CTL Strategic Thinking & Vision 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A team leader is asked to identify a 'strategic gap.' What does this term mean?
- A gap in the team's weekly schedule
- The difference between the current state and the desired future state (Correct answer)
- A missing job description for a vacant role
- An error in the strategic planning document
Correct answer: The difference between the current state and the desired future state
A strategic gap is the measurable distance between where the organization is now and where its vision and goals require it to be.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of a lagging indicator used in strategic planning?
- Employee engagement survey scores
- Number of leads in the sales pipeline
- Annual revenue growth (Correct answer)
- Training hours completed this quarter
Correct answer: Annual revenue growth
Lagging indicators measure outcomes after the fact (e.g., annual revenue), while leading indicators predict future performance.
Question 3: A team leader is reviewing the organization's value chain. The PRIMARY purpose of this analysis is to:
- Identify which employees add the most value
- Understand which activities create competitive advantage and where inefficiencies exist (Correct answer)
- Calculate the monetary value of each product line
- Map individual career progression paths
Correct answer: Understand which activities create competitive advantage and where inefficiencies exist
Value chain analysis (Porter) helps identify which organizational activities drive competitive advantage and where costs or delays can be reduced.
Question 4: A team is consistently meeting its goals, but the goals were set two years ago and the market has shifted significantly. A strategic team leader should:
- Continue meeting the original goals since consistency is important
- Reassess whether the goals are still aligned with current strategic priorities (Correct answer)
- Set stretch goals to go beyond the original targets
- Ask leadership to postpone any goal revisions until next fiscal year
Correct answer: Reassess whether the goals are still aligned with current strategic priorities
Strategic agility requires periodically validating that goals remain relevant as the external environment evolves.
Question 5: In strategic planning, 'Blue Ocean Strategy' encourages organizations to:
- Aggressively compete for market share in existing markets
- Create uncontested market space by making the competition irrelevant (Correct answer)
- Focus exclusively on cost reduction to outlast competitors
- Follow industry best practices adopted by market leaders
Correct answer: Create uncontested market space by making the competition irrelevant
Blue Ocean Strategy, developed by Kim and Mauborgne, focuses on innovation that creates new demand rather than competing in crowded existing markets.
Question 6: Which behavior indicates that a team leader lacks strategic thinking skills?
- Asking how team tasks connect to organizational objectives
- Making decisions based solely on immediate, short-term task completion (Correct answer)
- Seeking feedback from multiple stakeholders before acting
- Monitoring industry trends that could affect the team's work
Correct answer: Making decisions based solely on immediate, short-term task completion
Strategic thinking requires considering long-term implications; making decisions based only on short-term task completion indicates a lack of strategic perspective.
Question 7: A team leader is asked to perform a force field analysis. This tool is used to:
- Prioritize projects by return on investment
- Identify driving forces and restraining forces affecting a strategic change (Correct answer)
- Map team member strengths and developmental areas
- Calculate the cost of implementing a new technology
Correct answer: Identify driving forces and restraining forces affecting a strategic change
Force field analysis (Lewin) identifies forces that support and oppose a planned change, helping leaders strengthen drivers and reduce barriers.
CTL Strategic Thinking & Vision 4
A team leader is asked to identify a 'strategic gap.' What does this term mean?