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Strategic Thinking - Competency

• Sustains or achieves a competitive advantage for the organization by analyzing the best practices and lessons learned from other organizations.
• Analyzes the environment to develop strategies to achieve competitive advantage in the marketplace.
• Is effective in using strategic tools such as value chain analysis, business environment analysis, and competitor analysis.
• Looks for opportunities to enhance contributions to the bottom line.
• Leads teams responsible for analyzing competitive weaknesses within the organization.
• Analyzes the organization's competitive advantages and threats.
• Incorporates data to support strategic decision making.
• Considers the implications of decisions made and possible effects on the organization.
• Considers risks and rewards when making key decisions.
• Addresses complex and ambiguous problems.

• Evaluates multiple long-term scenarios and selects strategies that position the organization to remain competitive under a range of future market conditions.
• Develops strategies to effectively use company resources and exploit potential opportunities.
• Identifies patterns across financial, operational, and market data to anticipate emerging strategic opportunities or risks before they become obvious.
• Connects day-to-day operational decisions to broader strategic goals, ensuring short-term actions reinforce the organization's long-term direction.
• Understands the position of the [Company] in the current market place and industry.
• Uses strategic thinking to make better strategic decisions.
• Develops a strategic focus on internal factors to improve efficiency or conserve limited resources.
• Determines the best approach to achieving desired goals.
• Understands how to achieve strategic financial objectives.
• Understands & contributes to development of strategic goals.
• Understands the organization's competitive advantages and threats.
• Determines what actions are needed to maintain broad strategy for the department/organization.

• Identifies and addresses strategic risks impacting operations.
• Identifies and focuses resources on strategic growth opportunities.
• Identifies business strategies to strengthen competitive capabilities.
• Identifies and understands competitors in the marketplace.
• Identifies sources for developing a global competitive advantage for the company.
• Identifies strengths that competitors would have trouble imitating.
• Identifies bottlenecks in the production process and develops strategies to correct these issues.
• Identifies areas where return on investment can be improved.
• Identifies the role of each department in meeting the strategic goals.
• Identifies ways in which the company is better able to meet the customers' needs than rivals.
• Maintains a strategic focus on external factors impacting the success of the company.

• Scans the environment for opportunities to exploit.
• Monitors performance of each market within the Area, utilizing reports to ensure sales growth, cost management, and profitability targets are met.
• Scans both the internal and external environment to identify strategic opportunities to improve the organization.
• Makes plans to handle unforeseen events that could impact the achievement of strategic goals.
• Monitors company performance and makes adjustments to the strategic plan as needed.
• Assigns individuals the responsibility of keeping track of progress toward achieving milestones.
• Creates measures of performance and profitability to assess financial objectives.
• Recognizes the need for strategically developing unique capabilities.
• Acts upon relevant information affecting the organization.
• Understands the importance of developing strategic capabilities.

• Develops a strategic vision for the future.
• Ensures that the department's goals are strategically aligned with the company's goals.
• Aligns projects to the strategic goals of the company.
• Develops an organizational strategy for each functional area within the mission statement.
• Inspires employees to adopt the strategic plan.
• Lets employees know how their roles contribute toward the achievement of strategic company objectives.
• Sets strategic objectives to be achieved.
• Understands how to grow the business and increase customers.
• Creates a mission statement describing the purpose for the organization.
• Pursues strategic alliances with valued partners.
• Creates values statement to ensure all employees are working under the same guiding principles.
• Creates a vision for the organization based on how the organization should appear in the future.

• Creates a strategy to pursue and maintain a competitive advantage in business.
• Develops strategies that are practical and can be feasibly implemented within a reasonable period of time.
• Creates plans to develop and promote organizational and area strengths, as well as to address weaknesses.
• Creates effective and strategic plans to address issues facing the department/organization.
• Ensures the department has a viable strategy for moving forward.
• Creates a strategy to achieve departmental objectives.
• Develops strategies to seek new opportunities.
• Develops a strategic plan to focus on strategic issues.
• Creates innovative strategies.
• Determines the best strategy for achieving elevated levels of performance.
• Develops a strategic plan for adapting the organization to better respond to external changes in the marketplace.
• Able to formulate strategy at the corporate level.
• Develops strategies to increase efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.
• Gives adequate consideration to the time and resources available.
• Creates strategic objectives to increase revenue and profit margins.
• Determines a strategy for advancing the department.
• Uses the organization's goals to guide (or influence) the development of goals within the department.
• Develops a corporate strategy to establish business operations in different locations.

