Page 13 - NBIZ Magazine June 2023

FAILURE OF TACTICS (
THE HOW MISTAKE)
Tactical failures can be fixed easily by recording
the process (everyone knows the method and also
how to do it), measuring the outcome (constant com-
parison to the planned and expected conclusion), and
reviewing and re-adjusting the approach (re-aligning
the HOW to adhere to changes).
Change is inevitable, but a failure of tactics typi-
cally escalates due to the inability or the stubbornness
to resist the re-adjustment of the task at hand.
Tactical gaffes are errors that mainly occur due
to a lack of follow-through or the failure to execute
a good plan. They are routinely the result of poor
communication and the absence of understanding
of the issue at hand. They are often caused due to
inadequate execution rather than deficient planning.

FAILURE OF STRATEGY (
THE WHAT MISTAKE)
Strategy is a future plan of action designed to achieve effectively, monitor it daily, and if required, revise
a major desired overall goal. Strategic failures have a it rapidly.
greater impact on the long-term sustainability of an It is very difficult (though not impossible) to determine
anticipated outcome than do tactical failures, for it is like what will work in the real world and therefore speed to
a ship at full steam, out at sea, voyaging toward its path launch is essential to endorse a strategic success. As has
– but sadly, the incorrect path. Strategic failures (What been so aptly said, one has not really started working
is it that went wrong) need re-examining rapidly as it is on an idea until one has actually launched it in the real
this type of failure that halts all ongoing tactical progress world. The speedier the launch, the faster the confirma-
until it is reconsidered, reorganized, recommunicated, tion of its effectiveness.
and thereby resolved. Next, doing things cheaply reduces the attachment to a
There are four principal ways to fix strategic failures particular idea/plan. It avoids pitfalls and allows for a lesser
– introduce the new strategy quickly, launch it cost- degree of ownership, for the more energy one puts into
something, the greater chance that it then becomes part of
one's identity and becomes more difficult to let go. Testing
new strategies cheaply avoids these pitfalls and increases
the likelihood that one will follow the strategy that works
best rather than the one he/she has invested in the most.
What gets monitored gets done, as it can be realigned,
recalibrated, and redone.
Once the strategy is launched quickly, cost-effectively,
and continuously monitored, it has to be revised and
re-adjusted. This is where most of the problem occurs, for
some are sadly conditioned to believe that if the first idea
does not work, one is not cut out for it and needs to give
up. Starbucks sold coffee supplies and espresso machines
for over a decade before opening its own stores. Nintendo
made playing cards and vacuum cleaners before it stole
the hearts of video game lovers everywhere.
The reason why most strategies fail is they’re not
actually strategies—they are simply tactics. The terms
strategy and tactic are so entwined they often get con-
fused. “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to vic-
tory, tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat,”
wrote Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu in The Art of
War about 2,500 years ago. That is still true even today.

NBIZ ■ June 2023 13