Strategic leadership is a type of leadership in which leaders use their creative problem-solving skills and strategic vision to help team members and an organization achieve long-term goals. It involves developing a vision for the organization that enables it to adapt to or shape its environment, streamlining processes, boosting strategic productivity, promoting innovation, and cultivating an environment that encourages employees to be productive, independent, and to push forward their own ideas. Strategic leaders are defined as those who have the organizational ability with strategic orientation, translate strategy into action, align people and organizations, determine effective strategic intervention points, and develop strategic competencies.
According to Harvard Business Review, strategic leadership competencies include the following six essential skills: the abilities to anticipate, challenge, interpret, decide, align, and learn. An adaptive strategic leader has learned to apply all six skills at once, allowing them to think strategically and navigate the unknown effectively.
Key traits of an effective strategic leader include loyalty to the organizations vision, judicious use of power, transparency, effective communication, problem-solving, readiness to delegate, passion for their job, compassion, empathy for others, and self-awareness. Strategic leadership is not so much a clear-cut leadership style as a mindset that involves understanding oneself, understanding the situation, considering options, and deciding.
