Vision vs. Strategy vs. Tactics

Vision vs. Strategy vs. TacticsVision vs. Strategy vs. TacticsVision What you want the organization to be your dream.Strategy What you are going to do to achieve your vorstellung.Tactics How you will achieve your strategy and when. Your vision is your dream of what you want the organization to be. Your strategy is the large-scale plan you will follow to make the dream happen. Your tactics are the specific actions you will take to follow the plan. Start with the vision and work down to the tactics as you plan for your organization. Concepts Are The Same Whether you are planning for the entire company or just for your department the concepts are the same. Only the scale is different. You start with the vision statement (sometimes called a mission statement). When you know what the vision is you can develop a strategy to get you to the vision. When you have decided on a strategy, you can develop tactics to meet the strategy. Vision A vision is an over-riding idea of what the org anization should be. Often it reflects the dream of the founder or leader. Your companys vision could be, for example, to be the largest retailer of automobiles in the US, the maker of the finest chocolate candies in London, or the management consultant of choice for non-profit organizations in the Southwest. A vision must be sufficiently clear and concise that everyone in the organization understands it and can buy into it with passion. Strategy Your strategy is one or more plans that you will use to achieve your vision. To be the largest retailer of automobiles in the US you might have to decide whether it is a better strategy for you to buy other retailers, try to grow a single retailer or a combination of both. A strategy looks inward at the organization, but it also looks outward at the competition and at the environment and business climate. To be the management consultant of choice for non-profit organizations in the Southwest your strategy would need to evaluate what oth er companies offer management consulting services in the Southwest, which of those target non-profits, and which companies could in the future begin to offer competing services. Your strategy also must determine how you will become the consultant of choice. What will you do so that your targeted customers choose you over everyone else? Are you going to offer the lowest fees? Will you offer a guarantee? Will you hire the very best people and build a reputation for delivering the most innovative solutions? If you decide to compete on lowest billing rates, what will you do if a competing consulting firm drops their rates below yours? If you decide to hire the best people, how will you attract them? Will you pay the highest salaries in a four-state area, give each employee an ownership position in the company, or pay annual retention bonuses? Your strategy must consider all these issues and find a solution that works and that is true to your vision. Tactics Your tactics are the spe cific actions, sequences of actions, and schedules you will use to fulfill your strategy. If you have more than one strategy, you will have different tactics for each. A strategy to be the most well-known management consultant, as part of your vision to be the management consultant of choice for non-profit organizations in the Southwest might involve tactics like advertising in theSouthwest Non-Profits Quarterly Newsletterfor three successive issues, advertising in the three largest-circulation newspapers in the Southwest for the next six months, and buying TV time monthly on every major-market TV station in the southwest to promote your services. Or it might involve sending a letter of introduction and a brochure to the Executive Director of every non-profit organization in the Southwest with an annual budget of over $500,000. Firm or Flexible? Things change. You need to change with them, or ahead of them. However, with respect to vision, strategy, and tactics, you need some f lexibility and some firmness. Hold to your dream, your vision. Dont let that be buffeted by the winds of change. Your vision should be the anchor that holds all the rest together. Strategyis a long-term plan, so it may need to change in response to internal or external changes, but strategy changes should only happen with considerable thought. Changes to strategy also should not happen until you have a new one to replace the old one. Tactics are the most flexible. If some tactic isnt working, adjust it and try again. Manage This Issue Whether for one department or the entire company, for a multi-national corporation or a one-person company, vision, strategy, and tactics are essential. Develop the vision first and hold to it. Develop a strategy to achieve your vision and change it as you haveto meet internal or external changes. Develop flexible tactics that can move you toward fulfilling your strategy.

This Austrian city was just named the worlds most liveable city

This Austrian city was just named the worlds most liveable cityThis Austrian city was just named the worlds most liveable cityIf youve been thinking about abandoning your urban dwelling for greener pastures (and a better quality of life), its time to pack those bags and head for Central Europe.TheEconomist Intelligence Unitreleases the Global Liveability Index annually, and for the past seven years, Melbourne, Australia has easily swiped the top spot away from competing locales. But 2018 is proving to be the year of change - Vienna, Austria just stole that number one seat from the beloved Aussie city, and for good reasons. The Austrian capitalreceived a near-perfect score of 99.1 out of 100after being evaluated on criteria like stability, health care and the environment. Melbourne then trailed behind in second place, followed by Osaka, Japan in third place.Canada and Australia claimed six of the top 10 spots in the index, which suggests that they know something about living well tha t the rest of us have yet to learn. And interestingly enough, major destinations like London, England (48th) and New York City (57th) didnt even come close to cracking the top 10, due to their struggles with crime and public transportation catering to their massive populations. In fact, the United States didnt hit the top 10 at all. Honolulu, Hawaii got the closest with 23rd place.Below are the rankings for the 10 most liveable cities, followed by the 10 least liveable cities.The 10 most liveable cities1. Vienna, Austria2. Melbourne, Australia3. Osaka, Japan4. Calgary, Canada5. Sydney, Australia6. Vancouver, Canada7. Toronto, Canada (tie)7. Tokyo, Japan (tie)9. Copenhagen, Denmark10. Adelaide, AustraliaThe 10 least liveable cities1. Damascus, Syria2. Dhaka, Bangladesh3. Lagos, Nigeria4. Karachi, Pakistan5. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea6. Harare, Zimbabwe7. Tripoli, Libya8. Douala, Cameroon9. Algiers, Algeria10. Dakar, SenegalAcross the board, the liveability indexevaluated 140 urba n centers on 30 different criteriarelated to safety, health care, educational resources, infrastructure and the environment. The general trends in this years report revealed thatmid-sized cities in wealthier countries seem to fare the best. The manageable population density makes it mora likely that the citys infrastructure can properly serve its residents, and the financial status tends to ward off social instability and troublesome crime rates.To view the rankings in full,check out the 2018Global Liveability Index here.Thispostwas originally published onSwirled.comin the Thrive section, which covers valuable career and personal finance content for Millennials.

