Author: George Liacos
How to think more strategically: Aspirational Thinking: Example (Part 2)
There are many exercises and tools you can have in your toolkit to help you with strategic thinking.
We build our strategic thinking muscle using a range of techniques and tools as outlined in my book Spark Change.
The seventeenth Spark I’d like to introduce you to is Aspirational Thinking. Let’s share with you an example.
‘Aspirational thinking’ is a phrase that can elicit eye rolls as quickly as it can fire up a room. When sparking your strategic brain, this is not about setting lofty goals; this is about giving yourself (and your workplace) permission to recalibrate how you think so you can reach for outcomes that, at first glance, seem unreachable. So, let’s deep dive, shall we?
How to think more strategically: cultivate
To cultivate aspirational thinking in your approach to strategic planning, focus on these developmental steps:
- Cultivate a visionary mindset: Begin by nurturing a mindset that envisions bold, transformative futures. It’s about allowing yourself to dream big and think beyond the constraints of current circumstances when addressing a strategic matter.
- Learn from visionary leaders: Think about your strategic matter or problem and research whether the thought processes of visionary leaders can help… understand how they conceive and pursue lofty ideas. This involves reading their works, listening to their talks and analysing their strategies.
- Practise backward planning: Write down the outcome from Step 1 and practise the technique of backward planning – mapping the steps back from this idea to the present.
- Set stretch goals: Challenge yourself to see this map littered with stretch goals that push your limits and expand your thinking.
- Reflect and adapt: Consistently reflect on your progress towards these aspirations, remaining flexible and ready to adapt your strategies as needed.
By integrating these steps into your strategic thinking practice, you will develop a more aspirational approach, aiming not just for what is achievable in the short term, but for what can transform and elevate your work in the long run.
How to think more strategically: tools
For those seeking to inculcate aspirational thinking into their strategic palette, consider these psychological tools:
- Affirmative inquiry: This approach to problem-solving focuses on the strengths at hand and takes a positive approach to leveraging these strengths. It has four main stages – Discovery, Dream, Design and Delivery. This approach takes us from asking, ‘What’s the best of what is?’ to saying, ‘We can activate this solution this way.’
- Visualisation: Aspirational thinking helps us with our dreams and goals and its companion, visualisation, helps us imagine how the rubber will hit the road. In this way it is a key ingredient to ensuring aspiration does float off into the stratosphere.
- Growth mindset: We have heard this term a lot and I was a little reluctant to us it here. That said, if we can change the way we see the world into a view that features growth and abundance, then the nature of our aspirational thinking will also grow – which can only be good when solving complex social and other problems.
- Narrative crafting: Sometimes our aspirations feel like hunches or intuition. The ability to translate this feeling into a story is critical to bring others on the journey.
When you look at this list you will see more than just tools – you will see suggestions of changed ways of processing. Some of the above suggestions take time and are a pursuit in and of themselves. Thinking strategically is not a sprint.
Resources & Support
This is why I wrote the book Spark Change, developed the Strategic Thinking Masterclass, and have released The Spark Strategic Leader ™ Subscription Program – all to help our sector’s leaders build the strategic thinking muscle.
Contact us at info@sparkstrategy.com.au to find out more.
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