G'day everyone, Lauren Kress, the Business Scientist here and welcome to another episode of The Cheat Sheets.

In this series, I provide you with a template, a tool, checklist or tip to help you take action in your business, your career or your life.

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Okay, so in my last video, we talked about strategy in business.

In fact, we talked about the four types of strategy you need in your business.

If you haven't had a chance to check that video out yet, it's gonna give you a more thorough understanding of strategy.

So be sure to check that video out using the link in the description below.

In a nutshell, what we learned was that a strategy is an action plan, a high level action plan that provides the big picture overview for how we will achieve a specific long-term goal.

I use the analogy of the strategy being like the roadmap for a trip you're going on, where you need to figure out where you are, point A, and where you're headed, where your final destination is, point B, and how you're going to get from point A to point B.

Our strategy needs to provide an overview of the key decisions we make about that trip, like what we need to bring, where we'll make pit stops, what risks we need to mitigate, and how long it will take to reach our destination.

Our tactics, on the other hand, get more into the nitty-gritty details.

For instance, if in our strategy we said we need enough clothes for a three-day journey, our tactical decision-making would involve thinking through things like, well, how much is enough?

Which clothes are appropriate for this trip?

And how will I store my clothes along the journey?

So whilst our strategy documents the high-level decisions we've made to take action on, the tactics are going to get into the details that prepare us for execution.

So the more detailed we are, the better prepared we are.

And this is part of the answer to the question I posed at the end of my last video, what makes a good strategy?

Let's break this question down further.

Let's think of it in terms of the ultimate outcomes of a strategy, i.e., what does a strategy ultimately need to achieve?

Well, firstly, it needs to help key stakeholders understand where we are and where we're going.

If you're new to the concept of stakeholders, you can check out my video on stakeholders and stakeholder mapping using the link in the description below.

Secondly, it needs to help us anticipate what lies ahead so we can make informed decisions.

That means it needs to be well-researched and account for different scenarios that could arise.

Personally, I find that the scientific methodology provides the most useful framework here as it helps us to put our assumptions, research, and best guesses into a data-led context.

And it's easy for others to look at and understand.

If you'd like to learn more about the scientific framework, check out my video on business science using the link in the description below.

Thirdly, it needs to provide all the information that is required to develop the appropriate tactics.

For instance, let's go back to our road trip analogy.

Let's say that at the strategic level, in our heads, we're assuming that we'll use a car to go on this road trip.

But when we hand over our high-level action plan, there's no documentation of this.

And instead, our tactician assumes that we're going by motorbike or by bus or even a hot air balloon.

Quite quickly, instead of our tactics aligning with our strategy, they're going to diverge from one another.

Now, in the real world, this isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as there's good communication.

So when you have a tactician who can recognize gaps in a strategy, challenge assumptions, and provide innovative solutions, it can be incredibly valuable for the business.

But this is also an example of where the lines can get a bit blurry between what a strategic decision is and a tactical decision.

Where does one end and the other begin?

In the real world, the practical answer to this will often come down to things like the size of the company, how different roles are assigned, the preferences of the leadership team, and the strengths and weaknesses of individual employees.

In these cases, it's a good idea to ask some questions to help get some clarity.

For instance, if you're in a particular strategy meeting and you're not sure what it's about, you could ask a question like, are we talking big picture strategy here or are we getting into the tactical nuts and bolts in this meeting?

On the other hand, if you notice gaps in a strategy, you could ask a question to understand whether or not you're expected to fill in those gaps.

For instance, you could ask, was a plan discussed for how we would achieve X or did you want me to provide some options here?

I think it's worth pointing out that instead of saying something like,

I noticed there's a gap in the information you provided, or there's an assumption here about how we're going to do X, we can couch things in a less confrontational and more collaborative way by asking a question.

I may do a separate video on communication styles and company culture at a later date that will focus more on this.

But for now, I just want to add that how you choose to approach this will also depend on things like the culture of your workplace or where in the world you work.

In Australia, where I live, it's generally considered unappreciative, aggressive, or even rude to point out another person's oversight in a direct manner, like saying you didn't do X or you forgot to specify why.

With all of that said, if you take one thing away from this video, it's what I'm going to say next.

Instead of thinking about strategy and tactic as a binary this or that, it may be more appropriate to think of these two concepts along a decision-making spectrum.

On one end of the spectrum, we have the strategic decisions that inform our high-level action plan.

For example, how we've decided to increase face-to-face customer interaction by investing in experiential marketing over the next 12 months.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have the operational decisions.

These are the decisions we make day-to-day.

For example, how a store manager advises a store clerk to help them deal with a customer complaint.

Along this spectrum between these two lie the tactical decisions.

On one side towards the strategic end, these tactical decisions start to look closer and closer to strategic ones.

For instance, something like engage an agency to develop experiential marketing campaign sits more up on this end.

Conversely, another tactical decision may be closer to the operational end, like head of sales to provide monthly conflict resolution workshop to customer service team.

If you're anything like me, you may find yourself getting a bit caught up in the theory of how to categorize a particular decision.

But honestly, the most important thing in my opinion is that all the decisions that need to be made along the spectrum are well-researched, thought through, documented, and communicated.

In my next video, we're gonna talk more about the decisions that get made at the other end of the spectrum, the operational end, including the common problems that arise for business owners and how to overcome them.

In the meantime, if you found this video useful, please remember to give it a thumbs up.

And if you're looking for resources to help you understand more about what we discussed today, check out the description below.