STRATEGIC: How Strategic People Do Things
StrengthsFinder Theme / CliftonStrengths Theme: STRATEGIC
What Is the STRATEGIC Theme
These are the people in our lives who have the gift of instantaneously seeing the world as it could be. Strategic people are naturally adept at identifying options, weighing them, and confidently making a decision. They are action-oriented and solution-focused. They do not dwell in life’s ‘problems’—in fact, they generally see opportunities where others see only chaos and crisis. They are incredibly fast processors who rely on their ability to notice and remember patterns in people, places, and things.
Strategic people can mentally move through a situation playing out multiple scenarios and outcomes simultaneously; this helps them make sense of what is at stake. From there, they make decisions with ease and confidence because they’ve already played the tapes, seen the possibilities, and understand the various moving parts. They see in multiple dimensions simultaneously.
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Why Should We Care
Strategic people are wayseers. Where others find roadblocks, they find inroads to innovation, progress, and resolution. At a crossroads, they help us see the potential in ourselves, others, and in the world.
They are extremely resourceful, often creating elegant solutions to complex problems. They strategize seemingly effortlessly; the process of assessing situations, envisioning outcomes, and taking action is definitely in their comfort zone—it may even be soothing for them. They help us and our teams make critical decisions and move forward because they are not afraid—they assess, decide, and take action.
Ten Things to Know About People with STRATEGIC
1. Thinking In Chunks. Strategic people process information rapidly and in batches—think waves instead of droplets. In fact, at times they seem to simply download information fully-formed from the ether.
2. Perspective. While the word ‘strategic’ might imply something cerebral, it is actually a particular
perspective that these people embody—a specific way of seeing the world, not just thinking about it.
3. Problems. For strategic people, there are not really any problems, only solutions.
4. Knowing. Strategic people operate from a deep place of just knowing and they generally feel bothered by having to explain the hows and whys of their thinking. Asking “How do you know?” is annoying to them because they generally cannot show their work (i.e. A + B = C).
5. Best Path. They are not married to one way of doing things—if they conceive of a better path forward, they are happy to shift gears, turn the wheel, and take it.
6. Giving Up. They do not give up easily. Because they can see so many possibilities and options they generally push through, even after others have lost faith.
7. Streamlining. They always have an eye out for how a process can be made better or more efficient. They may even have a fondness for tinkering with things.
8. Creativity. Their thinking has an element of creativity that is easily overlooked. This is because their ideas may seem very straightforward, even obvious, despite the fact that they were the only person to think of it.
9. Peripheral Vision and Peripheral Hearing. Don’t be surprised if a strategic person is deeply aware of absolutely everything that is happening in a room. They generally have great peripheral vision and hearing, like little radars always scanning spaces quietly.
10. Trust. Strategic people love to be trusted. Most of them have spent an exhausting amount of energy trying to explain their ‘knowing’. For them, being trusted in their decisions is like being truly seen.
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