Strategic Planning and Analysis

Strategy is the science or art of combining and employing the means of war in planning and directing large military movements and operations. In military usage, a distinction is made between strategy and tactics. Strategy is the utilization, during both peace and war, of all of a nation's forces, through large-scale, long-range planning and development, to ensure security or victory. Tactics deals with the use and deployment of troops in actual combat.

The word strategy originates from Greek. 'strategia' "office or command of a general," from 'strategos' "general,"*

*Online Etymology Dictionary

Why do we use the term 'Strategy' for day to day work and for success planning? The answer is very simple. No one can afford to lose a battle.

That is the simple reason that most business planners, managers, Self-motivated individuals with an ambition to succeed, etc., would give an arm and a leg to get the perfect plan and counter-plan in place.

The strategies that are needed for today's success need to be fool-proof and one that you can count on day-in and day-out - today and every other day. Because 'you cannot Afford to Lose'.

Every single thing that we set out to accomplish is a task.

task* [task, tahsk]
-noun
1. a definite piece of work assigned to, falling to, or expected of a person; duty.
2. any piece of work.

Any major Organization or a Corporate giant has a simple terminology called as WBS (Work Break-down Structure). How the WBS works and is defined in each organization depends on their internal work structure and work culture. From a lay-person's perspective, if we can organize our tasks into definable structures, by questioning and organizing the basics, that will indeed be the first step in completing and perhaps winning the Marathon.

Now, without further ado, we shall proceed to find out How to make Strategy work for us.

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We started our module with What is Strategy; Why do we need Strategy and How do we use Strategy for everyday and long-term Success.

Let us start with the three questions again - What, Why, How.

What - Is the task in hand?
Why - Does it need to be completed (If you find no reason why, you can be sure it is not going to be completed)?
How - How is the task going to be completed?

Analysis is a major part of Strategy. Clear analysis and definition of the task at hand can go a long way in simplifying the task on hand. It often can determine the difference between winning and losing.

Example:

What - Defines the issue or problem or reason
Why - Determines the need or analyses the 'root cause' to the problem or reason
How - Sets out the 'options' in completing the task at hand.

Contra-argument: Should I include Who, Where and When?

What, Why, How (in that sequence) gives you a logical analysis of the thought process in quantifying the issue and narrowing down the Solution. The moment you include variables such as 'Who, When and Where', it muddles the issue or problem or reason into a different tangent (one which you would struggle to rein in).

'Who, When and Where' will need to be employed as tools at a tactical environment when it comes to the execution of the Strategy which has been devised.