Strategic Thinking Starts Before You Discuss Solutions

I was in a meeting where we were discussing something big and broad. Exploring possibilities, or at least that was the intention. Then one person said, "If we do this, here's what I think we should do." And that was it. The next 45 minutes were a debate about their idea. Not about whether we fully understood the situation. Not about what else was possible. Just: do we like this idea, or don't we?

That's the thing about strategic thinking. Most of us know, in theory, that you're supposed to step back before you solve. But in practice, a single comment from one person in the room can collapse the whole thing before it starts.

Howard Teibel has spent 35+ years helping organizations navigate change, and he has a very specific name for what goes wrong in those moments. It's not that people are bad at strategy. It's that they skip the thinking and go straight to the plan.

Strategic thinking and strategic planning are not the same thing

A strategic plan is the output. It's the document, the goals, the slide deck, the actions you'll take.

Strategic thinking is what has to happen first. It's the capacity to step back from what's right in front of you, use your imagination, and actually sit in what's possible before you start deciding what to do.

Howard's way of getting teams there: don't ask where you want to be. Ask where you already are.

Specifically, he frames it like this. It's 2030. The New York Times has just written a story about your organization's success. What did they write? What are people feeling? What is actually in place that wasn't before?

That subtle shift, from "where do we want to be" to "what's already been achieved," gets people out of constraint thinking and into imagination. When you write a goal, you're already managing it against what's realistic. When you write a success story from the future, you find out what you actually believe is possible.

This doesn't just happen in big organizational planning sessions. It happens in every meeting where someone asks "what should we do?" before anyone has fully described what the situation even is.

The Moment Strategic Thinking Disappears

Think about the last time your team discussed a significant challenge or opportunity.

Maybe the goal was to improve a process, expand a service, or solve an ongoing problem. The conversation likely started with a broad question. Then someone said, "Here's what I think we should do."

At that point, the discussion probably shifted.

In response, someone else said, "I agree." Or: "I don't think that's right." Either way, the room just closed around that one idea. Now everyone is waiting their turn to share what they think, and the original opinion never got examined.

Howard calls this debating assessments instead of exploring them. And the fix is almost embarrassingly simple.

Instead of "I don't think we need three people," Howard says to try: "Can you tell me why you think we need three people?" Not as a challenge. As genuine curiosity about what's behind the judgment.

When you ask what's behind an opinion, the conversation expands. When you debate it, the conversation closes. And you almost never find out what the person actually saw that led them to their conclusion.

You don't have to be the meeting leader to do something about it

Howard notes that the skill here isn't being a better strategic thinker in isolation. It's learning to slow down in the room, and to give yourself permission to say: "Are we supposed to be exploring possibilities right now, or have we shifted into deciding?"

That's a bold move. Especially if the person who jumped to the solution is senior to you. But as Howard put it, and as I keep telling my listeners: you don't have to be the meeting leader to help facilitate.

I should've said something in that meeting. I had the exact thought, and I stayed quiet. The lesson wasn't about not knowing. It was about doing it anyway.

And for managers, creating space for that thinking is one of the most valuable things you can do.

Creating Better Strategic Conversations

Strategic thinking doesn't require complicated frameworks or lengthy off-site retreats.

Often, says Howard, it starts with something much simpler: slowing the conversation down.

When a team begins jumping to solutions, pause and ask whether you've fully explored the situation. When opinions start colliding, encourage curiosity instead of debate. When someone offers an idea, focus on understanding it before evaluating it.

These small shifts can dramatically change the quality of a discussion.

Teams become more open to different perspectives. Assumptions become visible. Opportunities that might have been overlooked start to emerge.

Most importantly, people stop treating strategy as something that only happens during annual planning sessions. Instead, strategic thinking becomes part of how they approach challenges every day.

The next time your team faces an important decision, resist the urge to ask, "What should we do?"

Start by asking a different question: "What possibilities haven't we explored yet?"

The answers may lead you somewhere far more valuable than the first solution that came to mind.

Listen to the entire episode HERE to learn more about strategic thinking.

Keep up with Howard Teibel

- Connect with Howard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardteibel/ 

- Visit Teibel education here: https://teibelinc.com/ 

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The Modern Manager is a leadership podcast for rockstar managers who want to create a working environment where people thrive, and great work gets done.

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