Developing the team's big picture thinking

Developing the team's big picture thinking

Having discussed the process of developing big picture thinking at an individual level, let us understand how smart leaders teach the big picture thinking to the team.

As I observed some leaders and their method of developing big picture thinking among the team in the organization as follows

1. Sharing the big picture perspective frequently to the team.
2. Briefing the context when delegating the task 
3. Helping the team to see the meaning in the work

1.    Sharing the big picture frequently to the team:

I know one CEO of a social organization, whenever, he conducts a meeting with his team, he makes a point to share about the prime purpose of the organization as "Making positive Impact" to customers. The team also articulate the same purpose and behave inline with the big picture perspective during in any business transaction with the customers and stakeholders. 

2.    Briefing the context when delegating the task:

Most of us tend to give a checklist or to-do list to the junior colleague. Effective people use to delegate responsibility and brief the person about the context of the job.

For example, instead of merely asking your salesperson to prepare the next three months' sales projection, if you give the context of sales projection to manage the plant capacity, mobilizing the working capital and so on, that will make the person more careful on the accuracy of the sales projection. (The point is wherever possible, brief the context as this makes the other person understand the big picture!!)

3.    Help the team to see the meaning of the work:

When anyone knows the meaning of his / her work, it will enhance their big picture thinking and contribution. As we are predominately organized ourselves as a department or function, most of the time, the team's thought process will be confined from a functional perspective. The leader's role is reminding the individual or team how the work is aligned with organizational objectives or how their work is helping the customers.

The effective leader is continuously striving to develop 360 perspectives both at self and at the team's level.

Let us discuss when we need to switch over between big picture thinking and micro detailing next week!