Strategic thinking means looking at every possible solution for a problem and narrowing it down until you find the best one. It’s a valuable skill in the workplace as it allows you to avoid wasting time on unnecessary work that won’t achieve the best result.

I often used this skill when working as a laundryman at a hotel. This was a workplace with many stubborn people who didn’t like changing the way they did things. I often met with the manager and the employees to suggest new ways of operating with peak efficiency in the laundry room. I would come forward with a problem and a potential solution and as a group, we’d brainstorm to figure out the best way to solve this problem.

By bringing this to a group and allowing all of us to determine the solution together, everyone felt that they were a part of the solution and would change their ways to make the workplace more efficient.