We use tactics in many ways every day without realizing it. For example, if you're planning a road trip to a beach resort, the destination is the strategy. The roads, highways, rest stops, milestones, and detours are the tactics that help you reach your destination.
Similarly, in business and personal life, strategies are the broad goals and frameworks within which tactics are executed. In the business context, a strategy could be expanding into new markets, developing new products, or restructuring the company to improve efficiency. A personal strategy could be pursuing education, setting career goals, or developing skills in a specific area.
The tactic of using emotional appeal during a negotiation is based on the psychology of reciprocity—that is, when someone does something nice for another person, they feel compelled to return the favor. This tactic is often effective when negotiating salaries, purchasing cars or homes, and even securing employment.
The tactics that you use to accomplish your strategy should have clear objectives, a finite timeline, and bring you closer to the long-term goal. To keep track of progress, it's helpful to utilize digital project management tools that allow you to align strategy and tactics, and see how they relate. For example, ClearPoint provides dashboards that include status indicators (green, yellow, or red), qualitative analysis, tactic owners, percent complete, and more. We also recommend implementing a feedback loop to ensure that your strategic plans and tactics are continually improving, and that they are relevant to your organizational vision.