Strategy is a key component to success. You can’t just randomly move from task to task aimlessly with no clear guide or goal. And so strategic thinking is fast becoming a highly desired skill, and this is just as true for Australian government jobs as other roles.Â
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In this article, we’ll identify what strategic thinking is, provide examples of strategic thinking, and how to demonstrate strategic thinking skills to government hiring managers.
Strategic thinking is the ability to analyse and plan for the future, focusing on long-term goals and outcomes. Strategic thinking in government jobs involves understanding the broader context, anticipating challenges, and identifying opportunities to improve public services. Strategic thinkers use critical analysis to make informed decisions that align with organisational objectives and public needs.Â
Strategic thinking skills cover a wide range of skills that enable someone to use critical thinking to solve complex problems. These skills help organisations to accomplish business objectives, resolve challenges and seek opportunities from obstacles.
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Some of the skills included in strategic thinking are:
To help an organisation reach pre-defined objectives, individuals must be able to analyse several data sets. Depending on the job role, you might be required to look at financial statements, KPIs, marketing conditions, emerging business trends, or others.
To help provide enough information for others to take action on specific strategies requires strong communication skills. Communication should be strong between external and internal stakeholders. You should also be able to ensure that you can align people towards a set of shared goals.
Every organisation faces challenges and problems, and using problem-solving skills is critical to overcome these and move back towards a set of goals. Challenges come in numerous forms from financial to workflow issues, so being able to understand and seek opportunities to resolve them can be critical.
Implementation of solutions is critical, and to achieve this, good planning and management skills are required.
Strategic thinking skills are one of the most sought-after skills that government hiring managers are looking for. Those who can think logically and critically can have a massive impact on the performance of a department, helping to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction.
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And with a complex and ever-changing transforming working environment, being able to analyse and adapt to the changing market conditions is seen as a key attribute.
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In addition, having strategic thinking skills can contribute to your career progression, helping you to earn more from your career.
To be able to put examples of strategic thinking on your resume, you will need to identify examples of strategic thinking at work.
When a team leader failed to have a clear strategy for achieving organisational goals, they changed their approach to incorporate their team into decision-making. Curating a positive and supportive work environment for team members, they were able to encourage high levels of performance and productivity.
A sales manager had no clear sales strategy to build on profits. Instead, they created a system where they fostered personalised customer relationships to improve sales. Using this strategy allowed them to build a rapport with customers, build trust, and generate more revenue.
Failure of strategic thinking examples are plentiful too. Many examples are where senior leaders have not appreciated the changes in the industry, such as Blockbusters not embracing digital streaming, Kodak not realising the changes of digital photographs, and Motorola’s failure to solidify their market position in the mobile industry.
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By not utilising strategic thinking, two of these companies have filed for bankruptcy and one lost its market lead position.
While understanding strategic thinking skills is the first step, to ensure you get a chance to secure your dream government role, you need to know how to demonstrate your strategic thinking skills.
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There are two locations where you should mention strategic thinking, the personal statement and the experience section.
In the personal statement, you need to provide specific consequences for your strategic thinking. For example, if your actions have led to an improvement in sales, customer retention, cost cutting, or improvements in workflows, you should mention them. You should also look at mentioning how you’ve done it.
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For example, you could talk about leveraging data-driven assignments or collaboration with colleagues and third-party stakeholders.
Under job experience, you only have one sentence to prove strategic thinking. You should use data to identify what you’ve done and the impact of your actions. For example, you could state these:
You should not use lines which are similar to this.
Stories are emotive ways to prove your value. So when possible, tell people a story about the strategic thinking example. Start by labelling the challenges, then the solution you developed, the efforts of the team, and finally the conclusion, with statistics.
It can be very tempting to focus on your specific department or section of the business. While your actions might have had a major focus in these areas, it doesn’t mean that you haven’t impacted the wider business, or that there were needs that covered the larger business.Â
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Therefore, when you’re demonstrating your skills, you need to put these into the context of the whole organisation, not just the department where you’re working.
The Shapes strategic thinking selection criteria is what the Australian government uses to determine whether candidates have the necessary skills to perform the role being applied for.Â
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Hiring managers will be looking at applications and determining whether or not there is evidence to demonstrate the required strategic thinking levels required.
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The Queensland State government looks at five areas such as supporting strategic direction, achieving results, supporting productive working environments, displaying personal drive and integrity, and communicating with influence.
If you’re able to consider these five elements and utilise them within any answers or examples, you can put your application above the competition and therefore, secure an interview or the role.
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You can also use these titles to practise interview questions. For instance, you might be asked to demonstrate how you’ve been able to overcome a challenging team scenario, which you can use in several aspects such as supporting a productive working environment, communicating with influence, and achieving results.
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It is important to also consider how you answer this by using the tips above.
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Strategic thinking is a critical skill that Australian government positions require, whether it is an entry position or a senior position. Above are tips on how you can demonstrate strategic thinking for any job application while retaining your integrity and maximising your potential salary.
Public Service Careers Coach, PS Careers Practice Manager
