Challenges and Traps in Demonstrating Strategic Thinking for Women in Leadership Positions

Your company’s executive team has just announced their new master plan for growing the business. Now it’s your job, as a mid-level manager, to put it into practice. Deep breath. Apart from the inevitable interpersonal and operational drama that change management causes, this is an opportunity to show that you know your stuff.

Strategist Andrea Belk Olson spells out how to make the most of a plan that you may or may not agree with and that you may or may not have had any input into. She suggests important questions to ask yourself before taking action, ways to handle resistance from people you manage, what to do when the plan isn’t working well, and points to include in progress updates.

Then, Amy B and two of her colleagues, Jennifer Long and Gabriella Spatolisano, chat about how they’ve handled skepticism and spoken up about their reservations when leading change initiatives in the past.

Guest expert:

Andrea Belk Olson is a differentiation strategist, speaker, author, and customer-centricity expert.

Resources:

• “Why Isn’t Your Strategy Sticking?” by Andrea Belk Olson
• “3 Reasons Why Every Department Needs Its Own Strategy,” by Andrea Belk Olson
• “Getting Employee Buy-In for Organizational Change,” by Andrea Belk Olson
• “4 Common Reasons Strategies Fail,” by Andrea Belk Olson
• HBR Guides to Building Your Strategic Skills Collection, by Harvard Business Review

Sign up for the Women at Work newsletter.

Email us: womenatwork@hbr.org