Why Thinking and Planning Must Work Together
Several years ago, my business partner, Doug Maris, wrote a blog post entitled “What’s the Difference Between Strategic Thinking and Strategic Planning?”. In it, he highlights the distinction between the two while underscoring their symbiotic relationship. As Doug observes, “The two not only work together, but they require each other… Without strategic thinking, strategic planning and management will digress into a sluggish and lifeless process of setting goals and measuring objectives and ultimately cannibalize itself in a quest for structure and process.”
When this imbalance takes hold, it weakens organizational culture, creates operational friction, and often leads to blind spots and missed opportunities. To counter this, strategy professionals must serve as catalysts, championing and embedding strategic thinking at every level of the organization to ensure business strategy setting, planning, and action remain dynamic, forward-looking, and impactful.
How to Build a Strategic Thinking Culture
- Establish Organizational Listening Posts
Strategic thinking thrives on fresh insights. Create “listening posts” of individuals or small teams tasked with monitoring a specific dimension of the external environment such as technology, regulations, social change or industry dynamics. These teams provide quarterly reports on emerging signals, disruptive shifts, and potential opportunities. Listening posts keep leaders grounded in external realities and prevent surprises.
- Visualize Alternative Futures
Great strategies look beyond the present. Incorporate exercises that explore alternative futures and their possible impact on customers, employees, and stakeholders. Share scenarios widely and encourage discussion across the organization. As Doug reminds us, “Strategic thinking is not just a way of thinking about what could be, but also a way of seeing what should be.”
Techniques like scenario planning, futures wheels, and backcasting provide structure for imagining long-term implications. They energize planning sessions, give form to “what-if” conversations, and connect today’s decisions to tomorrow’s outcomes.
- Adopt Multiple Perspectives
Multiple perspectives help avoid insular decision-making and strengthen alignment. Encourage teams to view issues from different “altitudes,” i.e., high-level systems, mid-level operations, and ground-level customer experiences. Once strategic priorities are set, craft tailored value propositions for customers, partners, employees, and owners. Also, carefully consider the impact of these choices on the organization’s current operating model.
- Prioritize Psychological Safety
Without trust, strategic thinking stalls. Teams need the confidence to voice concerns, challenge assumptions, and propose unconventional ideas. Building psychological safety ensures diverse perspectives are heard, fueling creativity and reducing groupthink.
- Invest in Professional Development
A culture of strategic thinking doesn’t happen by accident. Invest in team upskilling to build competencies in environmental scanning, systems thinking, foresight, and data literacy. Equipped with these skills, employees become co-creators of strategy rather than passive participants.
- Leverage AI Thoughtfully
Artificial intelligence can scan massive data sets, uncover weak signals, and model possible futures faster than humans alone. But AI is an amplifier, not a replacement for human judgment. Strategy professionals should use AI to surface insights while applying expertise and context to guide meaning and action.
The Main Point
By embedding practices such as listening posts, foresight tools, psychological safety, and AI integration, organizations can foster a strategic thinking culture that adapts quickly, drives performance, and sustains resilience in a rapidly changing world.
For those strategy consultants and internal strategy professionals exploring how AI can play a practical role in strengthening strategic thinking, our AI Strategy Lab offers a hands-on starting point. The Lab provides recorded training on twelve proven environmental assessment tools, paired with a companion AI prompt to help strategy professionals immediately apply the tool in their own organizations.
For more information, visit https://www.lblstrategies.com/ai-strategy-lab/