Strategic Leadership - Definition and

Qualities of a Strategic Leader

Strategic leadership refers to a manager’s potential to express a strategic vision for the organization, or a
part of the organization, and to motivate and persuade others to acquire that vision. Strategic leadership can
also be defined as utilizing strategy in the management of employees. It is the potential to influence organizational
members and to execute organizational change. Strategic leaders create organizational structure, allocate resources
and express strategic vision. Strategic leaders work in an ambiguous environment on very difficult issues that
influence and are influenced by occasions and organizations external to their own.

The main objective of strategic leadership is strategic productivity. Another aim of strategic leadership is to develop
an environment in which employees forecast the organization’s needs in context of their own job. Strategic leaders
encourage the employees in an organization to follow their own ideas. Strategic leaders make greater use of reward
and incentive system for encouraging productive and quality employees to show much better performance for their
organization. Functional strategic leadership is about inventiveness, perception, and planning to assist an individual
in realizing his objectives and goals.

Strategic leadership requires the potential to foresee and comprehend the work environment. It requires objectivity
and potential to look at the broader picture.

A few main traits / characteristics / features / qualities of effective strategic leaders that do lead to superior
performance are as follows:

Loyalty- Powerful and effective leaders demonstrate their loyalty to their vision by their words and actions.

Keeping them updated- Efficient and effective leaders keep themselves updated about what is happening
within their organization. They have various formal and informal sources of information in the organization.

Judicious use of power- Strategic leaders makes a very wise use of their power. They must play the power
game skillfully and try to develop consent for their ideas rather than forcing their ideas upon others. They must
push their ideas gradually.

Have wider perspective/outlook- Strategic leaders just don’t have skills in their narrow specialty but they
have a little knowledge about a lot of things.

Motivation- Strategic leaders must have a zeal for work that goes beyond money and power and also they
should have an inclination to achieve goals with energy and determination.

Compassion- Strategic leaders must understand the views and feelings of their subordinates, and make
decisions after considering them.

Self-control- Strategic leaders must have the potential to control distracting/disturbing moods and desires, i.e.,
they must think before acting.
 Social skills- Strategic leaders must be friendly and social.

Self-awareness- Strategic leaders must have the potential to understand their own moods and emotions, as
well as their impact on others.

Readiness to delegate and authorize- Effective leaders are proficient at delegation. They are well aware of
the fact that delegation will avoid overloading of responsibilities on the leaders. They also recognize the fact
that authorizing the subordinates to make decisions will motivate them a lot.

Articulacy- Strong leaders are articulate enough to communicate the vision(vision of where the organization
should head) to the organizational members in terms that boost those members.

Constancy/ Reliability- Strategic leaders constantly convey their vision until it becomes a component of
organizational culture.

To conclude, Strategic leaders can create vision, express vision, passionately possess vision and persistently drive it
to accomplishment.

Strategic leadership is learned—it does not come naturally. Therefore,

educating yourself about the characteristics you want to embody will
help you become a better leader. We’ve done some deep thinking around
strategic leadership here at ClearPoint, and these are the top ten
characteristics we believe are critical to develop.
Strategic Leadership: The 10 Characteristics Of A
Good Leader
1. Strong Communication

Without a doubt, being an effective communicator is a top attribute of a

strategic leader. You may have a clear vision of what you’re trying to
accomplish, but if you can’t convey it to your team or colleagues, it will be
almost impossible to carry out. By developing the ability to clearly describe
what you want done and relate it to your team, you will unite everyone’s
efforts. More specifically, your team needs to be aligned and on-board with
your strategic objectives and goals to be successful.

Communication also extends to “softer skill” practices, like having an open-

door policy or holding regular one-on-one meetings with team members.
Express your vision clearly and then make yourself accessible to discuss
anything going on in the office.

2. Good Listening Skills

While effectively communicating your expectations and vision is one of the top
strategic leadership characteristics, it’s also important to listen to what your
team has to say. “Speaking and hearing” are two sides of the same coin and
the best leaders do both well.

As Mark Twain said, “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening
when you would have rather talked.” Listening seems deceptively simple, but
it can be difficult to pause in the middle of your busy day to sit with an
employee or quietly tune in from the sidelines of a strategic planning meeting.
Employees need to know their concerns and ideas are being heard—this not
only helps build morale, but it makes your organization better because you are
getting input from the people who are on the front lines. A leader who
practices the art of listening gains the knowledge needed to solve problems,
improve products or services, and build a strong company culture.
3. Passion & Commitment

Enthusiasm for your mission or project will get others excited because they
can see and feel your dedication. But you must also add commitment to the
mix of strategic leadership qualities, because passion doesn’t always get the
job done. Commitment is the ability to stay focused on what will make you
successful.

Looking to create a strategic reporting policy? Use our

proven guide as your road map.
One simple way to convey your passion and commitment is to lead by
example. You expect your team to work hard and produce quality results, so
roll up your sleeves and join them. Team motivation significantly increases
when people see their boss working alongside them, putting in the same level
of effort (or more) than everyone else. When you show that hard work is being
done on every level of the organization, you prove your commitment and earn
the respect of your team as a leader.

Another idea that we have seen from some leaders in Balanced Scorecard
organizations is to always carry a version of your strategy map. It could be
pocket-size or wallet-size, or printed and put in a notebook. This will allow you
to regularly ask your colleagues and employees where they fit in on the
strategy and how they regularly contribute. Furthermore, this highlights a
passion for your strategy, and helps with the first attribute: good
communication. Soon you may find that everyone carries their own copy of
the strategy map!
4. Positivity

A positive attitude is contagious. If your team is led and surrounded by happy

and positive people, they will work harder and be happier themselves.
Positivity can take many forms in the workplace—from providing snacks in the
communal kitchen to keeping an upbeat tone in your internal emails. Of
course there should be a balance between play time and productive time, but
do your best to create a positive, supportive environment during the workday.

