Strategic
thinking performance review phrases

Connects today's work to where the business is trying to get to, in a way that changes what gets prioritised.

Spotted the shift in [market or requirement] early enough for us to do something about it.

Argues for stopping things, which is the part of strategy most people avoid.

Worth bringing them into planning earlier. By execution stage, most of this value has already been spent.

Ready to own a strategic question rather than contribute to one.

I made the case for stopping [work], which was harder than proposing something new and worth more.

Understands how their work contributes to the wider objective.

Considers the medium term rather than only the current cycle.

Raises implications beyond their own area when they see them.

Understands the strategy. The next step is challenging it where it does not match what they can see on the ground.

Worth asking what would have to be true in two years for this to still be the right approach.

I have started asking how each piece of work connects to the wider objective, which has changed what I push back on.

Work is executed well without reference to why it is being done.

Decisions optimise the current quarter in ways that cost the following year.

Implications outside their own area are not considered until raised by somebody else.

For your next piece of work, write one line on what it is ultimately for. If you cannot, that is worth asking about before starting.

When you propose something, name what it costs elsewhere. Everything has a trade-off and naming it builds credibility.

I execute well without asking why often enough, and I have delivered things that did not need doing.

I optimise for the quarter in front of me more than I should.

Work has continued on activity that no longer supports the objective, after this was raised in [month].

Decisions have repeatedly created problems elsewhere that were foreseeable.

For the next quarter I want a written line on each piece of work: what it is for and what it costs elsewhere. Reviewed in six weeks.

If the strategy has not been communicated clearly enough to work from, that is mine to fix and I want to know.

I have kept working on things without checking whether they still mattered. I want clearer line of sight to the objective.