The Next Big Idea Daily featured an episode summarizing Michael Watkins book the The 6 Disciplines of Strategic Thinking. He describes the 6 disciplines like this:
“The set of mental capabilities to recognize emerging threats & opportunities, set the right priorities, and mobilize the organization to go after them.
This is RPM – Recognize. Prioritize. Mobilize.”
– Michael Watkins
We live in a world where change is now constant.
Strategic thinking is a part of everyday business.
Watkins believes that strategic thinking is a learnable skill.
You can take talent you were born with and “train regularly” to master the process.
6 Mental Disciplines
Below is a high-level description of each of the disciplines:
- Pattern Recognition – See what is important within a complex and uncertain environment to uncover what really matters. Focus the attention of others on this thing that matters.
- Systems Analysis – Build mental models that take complicated situations and distill them in a simple way to make sense of the overall ecosystem. This analysis will show how changing things in one area can affect things in another area.
- Mental Agility – Consists of two distinct and related capabilities. The first is a level shifting ability – cloud to ground thinking. See both the high level and the details. Know what level to be engaged in at the current moment. The second is game playing / chess master skill – look at possible moves and what others might do. Plan what actions to take.
- Structured Problem Solving – Help teams frame and solve problems in the right way and come to agreement on the path forward.
- Visioning – Ability to look forward and imagine inspiring, yet realistic futures. Work backwards to understand the steps from here to there. You need to do this in a way that is powerful and simple for others to understand. Align the energy of the organization.
- Political Savvy – Capacity to understand the stakeholder environments you operate in and their political realities. Craft strategies to create the support and alliances you need to move forward. To implement any strategy, you need the buy-in to make things happen. The order of your stakeholder approach is just as important as the negotiations themselves. Sequencing strategy. Put strategic thinking about politics at the core.
My Perspective
I’ve been in strategy roles for over 20 years.
Seeing these 6 disciplines described here, I recognize them.
I can see how they have been applied across various projects.
While I’ve leveraged all 6, there was never an intentional approach.
Moving on to future strategic projects, this framework can provide guidance on the overall discipline.
In particular, I don’t think there is enough conversation about the importance of #6.
Thinking through how an idea is shared may be key to the success or failure.
Your Turn
Do you have strategic thinking responsibilities in your role?
How could these 6 disciplines impact how you approach the work?
What one area do you want to learn more about?