Whilst I recognise that business is not war, it’s undeniable that throughout history, business has plagiarized military strategy to conquer and successfully claim wins within their markets.
It is also recognised that successful businesses are those that have a defined strategy that is transparent and owned by all within the business.
As Lee Bolman confirms ‘A vision without a strategy remains an illusion.’
These strategic objectives should be measurable and assigned to a timescale so that ‘success’ and progression can be assessed.
The Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu was clear on how the implementation of these measurables applies in his quote ‘Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.’
Tactics in business are those actions that achieve the measurable operational targets / milestones within a quarterly plan.
In recruitment, these measurable milestones involve the 3 cycles of our business – our candidates, our clients and our assignments / roles in conjunction with our people.
Milestones are the key operational results that come from the quality delivery of weekly KPI’s.
Our strategic plans target annual or longer-term objectives, which we then break down into quarterly plans to deliver the milestones that keep us on track to achieve / exceed our strategic objectives. These are our tactics.
In carrying out these tactics, it’s essential for each individual within their team to agree these milestone objectives, be clear on what they need to do to achieve them and to know what structured support they’ll receive, including regular reviews, to maximise their potential to do so.
As Sir Winston Churchill advised, ‘However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results’, and so direction without review isn’t delegation, it’s abdication.
How clear are you on your business’s strategy and the implementation of the ‘tactics’ required to achieve the objectives?
