How Lawyers Can Develop Their Strategic Thinking Skills

Strategic thinking is a valuable skill for any career.
Whether you’re an admiral or a fast food manager, the ability to think your way through scenarios and simultaneously plan for future ones while working around them is a beneficial skill.
Lawyers of any field or practice can benefit from developing strategic thinking skills. By using these skills, you can serve your clients in the most effective way possible.
By exercising strategic thinking, you can help navigate your clients through rough waters and formulate a plan to minimize or negate further issues.
Without strategic thinking, your efforts can fall flat. If you don’t thoroughly plan your actions, even the most solid cases can fail in court, or you may miss a glaring loophole in a contract.
Strategic thinking can also help improve other skills, such as creativity and adaptability while increasing the user’s ability to measure and take risks.
If these factors sound like areas that you want to work on, then you may be in luck. Strategic thinking may help in your journey. The only question is, how can you develop strategic thinking skills if you haven’t already?
Read on to learn some of the most high-quality ways to improve on existing strategic thinking skills or build new ones.

Observe The World Around You

Strategic thinking may help you in a particular scenario, but by no means should you think of it as a narrow tool. To truly think strategically, you must consider the world around you.
Everybody likes getting lost in a daydream now and then, but when you’re on the clock, you want to maintain focus. You won’t think strategically unless you maintain a presence at the moment.
Your strategies should consider more than your immediate surroundings, however. In this modern information era, you can access world events at your fingertips. Use this ease of access to your advantage.
Try to stay up to date on current trends, but also try to gather information to predict where these trends will end up. Study similar trends from past years, decades, or even centuries.
Staying one step ahead will always give you a clearer view of your playing field, regardless of what you practice. You can’t stay one step ahead if you’re not paying attention to your surroundings.
Ultimately, one of the best ways to develop strategic thinking skills is to keep yourself up-to-date with all the happenings in the world- but keep yourself knowledgeable and flexible to take advantage of new trends.

Take Any Opportunity To Practice

You’ve always heard the phrase ‘practice makes perfect.’ The underlying message of this term is true; the more you practice something, the better you get at it.
This adage applies to strategic thinking just as well as it applies to playing piano or learning to dance. Strategic thinking is a skill that you can hone by exercising your brain.
Of course, there’s no set activity you can undertake to develop your strategic thinking skills. You can learn piano by playing piano, but you can’t develop your strategic thinking via a strategic thinking machine.
When you leave work, the last thing you want to think about is doing more work. Luckily, you can hone your strategic thinking skills by having fun and playing games.
Games such as poker and chess are excellent ways to practice strategic thinking.
Chess and poker both promote patience and a problem-solving mindset by forcing you to predict your opponent’s next move, either by maneuvering pieces to influence their decision or trying to read their reactions.
Both games provide a structured, strategic environment that is an excellent opportunity to develop your strategic thinking skills while having fun with your friends or family after work hours.

Always Ask Questions

As a lawyer, you’re used to asking questions. Questions are one of the most essential parts of your job. Whether you’re cross-examining a witness or drafting a will, you’re always asking questions.
Luckily, these questions can help you hone your strategic thinking skills. You can develop a strategic mind by continuing on the path you’re already on!
However, you must ensure that your questions have strategic value. Consider asking questions like the following:

• How can we position ourselves to win this case?
• How can I make this document airtight?

And, most importantly:

• Is there anything that I’m missing?

Always Challenge Yourself

It’s always nice to have a relaxing moment, but when you get too comfortable, you stop challenging yourself. When you stop challenging yourself, you lose any skills that you have built over time.
Do not be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone, whether it’s in your personal life or your career as a lawyer.
Whenever you encounter a problem, try to view it from another angle. Accepting other perspectives is an excellent way to formulate a solution to any issue, but it also helps build leadership abilities and prevent butting heads with your peers.

Attend Classes, Mentorships, And Workshops

Just because you’ve graduated from school doesn’t mean you’re done learning. As a lawyer, one of the most essential things to know is that there’s always more to learn.
Many businesses and schools will offer strategy courses or legal workshops for lawyers to develop their strategic thinking skills.
Take advantage of any opportunity you can by taking extra courses or attending workshops and events to gain more practice.
At LawWorks, our Mastermind membership tier grants you access to mentorship from industry leaders to help hone your strategic thinking skills- and any other skills you may need as a lawyer.
Don't consider your education over just yet. When you take any available opportunities to learn, you can develop a sturdy strategic thought process.

Get Expert Help From The Community At LawWorks

If you want to hone your strategic thinking skills while working with a strong community of like-minded lawyers, you will find no better place than the workspace of LawWorks.
At LawWorks, you can work with your peers and mentors to help hone each other's skills while networking and making valuable connections that can last through your career or even your life.
If you want to develop your strategic thinking skills as a lawyer, become a member today- join LawWorks, the leading workspace for lawyers!