Master the 4 Disciplines of Strategy for More Effective Leadership

HR professionals are often told that “being strategic” is critical for success. But what exactly does that skill set entail, and what does it look like?

According to Rich Horwath, bestselling author and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute, the first step in identifying those skills is to define what the word “strategic” means, which he described as “possessing insight that leads to advantage.” During his session at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2024 (SHRM24), Horwath explained the model he created to help exercise the strategic minds of leaders all around the world.

Getting Strategically Fit

Focused on four different disciplines of “fitness,” his model can help workplace leaders transform the complexities of their business into clear direction by thinking, planning, and acting more strategically. 

1.     Fitness in Strategy

Horwath explained that he looks at 300 to 400 strategic plans a year across a wide variety of industries and departments. In creating his model, he drilled down to the two foundational questions that should be at the core of every plan: What are you trying to achieve? And how will you achieve it?

To help workplace leaders determine their answers, he recommended using the age-old “GOST” framework—that is, Goal, Objective, Strategy, and Tactics. In his session, the example he provided was climbing to the top of a mountain.

If your Goal is to get to the top of the mountain, he said, then perhaps your Objective is to reach 12,000 feet in 12 days. Your Strategy is how you get to the top: Can you go straight? Do you need to zig-zag around? That leaves your Tactics, which are the specific tools you’ll use to climb the mountain.

Additionally, Horwath took his audience through a four-part rubric to plot out potential trade-offs when developing their strategic plan:

• Eliminate factors that are no longer needed for your business.
• Decrease factors that should receive less resource allocation.
• Increase factors that should receive more resource allocation.
• Create factors that don’t currently exist but are necessary for continued success.

2.     Fitness in Leadership

From Horwath’s perspective, a leader’s primary role is to set direction and serve others to achieve goals. But, he said, a study by McKinsey and Company found only 22% of employees believe their senior leaders set strong direction for their company.

“Prescription without diagnosis equals malpractice,” he said. He recommended leaders evaluate what is happening in their business before jumping to conclusions.

Horwath outlined four key organizational areas that workplace leaders should always be keeping their finger on the pulse of:

• Their company.
• Their market.
• Their customers.
• Their competitors.

3.     Fitness in Organization  

Horwath’s third discipline of fitness is organization, referring to an employer’s business model and infrastructure. In this area, he focused his presentation on the notion of value—and highlighted the wisdom of Charles Darwin: “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.”

Connecting Darwin’s quote to the idea that organizations are all “value-delivery machines,” he proposed that leaders must constantly be working to evolve the value their organization brings to other people. If they don’t do this, their organization will become obsolete.

One practice Horwath recommended to his audience is for them to always write down their ideas and insights, which he defined as learning that leads to new value. In his extensive research, he discovered that this was one of the habits great leaders practiced consistently, along with regularly revisiting and reviewing their writings to turn their insights into action.

4. Fitness in Communication

When it came to tips for leaders to improve their communication, Horwath focused on best practices for conducting meetings: Respect people’s time by beginning and ending your meetings on time. Additionally:

• Include only the necessary people needed for the discussion.
• Have at least 50% dialogue.
• Send an agenda for your meetings at least three business days prior to the gathering. This allows everyone to prepare and bring questions, which will make meetings more effective and worth everyone’s time.
• Identify at least two specific decisions to be made in every meeting.
• Allow time at the end of each meeting to discuss what you and your employees took away from the discussion, to make sure it was effective for all.  
• Conclude meetings with clear next steps and assigned accountabilities that will help future meetings flow successfully and keep everyone on the same page.

Your Assignment: Learn New Ways to Bring Value

In concluding his session at SHRM24, Horwath emphasized that strategic leaders recognize that most people “paint with their minds, not their hands.”

“We are paid for our expertise, not experience,” he said. “Experience is important, but if we aren’t mining that experience day in and day out for learning new ways to bring value, then we’re going to miss the boat.”