Strategic Thinking Quick Fixes for 2026

If your leadership team is like many today, then they’d probably rather work on your current operational fires than sit in a room discussing the 5-year future.  And if they are like many others, they probably haven’t spent as much time on the bigger picture this past year as you’d like.

Common.  Understandable even in certain contexts.  But, as a leader, you still need your team to engage in the strategic conversation.  More than that, you need them to contribute to it.

As you look at 2026 and lock in planning activities, there are some very simple things you can do with your leadership team to boost their strategic thinking in 2026.  You can do all of them or just one.  Even just committing to one could be a huge boost for your strategic conversation.

1. Schedule more, shorter sessions just to discuss the bigger picture and the longer term.  A single hour once per month (sincerely followed) is better than 8 hours once a year.

2. Have your team suggest what they see as the most important challenges for next year, the next three years, and the next five years.  Have them be specific.  Discuss what the evolution of those challenges across five years means for the organization.

3. Have each member of your team identify the top three trends they think the organization is not paying enough attention to.  Again, be specific.  Compare, debate, discuss.

4. Assign each team member a topic related somehow to your industry but also just a little outside their normal area.  Grant each person time to spend on that topic throughout the year.  Have them report on the new ideas, developments, and trends they learn each month.  Discuss the intersections, inspirations, and opportunities that might be emerging.

5. Allocate a little time every so often for the team to focus on one member’s functional area and develop a logical scenario about the next five years that would be extremely challenging for that team member.  Then game through as a team the strategic responses, the failure points, and the opportunities.  Adjust plans and contingencies as necessary.  Do this for everyone.

These are simple activities that help to institutionalize the strategic conversation and help to generate the bigger picture and longer-term thinking that leadership teams today need to engage in.

While there are many more things that can be done, and a lot more elaboration that can be had, for teams that haven’t had the time recently to do some really good strategic thinking, these are easy and quick fixes.

As always, contact us today to discuss the foresight and strategy solutions we can provide for your team in 2026.