Only after there are no more sure points to kill... Only then do a lot of kyu players tend to look at the whole board. Because there's nothing really small for them to...
How to word this without sounding really insulting to every kyu player in the history of ever...?
There's no more cheese in the mousetrap? I don't have any idea what kind of analogy to make here... There's nothing shiny to go... no, that's bad too, um... Yeah, look. There's just no sure points for them to go after anymore, okay?
Okay. Thank you! Nothing specific to focus on! Exactly! So only then do they broaden their focus and look at the whole board...
But unfortunately some people only try those higher level strategies when the kyu ones are all gone.
If you can see that dwyrin is talking about you here,
watch his lecture on aji. It is quite possibly the best lecture focused on kyu players I have ever seen. It discusses how whole board and local position thinking relate and how aji is created and use and misused - or even ignored.
If you are willing to look at your own games critically you can take a lot from this lecture. It's just 45 minutes and it looks at a kyu game where white could have run away with a free win only to find himself fighting to the end.
I'm just at the point now where I'm starting to really notice what he is talking about in my own play. I am having to fight my kyu-ness every game - force myself to read, force myself to pay attention to the whole board, force myself to stay consistent with my moves. And this lecture is perfect for that. In my last game I posted on my study journal my opponent made one of these kyu mistakes by killing 4 stones of mine to take sure profit instead of focusing on keeping me out of his center. But so often I don't see when I'm making those kind of moves and I think "Yes! I just captured 5 stones! That's 10 points for sure!" but I let my opponent make 20 points in exchange...