Strategic leadership is defined as a management concept that relies heavily of strategic decisions, which commit a business or an organization to an identified course of action (Harrisson & Pelletier, 1997).
The nature of decisions made at strategic leadership levels has a short to long-term effect on the performance of the entire organization.
Usually, strategic leadership involves making decisions, which are primarily based on strategic objectives that the organization has to accomplish within a specified time.
According to Suyono (2006), Strategic leadership is appropriately defined as having a vision for an organization, assessing the reality of such a vision, devising a strategy to attain that vision, setting goals, and employing the right resources for purposes of attaining the vision.
As such, strategic leadership is a combination of effective management and leadership skills for purposes of achieving success.
The leadership aspect of strategic management involves having goals, inspirations and the resources necessary to attain the goals, while the management aspect involves setting goals and objectives, planning appropriate action and implementing the same.
In addition, management will also need to carry out monitoring and evaluation processes in order to ensure that the right thing is done in the right manner, in the right time.
Aptly put, strategic leadership is the management approach that involves mixing visions, values, practices and resources for purposes of preparing and positioning an organization in an advantageous position for the future (Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness, 2008).
Strategic leadership heavily relies on the leaders’ intuition, creativity and foresight, which enables them to think and act on their thoughts before market situations force them to.
In Short, strategic leadership is not for the reactive or defensive people, rather, it requires people who anticipate what will happen in the future based on prevailing trends and acting on the same in order to position their organizations at an advantage point over other players in the market.
For leaders, strategic leadership means taking up responsibility for the current as well as future performances in the organization. This involves understanding prevailing operating conditions and what they mean for the future.
Strategic leaders must also have a clear understanding of the operating environment (includes customers, competitors and the overall market), and indicators, which signify rising or emerging trends in the business environment (Suyono, 2006).
Strategic leadership further requires managers, or whoever is given the responsibility of decision making in an organization to have clear communication channels, through which he can get employee feedback, consumer queries, affirmations or complaints and news about competition.
“Simply said, strategic leadership requires a leader to gain insight on every detail that may help them advance the cause of their organization further” (Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness, 2008).
Conclusion
Strategic leadership is a management concept that is valuable for both small and large organizations. Leaders use this concept to set up a strategic vision, organizational structure and allocation of resources across departments.
In the uncertain world that we live today, strategic leadership is a concept that help organizations to overcome complex challenges by encouraging spontaneity to situations that arise during the day to day operations.
Compared to ordinary leadership, strategic leadership is more risky since decisions are often based on incomplete data or unsupported forecasts. Such leadership is however necessary in today’s competitive world.
References
Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness. (2008). Strategic Leadership in Business. Web.
Harrison, F. and Pelletier, M. (1997). CEO perceptions of Strategic Leadership. Journal of Managerial issues, 9 (1), 106-109.
Suyono, H. (2006). Strategic Leadership. Newsletter. Web.