We know strategic leadership is important, but how do we recognize when it’s happening? What efforts should we focus on to develop strategic leaders within our organizations?
The Strategy + Business magazine has identified 10 principles of strategic leadership. They also created a one-page infographic summary of the highlights.
The article defines strategic leaders as people who are able to tackle “wicked problems” – the ones that “can’t be solved by a single command, have causes that seem incomprehensible and solutions that seem uncertain, and often require companies to transform the way they do business.”
Higher education, like most other sectors, is facing any number of wicked problems. We’re going to have to continue to step up our leadership game. Here are 10 principles that can help.
- Distribute responsibility
- Be honest and open about information
- Create multiple paths for raising and testing ideas
- Make it safe to fail
- Provide access to other strategists
- Develop opportunities for experience-based learning
- Hire for transformation
- Bring your whole self to work
- Find time to reflect
- Recognize leadership development as an ongoing practice
There are several items on this list that resonate with me – either because it’s something I’m involved with frequently or because it’s something I need to work on. Where could you focus as you address the wicked problems in your life?
Dee Anne Bonebright
Higher EDge 