Phase 2: Applying your skills
Once you've set the stage, you put your strategic thinking skills to use in order to generate results. This phase includes:
- Identifying relationships, patterns, and trends—spotting patterns across seemingly unrelated events, and categorizing related information to reduce the number of issues you must grapple with at one time
- Thinking creatively—generating alternatives, visualizing new possibilities, challenging your assumptions, and opening yourself to new information
- Analyzing information—sorting out and prioritizing the most important information while making a decision, managing a project, handling a conflict, and so forth
- Prioritizing your actions—staying focused on your objectives while handling multiple demands and competing priorities
- Making trade-offs—recognizing the potential advantages and disadvantages of an idea or course of action, making choices regarding what you will and won't do, and balancing short- and long-term concerns