Keep in mind that some leaders conduct strategy review meetings and only
focus on the problems—i.e. the red and yellow items in their scorecard. You
definitely want to be aware of issues (as no good leader has their head in the
sand), but you must also take the time to recognize things that are going well
with your strategy and celebrate successes.
5. Innovation

When you’ve been working at a company for years, or simply been in the
same career for a while, it’s easy to get stuck. Being a strong leader requires
practicality and realism, but just as importantly it requires having an eye for
innovation and the vision to execute on it. Nimbly adjusting and adapting to
current business or economic environments is a valuable skill to foster.

In other words, don’t get too comfortable. If an idea or process is foreign to

you, assess it and look at the benefits of implementing something new.
Characteristics of a strategic leader include being open to change and “left-
field” thoughts, because that is precisely what will give you a competitive
advantage. By making sound decisions based on data, no vision or innovation
will be too far afield.
In order to innovate you need to utilize data-driven
decision making. Try our Executive Dashboard and
become an expert
Remember that you may not be the most innovative person in the room—but
you still need to foster innovation amongst your team. Be sure to have
sessions or days where you encourage ideas about innovating around your
strategy, and give some of the ideas the resources they need to be tested or
expanded. If you never allow team members to innovate, they will have no
examples inside of the organization to point to in order to make suggestions in
the future.

6. Collaboration

Having a collaborative approach to leadership is powerful because it naturally

creates transparency in your organization. If you’re connected to your team
and genuinely interested in collaborating with them, they will know what you’re
thinking and vice versa. Collaboration leads to trust, and your team will be
more likely to support your vision. If you’re not getting buy-in on that strategic
plan you’ve created, it’s not going to be effective. People want to own what
they help create.
One way to improve collaboration is to create some small projects and put
others in charge. Play the role of participant on the project instead of being a
leader. Show your colleagues that you respect their ideas and approach.
From there, you can begin implementing this with bigger projects and
initiatives. Be sure to give credit where it’s due—in public—so that others can
see that you appreciate their contributions.
7. Honesty

In many ways, strategic leadership all begins with honesty. Being forthright
about your successes, failures, and reasoning for choosing certain strategies
and goals over others will earn the respect of your team. Following the motto
of “honesty is the best policy” generates trust within your organization.

Being honest isn’t always easy, because it requires communicating both the
good and the bad. It’s not about popularity, but rather about integrity. Within
the space of a quarter, you may have to tell employees both that you’re over
budget and need to cancel initiatives, and that you outpaced benchmarks and
are leading the industry in specific metrics.

Being an honest leader also includes being publicly transparent.

Municipalities, nonprofits, healthcare facilities, and other similar organizations
are under the most pressure to exhibit transparency. All leaders, but
particularly those beholden to regulatory compliance, should be clear about
plans, progress, and results. When you’re honest and transparent, it’s easier
to get everyone on the same page and earn the trust of your employees and
community when trying to achieve your strategic goals.
8. Diplomacy

Honesty is always the best policy, but strategic leadership often requires you
to be tactful. Diplomacy is a learned skill that helps leaders effectively manage
conflict using negotiation and sensitivity. It requires an unbiased, strategic
approach to problem solving. As Henry Kissinger defined it, diplomacy is “the
art of restraining power.”
It’s inevitable when planning and executing your strategy that you’ll deal with
disagreements and competing priorities. Having different points of view
ultimately strengthens your organization, but it’s a reality that can be
challenging to manage in the short term. What if your strategy team disagrees
on how to measure a customer objective? How can you please two
department heads who both want ownership over a key initiative? Strategic
leadership is being able to navigate these difficulties and turn them into win-
win situations whenever possible.
9. Empathy

Being empathetic doesn’t mean you’re the organization’s resident therapist. It

means you try to understand your team’s problems by walking in their shoes
and seeing things from their perspective. Practicing empathy creates
meaningful connections because leaders develop an awareness of the
challenges and needs of a team or department, versus sitting oblivious in an
ivory tower.

Aside from the interpersonal benefits, empathy is also a practical tool. When
you truly understand what it takes to execute a strategy—the skills, resources,
projects, and more—you’re able to set more realistic goals and timelines. For
example, a product team may need a certain amount of time to properly test
the UX, or a sales team may need an updated CRM system to hit their
revenue goals. Empathetic leaders gain the respect of employees and are
more likely to successfully execute the organization’s strategies because they
know exactly what it takes to get the job done.
10. Humility

Humility is one of the most respected strategic leadership qualities. Humble

leaders admit their mistakes, apologize when necessary, and always share
credit. This behavior makes you more “human” and relatable; it’s also simply a
best practice to empower and reward others instead of acting like the smartest
person in the room (even if you are!).

Practice humility not only with other people, but with your planning and
processes. This means recognizing you don’t know everything and some of
the best strategies have flaws. By being open to learning and leaving your ego
at the door, you’re poised to help your organization adapt and improve.

In Conclusion
A final thing to consider is that strategic leadership is different for everyone.
How your leadership characteristics manifest depends on the company culture
and existing frameworks, as well as your individual skills. For example,
effective communication channels will look very different for a manager who is
working on-site daily with the team versus a remote manager checking in
every so often. Adapt your strategic leadership style to fit your role, your
company, and your working situation.

Part of being a good leader is the ability to get things done efficiently and
effectively. To sharpen that skill, you may want to sharpen your internal
reporting process. If this process runs smoothly, you can help keep your team
on the right track toward strategic success!