By Joy Lifechangers
E-mail: [email protected]
It is so easy to misinterpret these two very important words. The dictionaries don’t really help so much in highlighting the difference as they make them both seem somewhat similar.
The truth is that they are not the same in meaning or even in actuality. Whether you manage a big or small organisation, these two words will definitely go a long way to determine your success.
Every organisation must have a vision of what they hope to accomplish and how they intend to make a difference. Likewise you and I as individuals; no one wants to roam the world aimlessly without making a difference or maximizing their potential.
So we sit and ask ourselves questions on what, where, when, who and how. These are all means by which success is initiated.
The words “strategy” and “tactics,” if properly understood, can make a huge difference and shift in the way we operate. I am going to be discussing some definitions of the words that might be unconventional, but practical. Even I thought it wrong for a while, but as soon as I stumbled upon the difference in meaning it quickly changed my perspective and thereby my output as well.
Here are some of the definitions I have heard and embraced:
*Strategy is above the shoulders while tactics is below the shoulders.
*Strategy is the boss (instruction) while tactics is the employee (action).
*Strategy is not about best practice policies which deal with quality and integrity, but is about the unique way in which a person or establishment intends to achieve its set out goals. Tactics, on the other hand, is not just some random act to show motion; it is neither erratic behaviour nor emotional reaction without meaning or purpose. It is the execution of a calculated, scheduled, purposeful and timed for productivity agenda.
What are the obvious differences here?
People often misunderstand strategy for tactics and tactics for strategy. You spend years thinking, planning and writing your vision and goals and you think you have a strategy. Unfortunately you don’t. Writing a goal does not make it a plan and if it’s not a plan, it is not strategy.
Okay here it is: a strategy is a plan on how to achieve your goal. So your goal is not a strategy until it is a plan.
How about tactics? Tactics are the set of ACTIONS you take towards achieving your plan. The mistake that a lot of us make, from my personal experience, is that we move from goals straight to tactics. As experience will tell you, this doesn’t produce much at all.
We think that because we have desires written down in the form of goals, the next thing is to take action. Unfortunately, this is a wrong procedure.
It is good to have a vision. It is also good that you have goals. Should that get you excited? Maybe, but just a little. At least now you know what you want out of life. As an organisation, you know what you want to accomplish. As much as that is good, it isn’t enough to make your goals become a reality.
You now have to ask the big question. How do I achieve my plans? This is where strategy comes in. Strategy is the process by which a plan of action is crafted as a bridge between your goals and achieving them.
And then tactics becomes productive because the process was thought through before execution.
The right procedure is always to have a goal (desired end), then a plan (strategy) and then action steps (tactics). This is the right way to achieving success that can create a path for sustainability and a trail for others to follow as well.
Note that a system based on tactics without strategy will amount to hunting in the dark. You might kill something, but it might not be what you had intended for it to be. So yes, you went hunting but no, you just wasted a bullet. You also wasted time and energy shooting a moving object in the dark and found out it was not your intended catch. Any system based on strategy without tactics will lead to frustration, stagnation and a lack of productivity. It will end up with too much planning but no results. Tactics is the vehicle that transports strategy to its destination. Without tactics, strategy becomes useless.
Don’t become a victim of analysis paralysis; overanalysing stuff that may never see the light of day. I believe balance is key in everything that we do and personally, I believe that man will spend all the days of his life working on finding that balance, because the weights keep changing.
Let’s go all out this week and make it a productive one. Re-evaluate your goals, your strategy and check out your tactics.
See you at the top! ….Be a Life Changer!!!