• Implements and executes the company's strategy for advancing production capabilities.
• Effectively translates strategy into operational decisions.
• Successfully implements a strategic plan.
• Communicates goals and objectives to employees.
• Coordinates the implementation of the strategy with stakeholders.
• Evaluates and reviews the implementation of the strategic plan to ensure achievement of the objectives.
• Makes sure employees understand the strategy and goals.
• Strategically positions resources to meet the needs of field based employees.
• Strategically deploys resources to areas of the greatest need.
• Makes sure that all departments/teams are contributing toward the success of the strategy.
• Strategically positions resources to meet the needs of branch locations.
• Reinforces the strategic messaging in various teams, meetings, seminars and workshops.
• Turns strategic priorities into action plans.
• Makes sure the objectives are clearly communicated and understood.
• Communicates the company's strategic goals and decisions to teams and departments.
• Creates deadlines for various components of the strategy.
• Communicates goals and objectives to others.
• Able to decline a poor strategy by proposing alternate strategies.
• Executes strategies to benefit the department.
• Executes strategies to benefit the organization.
• Able to strategically respond to unforeseen issues.
• Proactively addresses problems and issues.
• Able to communicate a broad picture, overall view, of the organization.

• Makes strategic changes to stay ahead of changes in the business environment.
• Makes quick and creative decisions to adjust the strategy to meet the demands of changing situations.
• Remains vigilant of changes to the business environment and recommends new strategies as needed.
• Maintains strategic focus by regularly reviewing the strategic plan and taking corrective actions as needed to stay on track.
• Avoids complacency and strives to be ahead of changes in the business environment.
• Modifies strategic decisions depending on changes in the business environment.
• Aligns cross-functional teams to the strategic plan.
• Supports changes being recommended from senior management.
• Detects changes in the environment and updates the strategic plan to address new opportunities or threats.
• Maintains a strategic focus to sustain competitiveness in changing business environments.
• Makes strategic decisions that take into account a dynamic situation.
• Exploits resources and capabilities strategically to increase production and responsiveness.

• Mobilizes change through executive leadership to implement corporate strategies.
• Makes strategic decisions to optimize the returns on capital investments.
• Keeps the team focused on established goals and objectives.
• Exhibits a strategic orientation to identify and capitalize on opportunities to advance the organization.
• Effective in strategy formulation and execution.
• Strategically focuses efforts to improve operational efficiencies.
• Crafts and executes strategies to advance the company.
• Ensures adherence to the strategy to sustain achievement of targeted levels of organizational performance.
• Focuses efforts on specific marketing strategies.
• Makes decisions that yield more competitive advantages.
• Maintains focus on doing the best quality work even if it requires saying "no" to unnecessary, or unrelated, projects.
• Says "no" to strategies that will detract from the organization's objectives.
• Shows leadership by saying "no" when necessary to effectively execute business strategy and meet long-term objectives.

• Uses SWOT analysis to evaluate competing strategic options, comparing how each option leverages strengths, addresses weaknesses, and positions the organization against external threats.
• Undertakes a SWOT analysis to determine the best strategy to move forward.
• Creates a SWOT matrix to help analyze data.
• Identifies strategic risks by mapping threats against organizational weaknesses.
• Uses SWOT outcomes to prioritize strategic initiatives.
• Facilitates cross-functional discussions to ensure that SWOT insights reflect diverse perspectives and are grounded in operational reality.
• Validates strategic assumptions by comparing internal capabilities against external market forces, using SWOT insights to confirm whether a strategy is realistic and competitive.
• Integrates SWOT findings into strategic recommendations to leverage strengths and opportunities while minimizing exposure to weaknesses and threats.
• Regularly revisits and updates the SWOT analysis to reflect emerging trends, competitive shifts, or internal capability changes.
• Translates SWOT insights into actionable strategic themes or pillars that guide long-term planning and decision-making.
• Develops high-level strategic planning models to identify opportunities to improve the company.
• Able to identify internal strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats that impact the company.

