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Peter Winick

One of the outcomes of developing a viable strategy is defining goals. Without having clearly defined goals and carefully chosen tactics that support those goals, you obviously won’t be able to gauge your progress and make adjustments to your strategic plan. That being said, I’ve seen too many people confuse strategy with goal setting. They are not the same thing, and it’s important to understand the difference between the two.Strategy is an exercise in problem solving. While the problem may be as varied as the development of a platform, the launching of a new project, the way you will gain market share, or the way you will differentiate yourself and your content in the market place, they are all problems that a well thought out strategy is focused on solving.Goals that support the strategy are critical, but goals do not solve problems. Goals are a measure of progress. Goals support the strategy.When a potential client tells me their current strategy, I often hear a list of activities, a description of various tactics, and a summary of how they are progressing against their goals. My response is typically something along the lines of, “What problems in the marketplace are you and your work uniquely qualified to solve and why do you believe that to be so?" Then, I ask them to share their strategy again, and if it can’t be articulated clearly and concisely, we both quickly realize that there probably isn’t one in place.Activity is activity—not strategy.For example, if the problem is getting the body of work out to a broader audience, several strategies can be designed depending on the unique strengths of the thought leader and her organization. They may choose to license their content to others, to build a training company, a consulting firm, or a tools-based company, or they may choose to partner with other authors or organizations.For each of these strategies, a set of specific goals can and should be created to measure the progress and make the necessary tweaks. But the strategy of partnering or licensing is a way to solve the problem of getting the work out to a broader audience. The goal of researching a list of potential partners is just one of many tasks that need to be accomplished and support the strategy.So, what’s the point you may ask? Fair question. The point is to have a strategy that has the best chance of solving your specific problem, have goals that are aligned to it, and to not confuse the two—as they serve very different purposes.

Strategy Is Not the Same as Goal Setting

Peter Winick advises thought leaders to learn from other people’s mistakes when pursuing new ideas.

Only Let Yourself Make New Mistakes

Left brain or right brain? Innovation versus execution? Process or people? Strategic versus tactical? Many of these concepts are positioned as either/or behaviors or default types of people, teams, and organizations.There are ample tools to help determine your dominant type or style. There are also dozens if not hundreds of books on each of these topics. Every one of them attempts to make the case for why their model or view of the world is the better mousetrap. Each one supported by research and case studies supporting their argument.Given all the information that is out there, it should be pretty easy to determine how one needs to think and act in order to be successful, right? Not really. Is the difficulty that choosing correctly is relative to the situation? Partly.The issue is that we tend to swing like a pendulum when it comes to analyzing and solving business issues. We go into “strategic planning mode” for a while, then dive into mastering new tools or technologies for a bit. Once we’ve done that, we may launch an employee engagement program because it’s all about the people, right? And then we dive into six sigma or process improvement for a while and those programs yield some impressive results.The soup du jour method of running a business isn’t really one that is viable or sustainable—although it may be fun for some.Business is dynamicIn my work I’ve observed that the authors and thought leaders that have the ability to zoom in and zoom out are the ones that are making a difference and growing their respective businesses at a faster pace than those who aren’t.Choices that you make are usually not permanent and need to be reevaluated, tweaked, and modified over time as circumstances change. The market changes, clients demands and needs change, technology changes, cultures morph and evolve.You need to constantly revisit what you are doing and if it is still the best way to accomplish your objectives. What is challenging for many is that we all (as individuals, as teams, and as organizations) have default tendencies. Some are visionary and future focused while others are more oriented towards execution and implementation. We prefer to stay in our comfort zones whatever they may be.If you’re a zoom in type (tactical/execution/operational), try zooming out for a bit. If you’re a zoom out type (big picture, strategic thinker, future-focused), spend some time drilling down on the tactics and processes. There is never just one right way to achieve a goal or objective, and alternative view points, ideas, and concepts are needed today more than ever.

Peter Winick

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