Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

Sun Tsu

Strategic Objectives

Strategic objectives involves long term planning. These usually have a time frame of 3 years or greater.

These are the broad goals the business wants to achieve.

Some examples of strategic objectives are:

• Increase profits by 25% over the proceeding three year period.
• Gain 5% market share in the next four years.
• Reduce operation costs by 15% in the next three years.

Tactical Objectives

Tactical objectives are smaller objectives that build to achieve our strategic objectives. These objectives are short term planning. They focus on specific tasks or milestones that can be accomplished in a shorter period of time. These objectives usually have a time frame less than a year.

Some examples of tactical objectives are:

• Train staff on new accounting software in the following 5 months.
• Increase productivity at business by 10% in the year
• Perform market research via social media for new products throughout the year.

Operational Objectives

Operational objectives and tactical objectives are very similar, the key difference is the time frame. Operational objectives involve short term planning (shorter than that of tactical objectives), it may involve a time frame of a few days, a few weeks or even a few months. These are usually related to the day-to-day tasks in the business.

Some examples of operational objectives are:

• Implementing daily meetings to discuss progress.
• Ensuring customer orders are fulfilled in a timely manner.

S.M.A.R.T. Objectives

This acronym stands for:

• SPECIFIC
• MEASUREABLE
• ACHIEVABLE
• RELEVANT
• TIMELY

Now, we will dive into each one separately.

Goals must be Specific

This means the objectives must be short, concise and outlined in a straight forward way.

Goals must be Measurable

This means we must be able to track the progress of the goal; to measure its progress. This allows us to determine if new methods need to be implemented, or if any changes need to be made in order to achieve the goal in the specified time.

Goals must be Achievable

This means that the goals must be realistic, and possible to accomplish.

Goals must be Relevant

This goes without saying, it must be relevant to the business, it must relate to the strategic goals of the business.

Goals must be Timely

An appropriate time frame must be provided. It must be possible to complete in the time period specified.