decisions and reach out for more options, asking the question “What other options do we have”. Tailoring a decision criteria to long-term as opposed to short-term projects and letting others know where one is in the decision-making process. Deciding on who needs to be involved directly and can influence success, considering pilot programs or experiments and make staged