Organizational Planning and Execution in Three Levels - Strategic, Tactical, Operational

When you are developing a plan for a company based on the time horizon, which could be like six months or a one-year plan, you need to consider these three dimensions. 

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The Strategic Level

The strategy level is the big picture. It is long-term focused and a point where the executive management focuses on the vision and mission of an organization. It could be a clearly spelled out two-year to Five-year vision for the company. The executives are most concerned and involved at this level a lot more. For IT professionals and IT Leaders, this helps to understand what direction the company is heading to and how the IT initiatives can support that path. An important question for the leaders at this level is, "What is the right direction for the company?"

The Tactical Level

The tactical level is for the mid-term. Depending on the company type, it can be planned for six months to two years on the time horizon. It can be focused on specific business departments, unlike the strategic level of planning, which focuses on the entire company. The tactical level is a middle management stage where activities and actions are developed to support a company's strategy. An essential question for the leaders at this level is, " What activities and projects to be planned in strategic alignment?"

The operation level is for the short-term. This level is focused on day-to-day running and detail-level processes for specific outcomes. The managers prepare the operational plan to run the business, and this planning can be for three to six months. The primary responsibility of the management is to ensure the day-to-day operations are running as expected and aligned with the organizational strategy.

So, even though the strategy is created and developed for the entire business over the long term, the alignment must be ensured through the bottom-up from day-to-day activities. Therefore, those at the bottom of the organization hierarchy to the middle management level must always ask: Are our decisions and actions aligned with the business strategy and vision?

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