During my managerial career, I was often criticized for focusing too little on details, tactics and operations. I was told that I focused too much on vision, strategy and the big picture.
How did I fix this weakness? How did I improve my ability to provide tactical guidance?
I didn't. Instead, I became a college professor and started teaching strategy, not operations. And I became a consultant that helps business with strategic planning. My big-picture perspective, formerly seen as a liability, is now a valuable asset.
As Seth Godin argues in his blog post, When Tactics Drown Out Strategy, many organizations are so busy with tactics that they don't spend enough time developing a strategy to integrate those tactics.
"In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail before they embrace a strategy... and as a result, when a tactic fails, they begin to question the strategy that they never really embraced in the first place."
Certainly organizations need both a clear strategy and aligned tactics. However, strategic and tactical skills don't need to reside within a single individual. That is what teamwork is for.
As managers and co-workers, we need to learn to embrace the strengths that others bring to the workplace and stop worrying about their weaknesses.
As individuals and employees, you need to embrace tactics if you are tactical and strategy if you are strategic. Don't let your boss or your organization force to you find balance or to become more well-rounded. Your perspective is valuable and unique, but so is the perspective of people that see things differently.
You aren't too tactical. You aren't tactical enough. Do it more.
You aren't too strategic. You aren't strategic enough. Do it more.
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Good reminder about focussing on your strengths. The key is that all aspects including strategy and excutuion are actually done.
Posted by: Doug Wagner | August 07, 2009 at 12:14 PM