Here are 5 tips for getting out of mental health traps

Here are 5 tips for getting out of mental health trapsHere are 5 tips for getting out of mental health trapsThere are certain mindsets every founder has to actively work to avoid, like pressuring yourself to personally touch every project, believing you have to be killing it at all times when youre talking about your company to others, and feeling like you can never rest. Ive personally made all 3 of these mistakes (and every other mistake youll see here), and each one can really take its toll.Looking back, its easy to say I shouldnt have made these mistakes, but when you are in the thick of it all, its all too easy to fall into one of these traps.Here are five of the fruchtwein dangerous mental traps Ive fallen into - so learn from them1. Saying, Ill just do it, if you see a teammate moving too slowly and you feel like you can do the work faster yourself.This is the mistake I find myself making most often.Its especially prevalent among founders of early-stage startups, in those sit uations when youve hired a new team member to take over some part of your job for you. The truth is, a new hire will need time to ramp up, to learn the job - and of course, during that learning period, they wont be able to complete the tasks you used to do as fast as you can.But that doesnt matter. Taking over their workload is the opposite of what you want to do, because it will prevent them from ever being able to run their domain autonomously. That will, in turn, prevent you from ever being able to scale your company.And itll have other side effects, too. Stepping on your new teammates toes damages their morale - especially if theyre already suffering from a bit of Imposter Syndrome. And it wastes money in opportunity cost, mostly in the long run.Let your new hires struggle so they grow - at least for the first few weeks.2. Measuring hours, not progressIn the startup world, its annoyingly common to overhear people bragging about how often they get to the office early or stay t here late.That literally means nothing.Unlike in Corporate America, that facetime doesnt matter here. All that matters is progress.Heres what Ive learned I would rather have my team sleep later and leave earlier if that means they are sharper and more productive when theyre in the office. What matters are deliverables. To measure someones contribution to a growing company or cause, you need only look at things likeWhat they accomplishIf they hit roadmap goals or deadlinesIf theyre a reliable and respected team memberOf course, founders often behave in ways which prop up this fallacy, too. I try and avoid doing that by creating daily checklists for myself, and measuring my day in accordance with what manageable tasks Ive accomplished or made progress on during the day.Ultimately, being goal-oriented - as opposed to hours-oriented - is how you align conceptions of productivity with success, for both yourself and your team.3. Feeling like you cant take a breakMany founders routinely push themselves to the point of exhaustion in running their company - mentally sprinting 18 straight hours a day, never allowing themselves to stop, sleep, or take a vacation. They feel its what they need to do. Ive even seen founders post about their work ethic on Instagram or Twitter as a way to get some social validation that what they are doing is extra-ordinary. Nothing gives you motivation these days like that late night like or retweet.But in reality, thats unproductive. Burning yourself out makes you less effective. The startup life is a marathon - not a sprint. And despite some of the very strange and very brilliant people youll meet along the way, we arent all robots (or cyborgs)yet.If you find yourself constantly inundated with tasks or action items that seem to force you to work without ever taking a break, take a step back and reflect. Often, youll find that youre taking longer than you likely need completing certain tasks because you areDistracted (not all emails nee d to be answered right away)Mismanaging your timeNot giving yourself enough deep work timeIts about being purposeful. The old adage really does ring true work smarter, not harder.That also means allowing yourself to take breaks.4. Trying to be the cool bossTheres a fine line between being the boss and being a friend. When youre running an early-stage startup - beholden to your team, investors, and to yourself - its always better to be the former.That means, essentially, being (painfully) honest in your constructive criticism and coaching.Its good to be friendly, but feigning honesty will have drastic consequences, both personally and company-wide. Among other things, it willPromote an overtly political company atmosphere in which your team is competing not to be productive or valuable, but to be a member of some founder inner circle.Eat away at you personally, since the problems you fail to call out are never being remedied. This will eventually cause you to resent that person to the point of wanting to fire them.Cripple your product, since the feedback loop is broken.Prevent your company culture from growing into one of honesty, transparency and constant feedback, which is what you need.When you need to have hard conversations, just rip the band-aid off. Be direct and say what you need to say. Its the only way things will improve. And, truly, as long as you remain professional with your feedback, nobody will fault you.The truth is, your team will - and should - fault you if youre not doing your job.5. Thinking you need to tell everybody things are going great all the timeFounders might be more guilty of this mental trap than any of the others. Talk to a friend or colleague whos starting a company right now, and ask them how its going. 99% of the time, youll hear Its going great.Not only is this often dishonest, but it has other unforeseen consequences, too. It canPiss people off, since most of the time it comes off as disingenuous or as you stroking your own ego.Preclude you from receiving what might be very valuable advice or help, since those who could give it to you wont think you need it.Decrease your credibility - especially after people find out things actually arent going great, even though you told them the opposite just a short while ago.Personally, I push myself - at this stage in my career - to be completely honest when answering this question. You know what?Sh-ts hard right now. Saying that to people at the very least is honest, and better yet, might help me form bonds with others whove gone through the same struggle.At the end of the day, everyone involved in the startup grind makes mistakes.Thats to be expected. Whats important is that you dont make the mistakes you can avoid.That starts with avoiding these mental traps.This article was originally published on Quora.