Success ... Do We Prevent It From Coming?

What do you think about this?

 

What are your comments and thoughts? 

Do we somehow prevent "success" from coming into our lives?

Special thanks to my Facebook friend Ceagle Monale for sharing this image. 

Setting Strategic Direction (Part Three - Tactics)

The following is being posted as Part Three of a THREE Part series. It comes from an original article called, "Setting Strategic Direction: Vision, Strategy, and Tactics" by Stever Robbins *. The full article on his website can be seen at http://www.steverrobbins.com/articles/vision-strategy-tactics.htm

PART Three - After the Vision and Strategy ...

The tactics
Tactics are limited in scope, typically just to a part of the company. They’re shorter term than a strategy. They involve executing given the existing capabilities and resources of the company. Unlike strategy, tactics generally work within the current organization structure, rather than changing the organization. Tactics say, “We’re on the south path. Let’s travel two miles today.” Your tactics probably won’t work unless they’re generated from a strategy that lays out a consistent philosophy for how your company will compete/win/attract customers in today’s market.

Your “moments of truth” are those moments in time when you build traction and momentum. For example, a moment of truth in creating a quality-driven organization might be when the CEO refuses to ship a poor-quality product, even though it will hurt quarterly numbers. Moments of truth always happen during a tactical action. That’s why you need a vision and strategy—without them, people won’t have the guidance to ensure they can move the company forward in that moment.

Your strategy also helps you find your moments of truth. If your strategy involves locking up important distributor relationships, your moments will involve reputation and relationship building, creating the perception of value to the distributors, and establishing negotiating leverage to capture an exclusive relationship. If your strategy is to be a low-cost provider, moments of truth might be times when opportunities for efficiencies arise, or incidents where you can encourage a “continuous improvement” mindset in your team.

At the end of the day, your vision and strategy only exist to drive tactics. And often, the most significant tactics are those moments of truth whose effects are far-reaching. When your vision sets direction and your strategy ties it to your current situation, they provide a compass for everyone in your organization to follow for years to come.

* PLEASE NOTE THAT STEVER'S ORIGINAL ARTICLE CONTAINS A SUMMARY CHART THAT HAS NOT BE REPLICATED HERE, BUT CAN BE SEEN IN HIS MATERIAL. 

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS on the development of a TACTICS?  Please add your comments to this post. Please take a few moments to read the first two parts to this series, if you have not already done so!

* Stever Robbins <http://www.SteverRobbins.com>  is an executive coach who helps executives and CEOs grow their business and chart their careers and lives. He is a serial entrepreneur, the author of Get-it-Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More <http://www.WorkLessAndDoMore.com> , host of the #1 iTunes business podcast The Get-it-Done Guy, <http://getitdone.quickanddirtytips.com>  and an adjunct lecturer at Babson College. You can find him at http://www.SteverRobbins.com.

Setting Strategic Direction (Part Two - Strategy)

The following is being posted as Part Two of a THREE Part series. It comes from an original article called, "Setting Strategic Direction: Vision, Strategy, and Tactics" by Stever Robbins *. The full article on his website can be seen at http://www.steverrobbins.com/articles/vision-strategy-tactics.htm

PART Two - After the Vision ...

The strategy thing
Strategy links the destination (vision) with current reality. Strategy applies to the whole company, and answers the question “How will we reach our vision, given current market conditions, competitive scenario, regulatory environment, etc.?” Strategy is narrower than vision, but broad enough to guide company wide organization structure, hiring, capabilities that must be developed, and so on. Strategy says, “We’re going west, but we ran into this grand canyon. We can go around to the north or south. Let’s choose south.”

For example, a company may have a vision to “provide scientifically proven technology to solve the medical needs of consumers and hospitals.” In the 1950s, the strategy may be doing in-house research, hiring and developing scientists, and a compensation program based on discovery. In the 1990s, the same company may have a strategy of acquiring small drug-making companies and buying and protecting patents from other companies. Both strategies will reach the vision, but they are appropriate for different competitive environments, and they have different organization structures, different financing options, and different operational characteristics.

You know you have a strategy if you chose your current path from many alternatives, all of which would have reached your vision, each of which would have required hiring different people and building different systems. If you didn’t consider many alternatives, or you didn’t choose your alternative considering your competition, your vision, and your current market conditions, then you probably have a tactic, not a strategy. If you can execute your strategy with your current people, reward systems, and organization structure, then it’s not a strategy, it’s a tactic.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS on the development of a STRATEGY?  Please add your comments to this post and watch for the THIRD and final part to this series that will be coming soon!

* Stever Robbins <http://www.SteverRobbins.com>  is an executive coach who helps executives and CEOs grow their business and chart their careers and lives. He is a serial entrepreneur, the author of Get-it-Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More <http://www.WorkLessAndDoMore.com> , host of the #1 iTunes business podcast The Get-it-Done Guy, <http://getitdone.quickanddirtytips.com>  and an adjunct lecturer at Babson College. You can find him at http://www.SteverRobbins.com.