Strategist
The Strategist is a big-picture person who looks ahead and considers how decisions will benefit the entire organization. Strategists are fact-based and less concerned with schmoozing colleagues than they are with getting to the bottom of important issues. They're decisive, no-nonsense people who like close control of their work.
Highlights: Independent Organized Results-oriented Decisive
Maximize your business potential by tapping into people’s natural strengths.
The Strategist Reference Profile—like all Reference Profiles—has many unique strengths and characteristics. Understanding the differences in your people can help you build a company that achieves the results you’re after. The same way you’d build a world-class sports team, knowing how your people think and work helps you optimize for success.
Characteristics of the Strategist
Strategists are innovative self-starters; they want to drive change. They seek calculated risk, and they’re more comfortable delegating details than authority. For a more detailed and accurate reading of your behavioral pattern and how it pertains to your unique business situation, schedule a consultation.
Natural Strengths
Independent
Organized
Results-oriented
Decisive
Common Drivers
Understanding of the big picture
Opportunities to work with facts
Variety and flexibility
Time to develop expertise
Blind Spots
Can be perfectionistic
Frustrated by stagnation
May appear tough-minded
Controlling of delegated work
The Strategist on a team
Strategists are natural leaders. They’re known to be analytical, results-oriented, and authoritative. They thrive in and help contribute to a culture that drives innovation, change, and results. Teams are often designed by default rather than intention. A strategic, data-driven approach to building teams is what helps organizations win.
Business strategy and the Strategist
Before you know whether someone is the right person for the job, you need total clarity and alignment on the results you’re after. What’s the goal or desired outcome? When we ask questions like this, we get a better understanding of the need to align people strategically for specific results.
When you put people in the right roles, you avoid turnover, toxicity, disengagement, and lost productivity. In the case of the Strategist, they naturally gravitate toward strategic activities that initiate action and produce quality results.
Managing the Strategist
Often managers try to manage everyone the same way—and that’s usually the way they like to be managed. But this approach can backfire. People like to be managed differently—and it may not always be in a way that comes naturally to you. Even beyond the individual needs, teams require different leadership styles. You wouldn’t manage a sales team the same way you’d manage a team of developers.
When working with Strategists, remember that they’re introspective, intense, critical, and driven to achieve. They’re typically most effective when they can balance multiple priorities, think big picture, and anticipate problems. When managing this profile, consider some of the following suggestions:
Keep things moving.
Follow directions—and ensure your team does as well.
Provide opportunities to take a risk and innovate.
Allow them to focus on high-quality work.
Give them time to develop their expertise.
Help them navigate interpersonal relationships.
Explore talent optimization.
Companies that struggle to build high-performing teams are often missing critical people data. With our tools, expertise, experiance, and talent optimization, you can stop guessing at how to get the most from your people— and better align your people to deliver on the results you’re after.