While earning a business degree, you primarily study strategy—planning how things should be done in a static and largely predictable environment.
Tactics is implementing strategy in an ever-changing environment.
Tactics are not taught much in business school; they are learned in the school of real life—if they are learned at all.
If you’ve ever heard me talk about strategy, you’ ve probably heard about my 18-driver report.
The 18-driver report is strategy—it explains how things are, how things should be, and what needs to be corrected. While it’s a great report, when strategy meets reality, reality will always win.
How do we win over reality?
The answer is tactics.
After we present the 18-driver to the client, we use a very practical and tested methodology for tactical execution.
We take the areas shown by the 18-driver report first and use this tactical formula: From X (now) to Y (future) by Z (time).
We take one item (or a group of very similar items) at a time, complete the tactical formula, and then ask: What one or two measurable actions (never more than two) will move us from X to Y within the time deadline Z?
This gives us a very winning tactical path to follow; one that will achieve goals on time, on budget, and with the highest probability of success.