Why we need to cultivate Strategic Awareness beyond the C-suite

What is strategic awareness?

The term “Strategic Awareness” might trigger your “spare me from yet another annoying buzzword!” alarm. Yet so far, we have actually been relatively spared. Despite my own aversion to inflated buzzwords, here I am arguing that strategic awareness is something worth becoming aware and intentional about, as we steadily embark into the “future” of work. And not only if you are a CEO or a corporate leader.

Strategic awareness is what we get when fusing personal awareness with strategic thinking. (Bowman, 2016; Callegarin, M. 2019, etc.). It is about identifying and understanding opportunities and threats in your external surroundings, while being clear on your own position and preferences. Essentially, strategic awareness expands what you thought was possible, while balancing it with what is real and realistic. Knowing the latter is in a constant state of flux, strategic awareness is a process and an approach to deal with, and relate to, change, rather than a skill or an end-result to be obtained.

There is of course nothing new about either awareness or strategy. Many of us are already used to automatically combining the two in our professions and lives, managing perfectly well without calling what we do something particular. Naming this approach strategic awareness however adds layers of, well, awareness to it, but also a great amount of intention. In the future of work, becoming more intentional about being strategically aware might just be what we need.

While previous work around strategic awareness exists, the precise understanding of it is somewhat scattered and contextual. Focus has mainly been on what it looks like in an organizational/executive setting. While I agree it is crucial that executives are strategically aware, and there is certainly a lot more to be aware of these days, ongoing global changes increasingly call for everybody to cultivate strategic awareness. And everybody can!

Identifying opportunities in a changing world of work

The future of work is here. With this, a new reality, where change and uncertainty are the only things we can be entirely certain of. Apart from the ongoing pandemic, global technological, financial, political and demographic changes are transforming how we lead, work and live. AI, a tsunami in the amount of data available to us, longevity, and with that, the expectancy of working into a relatively old age, mean we need to approach careers differently. There is a lot more to take into account. Most of us will have several careers throughout our lives. Some maybe multiple jobs at once, out of necessity or perhaps out of choice. Reskilling, pivoting, pitching ourselves to new realities and finding new ways to work that match our preferences and circumstances, will concern everybody to some degree. And these decisions require strategic awareness. We need to understand the trends and developments affecting our professional prospects and recognize new types of oppertunities, possibly in completely different fields or areas we have worked in before. Doing this requires a strong sense of self, as it involves linking what we observe to our own potential.

In brief; we all need to get used to to looking at ourselves and our potential from new and different perspectives and in context of our constantly changing environments.

Strategic Awareness helps you to;

• Recognize a broader set of opportunities – whether for business or in relation to your career
• Pitch yourself to these opportunities by building a strong and authentic narrative
• Essentially, remain relevant in a changing world of work. And ideally thriving instead of merely surviving!
• Make better, more conscious decisions, choices and plans, tailored to your needs and preferences
• Innovate!
• Relate to a wider audience
• Anticipate change (and be better prepared!)
• Increase your resilience

What to focus on when cultivating strategic awareness

Strategic awareness requires being knowledgeable and understanding of trends and developments, globally and across industries, inside as well as outside your “box”. It is about insight but also about foresight; being attentive, alert and imagining multiple futures, hereunder multiple selves. You need to get comfortable with obtaining, analysing and evaluationg different sorts of information. Continuously learning. In equal measures, strategic awareness requires – and takes offset in- a sound amount of self-awareness. You need to know who you are, your values, goals and drivers, and have a clear audit of your strengths and weaknesses. Because you need an internal compass for navigation when your surroundings suddenly change. And they will!

What actions can you start off with?

• Curiosity – the genuine kind- will fuel and drive you: You need to be willing to continuously observe and evaluate your surroundings. Broaden your horizons and allow yourself to get interested! Without curiosity, the future of work is likely to drain your energy. Learn to enjoy the ride!
• Continuously ask yourself and others the right questions on what the changes you see mean to you, your business or team. What is working and what isn’t? Who am I in this situation? If a, b or c happens, what would it mean, and what paths could I take? Indeed, this is also part of being curious
• Listen to and evaluate the answers you get with and open mind
• Expand your focus across sectors and pay attention to analogies. Embrace learning!
• Become comfortable with the uncomfortable and regard change, gaps in knowledge and new information as opportunities instead of threats.
• Dare to carve out your own unique path! Accept and own that your strategy might be unique and not comparable to the path chosen by others.
• Should you get stuck in this process, I highly recommend working with a coach! (for all the obvious reasons)

Most importantly, strategic awareness is an ongoing process; continuously observing, evaluating and relating to your surroundings. It is a constructive approach to navigating change, by exchanging fear with curiosity and learning.