What "Be More Strategic" Actually Means (And Why the Feedback Is So Hard to Act On)
VPs hear "be more strategic" constantly and can't act on it. Laurie Fenske explains why it's an identity gap, not a skill gap — and the three behaviors that signal you're still in execution mode.
"Be more strategic" is one of the most common pieces of feedback VPs receive, and one of the least actionable. It is not a skill gap. It is an identity gap. The VP who cannot stop executing is not unstrategic, they are operating from the identity of the high-performer who earned the promotion, not the leader their role now requires. Laurie Fenske, Master Certified Coach and 25-year veteran of financial services leadership, works with VPs in professional services who have received this feedback and found it impossible to translate into behavior change. The pattern is consistent: once a leader can see the specific behavior driving the gap, they can close it, and it rarely takes as long as they expect.
Why the Feedback Lands Without a Map
When a manager or executive tells a VP to "be more strategic," they are describing an outcome, not a path. The VP hears the feedback, nods, returns to their desk, and keeps doing what they have always done because "more strategic" offers no behavioral instruction. It does not say which meetings to stop attending, which decisions to stop making, or which work to stop touching.
The feedback persists because it is diagnosing a symptom rather than a cause. The cause, in Laurie's experience, is almost always the same: the VP was promoted for being the best executor on the team, and no one handed them a new playbook for what comes next. The behaviors that earned the promotion, deep involvement, fast answers, and hands-on problem solving are now working against them.
What "Strategic" Actually Means at VP Level
Strategic leadership at VP level means three things, in concrete terms:
You create the conditions for your team to decide, rather than being the person who decides.
You think forward, allocating your attention to what is coming rather than what is currently on fire.
You protect your leadership bandwidth by being deliberate about where your judgment is genuinely required versus where it has simply become expected.
Director-level behavior | VP-level behavior |
|---|---|
Answers the question | Coaches the team to answer it |
Attends every key meeting | Decides which meetings need a VP |
Solves the escalated problem | Asks why the problem reached them |
Reviews deliverables before they go out | Sets the standard and trusts the process |
Optimizes for speed and output | Optimizes for team capability and scale |
The shift is not about doing less. It is about doing differently. Many VPs resist this reframe because it feels like they are abandoning the skills that made them effective. Fenske's work addresses that fear directly: the goal is not to stop being excellent, it is to apply that excellence at a different altitude.
The 3 Behaviors That Signal You Are Still in Execution Mode
In Laurie's coaching work with VPs in financial services and professional services, three behavioral patterns come up repeatedly as the signals that a leader is still operating at Director level:
1. Your team waits on you for decisions they should own. If your team consistently brings you problems instead of recommendations, the dynamic has trained them to wait. This is not a team capability problem. It is a leadership pattern problem, one that begins with the VP and can only be resolved by the VP.
2. You are the last checkpoint before anything goes out. VPs who review everything before it leaves the team are not leading; they are adding a layer of quality control that signals their team cannot be trusted. Over time, the team stops trying to meet the standard and starts waiting for the edit.
3. You are in reactive mode by 9 am. If the day is governed by what lands in your inbox rather than what you choose to focus on, strategic thinking is not happening. Strategic leaders protect blocks of time for forward-looking work. Reactive leaders do not have blocks; they have gaps.
These three patterns are not character flaws. They are habits formed under years of reward for execution. Recognizing them is the first step; changing them requires deliberate behavioral practice, not just awareness.
How to Make the Shift
Fenske's Leadership Coaching program begins with a behavioral assessment for the VP and up to four team members, using McQuaig to map team dynamics and surface the specific patterns driving the gap. This is not a personality exercise, it is a diagnostic tool that replaces guesswork with data.
From there, the work focuses on three practical shifts:
Shift 1: Reclaim your decision rights. Identify the decisions currently landing on your desk that belong to your team. Start returning two of them per week with a coaching question instead of an answer. Track what happens.
Shift 2: Change the escalation contract. When a team member brings you a problem, ask: "What do you think we should do?" Hold the pause. The discomfort of that silence is where their leadership capability develops.
Shift 3: Protect one forward-looking block per week. Block two hours, not for catch-up, not for email, for strategic thinking only. This is where you plan for what is coming rather than reacting to what has arrived.
These shifts are not dramatic. They are specific, repeatable, and measurable. Past clients report the ability to reclaim hours every week, not by working less, but by working at the right level.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do VPs keep getting this feedback even after they try to change?
Because awareness without behavioral practice does not produce change. A VP who understands the concept of strategic leadership but has no structured accountability for shifting their habits will revert to execution mode under pressure, which is exactly when the behavior matters.
Is "be more strategic" always about delegation?
Delegation is a significant part of it, but not all of it. Strategic leadership also involves forward-looking thinking, protecting time for high-value work, and developing the team's capability to operate independently. Delegation without those other elements often stalls.
How long does it take to close the gap?
In Fenske's experience, the first real behavioral shift, one that the VP can feel and their team can see, is dependent on the client's commitment to action. Those who show up ready to do the heavy lifting may see the gap closing sooner, rather than those that don't truly embrace the opportunity that is before them.
What if the VP's organization does not support this kind of leadership shift?
Culture matters, and some organizations reward execution over strategy even at VP level. That tension is worth naming, but it rarely negates the value of the shift. A VP who can operate strategically is better positioned to influence the culture, not just navigate it.
Is this feedback specific to professional services?
The pattern shows up across industries, but professional services, financial services, law, accounting, and consulting tend to concentrate it. These fields promote technical excellence and deep expertise, which creates a reliable pipeline of high-performers who have never been taught how to lead at scale.
If the gap between where you are and where your role needs you to be feels like a leadership identity question as much as a skills question, Laurie works with VPs in professional services who are ready to close it. You can explore working together at Laurie Fenske's profile on Dream Coach Match.