You may need to help your leaders transition between abstract and concrete thinking.
Their ability to move between these is important for your team.
And you can help them.
First – Are you picking up on problems that others are missing?
By providing solutions rather than just focusing on the problem, you are encouraging the transition between the abstract and the concrete.
But it is more than that.
Adam Grant explains that the most promising individuals move effortlessly between these different modes of thinking.
If you want to be marked as a leader, you need to engage this as part of your followership.
You will need to understand the strategic, big-picture view, while never losing sight of the minute details.
Why the blend?
The question arises: why is this blend of thinking so important?
Your ability to move between strategy and execution is extremely important to your followership.
Abstract thinking is crucial for leaders because it molds the vision and strategy that will bring the team together and make decisions.
But when it comes to inspiration – earning the buy-in of employees, partners, customers, and investors – pure abstract thinking can become a hurdle.
There needs to be a concrete set of clear objectives, goals, and tasks that can be taken to execute and move forward.
For followership, abstract thinking provides us the ability to understand vision and strategy and provide active, critical, problem-solving, and help our leaders move from the abstract into execution.
How to improve these skills
If you want to enhance your abstract thinking, try using the 3 Horizons model.
Imagine you are 3, 5, and 10 years in the future. What is the process that your team or company has gone through?
Yes you, in your followership, should consider these future states.
What are the steps you see taking at each point that move the needle on manifesting that vision?
If you are great at the abstract but need help with how to implement it?
Play the “What If” game with your leader and teammates.
Try to get away from your present state of thinking and discuss every possible opportunity and risk you foresee. What can you actively do, what tasks can you do today, to engage with what you find?
Leadership demands a grand vision, but also the skill to convey that vision convincingly. As Grant aptly puts it, the key is to “be both an architect and a builder”.
Are you up for the challenge? Let’s talk.
