What's The Difference Between The Strategic Goals and Strategy?
Some people may feel that this is a dumb question. Isn't the difference between strategic goals, and the strategies used to achieve those goals pretty clear? On a logical level, the distinction between goals and strategies seem obvious, except that once you get your hands dirty and into the process, the distinction gets blurred. It's worth understanding why.
The confusing part has to do with "means" and "ends". Any ends (or goal) can be a means to achieve another goal or end, and that goal can, in turn, be a "means" to achieve yet another higher up goal. So, the reality is that when you plan strategically and operationally you end up with a "goal chain". When that goal chain gets specific enough (the goals and objectives at the bottom are detailed and specific, those goals, taken together comprise your strategy.
It's a little complicated to follow, so here's an example
Let's say you are a book publisher and you set a strategic goal like this: "To increase share prices by ten percent".
You ask yourself "How can I do that? and you get a whole set of possible other "enabling goals", more specific than the share prices goal. For example:
- increase number of books published by ten percent
- increase placement of book titles in major book sales outlets to cover 95% of bookbuyers
(you could have dozens of these smaller goals)
If you look at the "smaller", or enabling goals, you can see that, taken together, the comprise the strategy for increasing share prices, BUT, they are also goals in themselves. Means, and ends get intertwined.
So, in effect your strategic goals can, in fact also be your strategy. In fact, this is the primary way you actually develop a business strategy. You begin with a strategic goal, then create the sub-goals, and then even the sub-sub goals. It may not be necessary to have all of the strategy in any formal strategic planning document, though. And, the strategies are probably best developed as operational planning elements, as you translate between your strategic plan and your tactical-operational plan.