You leave a performance conversation with strong feedback about your results and one instruction: be more strategic.
You ask what that means. Your manager says they want you to think bigger, operate at a higher level, or demonstrate more executive presence.
You still have to decide what to do differently on Monday.
The phrase can point toward several issues. Someone may want you to evaluate a broader business question, make a clearer recommendation, or involve other functions earlier. They may have seen sound judgment that became difficult to follow in the way you explained it.
I’d want to establish which of those concerns they actually have before you volunteer for another assignment.
Ask what prompted the feedback
Start with an example the person can remember.
You might ask, “Which recent situation led you to that conclusion? What were you expecting from me?”
That gives both of you something to examine. You can review the question being decided, the information available, and the contribution you made.
Suppose your manager points to a planning meeting. You described the capacity required to deliver the proposed initiatives, explained the constraints, and offered several staffing options.
They wanted your view on which initiatives the business should prioritize.
That’s a useful distinction. You prepared an answer about delivery while they were looking for a recommendation about where the company should commit its effort. You can now examine whether you understood that question and whether you had a position on it.
If the person can’t recall an example, ask them to identify an upcoming decision where they can explain what they expect. Agree to revisit it afterward. Broad feedback becomes more useful when someone is willing to connect it to actual work.
Determine whether your thinking needs to develop
It’s possible to deliver excellent work within a function and have limited experience weighing interests across a business.
A larger responsibility may require you to understand commercial implications, evaluate an investment, or make choices affecting teams whose work you don’t know closely.
If that’s the concern, changing your opening sentence won’t resolve it.
I’d ask what the work requires you to understand that you haven’t yet demonstrated. Perhaps your recommendation treats your function’s target as fixed while overlooking what achieving it would cost another part of the business. Perhaps you identify risks accurately but have difficulty judging which ones are worth accepting.
Those are specific areas to develop.
Work on a real decision with people who can question your assumptions. Ask how another function would assess your proposal and what information should influence the choice. Review your reasoning after the outcome becomes clearer.
You need enough specificity to choose useful preparation. “Think bigger” leaves too much of that work to guesswork.
Check whether your judgment is reaching the room
Sometimes you have a well-considered view and leave it buried in the explanation.
Consider a VP presenting a recommendation about an underperforming service. They explain the customer data, describe the operating problems, and compare three possible responses. The presentation ends with a request for discussion.
The executive team has heard the analysis. It may still be unclear what the VP thinks the company should do.
I’d ask: after studying the problem, which option do you recommend, and why?
If you have an answer, make it available early enough for others to examine it. Explain the business reason, the tradeoff, and the assumptions that matter. The supporting detail remains important, particularly when someone challenges your conclusion.
A recommendation also needs an accurate account of your authority. You can advocate for a direction even when another executive holds final approval. Be clear about what you’re asking them to authorize.
This is one way strong performance can leave questions about broader responsibility unresolved. People see that you can prepare and deliver the work. They need an opportunity to evaluate the choices you would make with it.
Establish the responsibility being assessed
Feedback about readiness should have a reference point.
Are you discussing stronger performance in your current role? A specific promotion? The ability to lead an enterprise initiative?
The answer changes what evidence is relevant.
An executive team considering you for business-unit leadership may need to understand how you handle commercial decisions. Your current manager may instead want clearer prioritization within your existing remit.
Ask, “Which responsibility are we evaluating, and what would you need to see to feel confident in my ability to handle it?”
Then check whether you have access to that responsibility. If someone wants evidence of cross-functional judgment while excluding you from the relevant discussions, an opportunity arrangement needs attention alongside the development goal.
Identify the decision you could contribute to, the part you would own, and who would observe the work. Attendance alone may offer limited evidence if you never get to make or defend a recommendation.
Be careful with competing instructions
You may hear “take more ownership” and “be more collaborative” in the same conversation.
I’d ask where each concern appeared.
Perhaps you waited for direction on a decision within your authority, then committed another function’s resources without agreement. Those examples can support both pieces of feedback. You need a clearer understanding of where you decide and where others must participate.
You may also find that the evaluator can’t explain the difference they want to see. Keep asking for observable examples rather than inventing a personality change to satisfy abstract language.
Bias, politics, and inconsistent expectations can affect these assessments. Specificity gives you a better basis for evaluating the feedback and the conditions surrounding it.
Agree on how you will revisit it
Before committing to another development goal, establish which decision or behavior the feedback is asking you to change.
You should be able to describe the adjustment plainly. For example: “In the next planning discussion, I’ll recommend which initiatives to prioritize and explain the resource tradeoff.”
Agree on when you’ll review that contribution and who can give useful feedback. Ask what became clearer and what remains in question.
The response may show that you need more experience. It may show that your contribution is becoming better understood. Repeatedly shifting or undefined expectations deserve examination too.
“Be more strategic” is the beginning of a conversation. You still need to establish what the person wants you to decide, demonstrate, or explain.