Strategic Leadership – Definition and Principles with Examples

Strategic leadership is a type of leadership style that is applicable for the management of the assets in order to attain the objectives of an institution. The strategic management is divided into several aspects. One of them is the perspective approach that shapes the development of the business strategies, while the descriptive approach focuses on the application of these strategies.

What is Strategic Leadership?

It is a type of leadership style that refers to a manager’s capabilities to demonstrate a planned vision for an organization. It also refers to developing traits of good leadership and to the ability to motivate the members of an organization and to carry out institutional change. The strategic leaders generate the structure of an organization, administer the resources and indicate a strategic vision. The strategic leader works in an uncertain environment and handles difficult tasks that exert an influence on different occasions and the outer organizations. The main aim of this leadership style is to increase productivity. The next goal is to encourage the employees’ environment of work so that they can predict the needs of the organization. The employees are motivated to follow their own ideas, which is similar to Servant Leadership.

Principles of Strategic Leadership

There are ten fundamental principles that are required in this leadership style to function effectively in an institution. The principles are mentioned below in brief with explanations:-

• Distribute responsibility: The strategic leadership attains their skills through the distribution of the responsibilities among the people of the organization. The top leaders should shoot the power downwards to the organization and empower people for the decision-making process. This ensures the capability of the leaders to observe the amount of risks that they can take.
• Be honest and open about information: The information is very important to be shared and should not be confidential in an organization. If the information is shared among some of the individuals, it may be hard to take the decisions and identify the strategies needed for venturing the project. The lack of information may also challenge the confidence and the motivation of the leaders in taking the right decisions for the betterment of the organization.
• Create multiple paths for raising and testing ideas: This principle is similar to that of Democratic Leadership, in which the people of the organization may come and express their innovative ideas. It helps in the development of the ideas that creates the values of a venture. The people will be able to make most of their creativity once their ideas come to surface.
• Make it safe to fail: The strategic leaders should be able to identify the types of failures that their organization goes through, and mend them as early as possible. They also need to be an expert to manage the tensions that arise and the ways in which they will recover to try to new ventures again.
• Provide access to other strategists: The potential strategic leaders should be given the chances of meeting and working with their competitors across the organizations. Knowing their rivals will allow them to be more open and adapt the different strategic techniques for their own organization.
• Develop opportunities for experience-based learning: The strategists need to be experienced in order to gain different opportunities. This will increase the ability of long-term investment in their organization.
• Hire for transformation: The leaders should be able to hire the employees who are capable to bring the innovative and a variety of ideas required in order to become successful. The on-board processes should provide direct signals that the employees can investigate on their ideas take responsibilities and contribute to transform the organization.
• Bring your whole self to work: The strategic leaders realize that they need to review the experiences that they have gained in order to overcome the critical problems faced in the institution. They also do not waste their time on organizations that do not match with their values. This characteristic is similar to that of Autocratic Leadership.
• Find time to reflect: The strategic leaders should reflect on their experiences. It not only helps to realize their mistakes, but the value of the desires and their creative ideas by which they can take their organization to a higher level.
• Recognize leadership development as an ongoing practice: The leaders accept that they do not have the answers to all the questions in an organization. This trait has become beneficial and gives chances to others who can advise or provide solutions to the leaders.

Strategic Leadership Example

The important role of strategic leadership is to manage and develop the management strategies. For instance, the leaders should motivate their employees to contribute for the betterment of their organization by expressing their opinions. The leaders also functions as a motivator and a mentor to build confidence and creates a positive atmosphere for them at their workplace so that they feel positive and open-minded. The leaders provide with resources and the assistance the employees need in order to work for the institution. The leaders do not depend solely on their decisions about the organization and urges their employees to provide advice to them on several occasions.

Some of the Popular Strategic Leaders

• Tony Blair: Blair was the former labour party Prime Minister of Britain. He became famous not only for politics but also for his efforts with the Royal Family. He changed the ways of how was the party being elected and confronted for lower taxes, lower crime rates and increased trading for Britain. Not only did he think of his own position, he also thought of the improvement of his country which is the characteristic of the strategic leadership.
• Wayne Douglas Gretzky: A hockey player: Wayne is a great hockey player who achieved his success and goals. He skated day and night in order to improve his skating skills when he was a teen. He earned his team due to his anticipation and his extraordinary skills to play the game. He also made the entire team earn victory which is the characteristic of a strategic leader.

Strategic Leadership Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

• Supports Unity: This trait is an advantage as the leaders will go out of their way to seek help and find solutions from their employees. This will avoid any sorts of conflict among the workers and the leaders, as all of them will collaborate and form a united team in order to overcome any difficult situations in their organization.
• Build Commitment: The strategic leaders realize that in order to take certain responsibilities, they need to be trained by the leaders. The leaders of this leadership style stick on to their passion and symbolize loyalty to the business goals. These qualities will pass on to the employees within a certain period of time and build a sense of commitment among them.

Disadvantages

• It Is Impossible to Predict the Future: The strategic leaders are always in an attempt to envision the present and the future of their organization. Although, the present situation of the organization may go in a flow as predicted, the future of the organization may not seem as expected.
• Potential Expense: Executing a business strategy and lining it up may be expensive and costly. If any of the strategic plans backfires, it could mean the dismissals, the elimination of the project or the removal of the entire department. This may lead to the loss of the expenses that have been invested.

Strategic Leadership FAQs

• The Role of a Strategic Leader: The role of a strategic leader is to develop the business strategies and set the targets that match with the needs of their organization. They should also be able to take quicker decisions to avoid conflicts and the loss of the organization. The leaders should appoint highly skilled and prepare the resources required to meet the goals of the organization.
• A Good Example of a Strategic Leader: Steven Spielberg is a perfect example of a strategic leader. He is an envisioned director who portrayed social justice and human rights in his movies. He has gained applauses on his achievements and provision not only for the movie-lovers, but also on how fair the life should be.

The Bottom Line

The strategic leadership is not only required during the times of expansion and growth, but also during the time with limited resources. This strategy is also beneficial as it helps the leaders to meet the targets of the organization and design the strategies accordingly. This leadership is also seen as a major factor for a successful strategy execution.

References

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/strategic-management.asp
https://www.managementstudyguide.com/strategic-leadership.htm
https://www.strategy-business.com/article/10-Principles-of-Strategic-Leadership
https://www.skylineuniversity.ac.ae/knowledge-update/from-different-corners/nine-roles-of-strategic-leadership
https://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/116095-what-these-ten-strategic-leaders-can-teach-us/
https://status.net/articles/strategic-leadership/
https://www.coursehero.com/file/p2pudan/Conclusion-Strategy-in-leadership-is-the-foundation-and-for-many-organizations/