Strategy vs. Tactics (#79)

Two of the most common military terms used in the corporate environment are strategy and tactics. Right now, you may be evaluating how your strategy and tactics went in 2020 or building your strategy and tactics for 2021. Because they terms are so common, sometimes their definitions are difficult to understand. It’s worthwhile to revisit the military definitions, as well as the corporate ones, so your team has a common understanding of both.

For the military, strategy is defined as the “prudent idea or set of ideas for employing the instruments of national power in a synchronized and integrated fashion to achieve theater, national, and/or multinational objectives.” And the strategic level of war is “the level of war at which a nation, often as a member of a group of nations, determines national or multinational (alliance or coalition) strategic security objectives and guidance, then develops and uses national resources to achieve those objectives. Tactics are “the employment and ordered arrangement of forces in relation to each other.” Now I have to admit that this definition is tough for me to understand even after being in the Army for 24 years. However, the definition of the tactical level of war, or the level “at which battles and engagements are planned and executed to achieve military objectives assigned to tactical units or task forces” is easier to follow.

To use a Star Wars analogy, the Empire’s (the group led by the Emperor and Darth Vader) strategy was to dominate the galaxy. Their tactics were to remove planets with the Death Star, like Alderon, use their stormtroopers to occupy and dominate planets like Tatoonie, and use their cruisers to conduct raids to eliminate the Rebel Alliance. All most all of the action in Star Wars: A New Hope happens at the tactical level of war.

Make sure your stromtrooper understands strategy and tactics.

While the military definitions are useful to know, they don’t translate all that well to the corporate environment. At its simplest, a corporate strategy refers to a direction toward a goal. Corporate tactics are the actions taken to support that strategy. If your organization uses different definitions, taking the time to make sure the team has a common understanding of strategy and tactics can avoid confusion and increase profitability in the long run.

To continue with the Star Wars analogy, Han Solo and Chewbacca run a smuggling company. Their strategy is to be the most discrete, fast, and profitable smuggling company possible. Their tactics are to do minimal marketing but rely on word-of-mouth recommendations. In addition, they leverage the Millennium Falcon, a junky looking freighter, but is the fastest ship in the galaxy to ferry their illicit cargo.

Making sure you and your team know the definitions of strategy and tactics is a good place to start to have a great year for your organization. Go on the offense and develop your strategy and tactics for 2021.