• Notices inefficiencies or bottlenecks in workflows before they escalate into larger issues.
• Recognizes unspoken concerns or morale issues through body language, tone, and team interactions.
• Identifies emerging trends by monitoring shifts in employee behavior, customer feedback, and market dynamics.
• Recognizes the needs of customers.
• Detects possible misalignments between team activities and strategic goals by regularly reviewing outputs against KPIs.
• Identifies opportunities for innovation by watching how employees adapt tools, processes, or customer interactions.
• Observes stakeholder sentiment and engagement levels through direct and indirect feedback channels.
• Demonstrates knowledge of organizational history, values, and long-term goals when making strategic recommendations.
• Recognizes when strategic plans are no longer relevant due to environmental or organizational changes.
• Generates insights into which strategies should be followed.
• Recognizes the needs of stakeholders.

• Formulates policies and strategies for addressing the Company's important challenges.
• Anticipates business cycles and trends and makes adjustments in a timely manner.
• Translates complex industry trends into actionable strategies for the team/department.
• Ensures that the department's goals are strategically aligned with the company's goals.
• Uses knowledge, benchmarking and performance metrics to evaluate strategic effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.
• Educates team members on emerging trends and their implications for current projects or goals.
• Anticipates talent needs based on projected business growth and industry developments.
• Keeps abreast of regulatory, technological, and competitive shifts that could impact the organization's strategic direction.
• Understands how to strategically grow the business and increase customers.
• Maintains knowledge of current trends in the industry.
• Integrates financial, operational, and market data to guide strategic priorities and resource allocation.
• Leverages internal expertise and external partnerships to expand strategic capabilities.

• Analyzes records and reports to obtain insight into potential issues and trends.
• Analyzes unique issues or problems impacting the Company.
• Uses performance measures to gain insight into possible opportunities.
• Utilizes appropriate data to accurately forecast branch sales (daily, monthly, annual data)
• Provides analysis of policy and strategic issues.

• Communicates with employees to find out their needs.
• Lets employees know how their roles contribute toward the achievement of strategic company objectives.
• Inspires employees to adopt the strategic plan.
• Converses with customers and clients to get a better insight into their personal needs.

• Meets with customers to gain insight into their core needs and how best to serve them.
• Observes employees at work to get better insight into the issues they are dealing with.
• Works with others to develop insights into the resources and actions required to produce desired results.
• Attends industry conferences to gain further insight into how other companies deal with similar issues.
• Pursues strategic alliances with valued partners.
• Engages with diverse groups of employees and customers to develop strategic insights into the organization.

• Understands the Company's strengths and weaknesses and uses this information to create optimal solutions to problems.
• Identifies potential problems before they become critical incidents.
• Conducts self-assessment and regular reviews to gain further insight.
• Understands how to circumvent barriors to change within the organization.
• Understands how to implement changes that positively impact the Company.
• Regularly monitors budgets and deadlines to stay informed of any potential issues.
• Understands seasonal and cyclical trends in workload and staffs the department appropriately.
• Understands how to achieve a positive outcome in various situations.
• Understands how decisions impact stakeholders within the Company.

• Implements long-term solutions to problems.
• Identifies root causes of problems.
• Uses a variety of problem-solving techniques to address issues facing the Company.
• Evaluates the effectiveness of solutions and plans
• Uses a variety of resources to make sound decisions.
• Coaches employees on how to implement problem solving techniques.

• Creates strategic plans to develop and promote organizational and area strengths, as well as to address weaknesses based on insight from surveys.
• Adjusts strategic plans based on insights gathered from different points of view.
• Develops a plan and strategy for each functional area within the mission statement.
• Sets strategic objectives to be achieved.
• Uses planning tools to facilitate changes.

• Creates strategies that significantly benefit the Company.
• Develops a strategic vision for the future.
• Creates a vision for the organization based on insights gathered from other companies in the industry.
• Creates values statement to ensure all employees are working under the same guiding principles.
• Creates a mission statement describing the purpose for the organization.

• Strategically aligns projects to the goals of the company.
• Allocates proper resources for employee training to meet future needs based on insight into employee skill levels.
• Responds appropriately to various types of business expansion.