Why is it important to know if your boss or client is a visionary, a strategist or a tactician? The combination of oil and water should give you a clue. Knowing how you and your bosses are ‘connected’ is critical. If you’re in sales, it’s especially important to understand the difference because if you approach a visionary the same way you would a strategist, getting permission to advance the sale will be more difficult. A lot of material talks about management “style,” but none talks about management “wiring” or the natural inclinations people have that, in essence, determine their style. Not understanding that challenges and frustrations abound in the workplace. Take heart, you are about to learn something that will change your life.
- Visionary: someone who is able to see things that others cannot.
- Strategist: Highly capable of developing strategies, plans, and processes that will achieve an objective.
- Tactical – Very detail oriented and usually the call to “make it happen”.
the visionary
If you look up synonyms for ‘visionary’, you’ll find words like: imaginative, utopian, unrealistic, impractical. Definitions will use phrases such as: a person who sees visions, a person with keen insight, given to dreams. In essence, a visionary is someone who sees things that others cannot see.
Pastors, business owners, entrepreneurs, and the highly creative (artists, inventors, etc.) are often visionaries. A key characteristic of visionaries that sets them apart is the fact that they see the end from the beginning. However, it is also true for visionaries who cannot see how to get there. Because visionaries see the end and not the means, they are often the most frustrating people to work for: they push their staff forward, go in many different directions at once, start and stop projects erratically, and have no plan for how things are going. how to achieve the goal. view. At least, that’s how it seems to those who follow him. In reality, the visionary is as frustrated as the stick because the vision is right there: it can be seen but not possessed.
Every organization or business needs a visionary, but three things are critical:
- The visionary must admit that they don’t know how to arrive at the vision (despite thinking otherwise), allowing the strategist to manage that process.
- The strategist must understand how to communicate and work with the visionary.
- THERE MUST BE A PROCESS that guides and directs all efforts and decisions.
If any of the above is missing, the frustration will continue and the manifestation of the vision will be delayed.
Can work
The US Military is a perfect analogy for how an organization can effectively incorporate the strengths of the visionary, strategist, and tactician while mitigating the weaknesses:
The visionary may like the president. He has a vision for the county’s future.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is the strategist. This leadership team is highly capable of developing the strategy to carry out the President’s vision.
The soldiers are the tacticians. They do not create strategy or question it: they carry it out, they ‘make it happen’.
In an ideal organization or business, the CEO is the visionary, the Executive Leadership Team equates to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the staff plays the role of soldiers. (There are other structures, but this is the general framework.)
Problems arise when people get out of line: the visionary develops the strategy, the strategists judge the vision, and the tacticians question both. The failure of the Vietnam War can be attributed, in part, to a violation of these principles: the vision was unclear, the non-strategists (Congress) determined the strategy, and the strategists questioned the orders. We are still suffering the effects of that failure.
Once the vision is clearly articulated, the best thing for the visionary to do is to get out of the way.
Strategist
“Let ‘me help you – please!“If you work for a visionary, you’ve probably uttered those words at least once (perhaps every day). You know where your boss wants to go, and you can see how to get there, if he or she gets out of the way! If that sounds like like you, you are a strategist. Visionaries need strategists, but unless they have mutual respect and an understanding of their different gifts, the combination is like oil and water. Most visionaries don’t realize that they are also not talented strategists and all too often impede their own progress.
As the term implies, a ‘strategist’ is someone who can develop a plan of action to achieve a specific goal. Just as the visionary has the gift of being able to see the end from the beginning, a strategist has the gift of clearly seeing the road map or the plan to get there. Strategists are naturally gifted ‘project planners’.
Strategists view projects as a game of chess; they know the ultimate goal, they can see 164 ways to achieve it, and they have a gift for skillfully identifying the best route. Like in a game of chess, they intuitively think strategically (if I do this, they will do that; if they do that, I will do this, etc.).
To the strategist:
- You know who needs to be involved
- Understand what resources are needed
- See the sequential steps that need to be taken
- Easily determine the timeline
- It is driven to perform the task at hand.
Because this is a natural gift, a strategist isn’t always aware that others don’t see things the way he or she does. Strategists are not always patient or forthcoming: You are generally not sensitive to the need to communicate effectively with the visionary in terms the visionary understands.
Strategists are focused on results, often not stopping to update everyone on the status because partial completion is, well, it’s nothing to report because it’s not done. They also tend to handle obstacles rather than involve others. As a result, the visionary feels uncomfortable, is not sure that things are going in the right direction, and therefore begins to help direct the strategy.
Remember, the root of the word visionary is vision. A visionary needs to see, not hear updates. With that in mind, here are some tips for the strategist to follow that will keep both the visionary and the strategist happy and on their ‘track’.
- Schedule frequent updates, always reaffirming your understanding of the vision (even as you develop the plan).
- In your planning, identify key milestones that need to be celebrated AND communicated.
- Use audiovisuals; use graphs, tables, photos, anything that is a visual representation of the information.
- If you are free to make unilateral decisions, immediately inform the visionary of any obstacles you have encountered AND their solution. If time allows (or your structure requires it), provide a “proposed” solution before you act so your boss has a chance to provide input.
- Don’t assume anything. If in doubt, ask or confirm your understanding.
- Communicate with everyone involved in the project. The last thing you want is for a colleague to ask your boss a question about the project because that will only cause alarm.
- If a problem arises that you cannot solve, be the FIRST to alert your boss. Do not try to fix it without warning you of the potential danger, delay, etc.
- Always remember, a project status question is not a capacity question; it’s a red flag that you haven’t adequately maintained the flow of information.
In other words, write contact visionary in your plan; make milestones, updates, etc. a ‘to do’ item on the list. About communicate. It’s better to be told, “just tell me when you’re done” than to be second-guessed or unexpectedly dropped from the project due to lack of trust due to lack of information.
A WORD OF CAUTION: If you are a strategist, no matter how clear you see how to reach your destination, NEVER get ahead of the visionary. If he/she can’t see what you see, WAIT! Remember, it’s not her vision. If the visionary is not ready, no matter how close you look, wait! He/she will catch up and when that happens he/she will move on.
Tactical
“Too much information, just tell me what you want me to do.” If you hear that phrase, you know you’re talking to a “strategist.” A tactician doesn’t care what the vision is, what strategy is most effective, or what other options there are; he simply wants to know what task he must carry out. This does not reflect a lack of understanding or intelligence; rather it denotes the fact that the focus is on getting the job done, period.
A tactician has the gift of taking the ‘what’ and determining the ‘how’. Once the strategy (the what) is communicated to the tactician, the wise tactician will let the tactician determine the best What. Just as the strategist is frustrated when the visionary tries to determine what must be done; the tactician is frustrated when the strategist determines how it should be done. A tactician is a master of details.
While the visionary and strategist are long-term thinkers, the tactician focuses heavily on the short term. Thinking beyond the task at hand is distracting. The more detailed the task, the less superfluous information a tactician wants to hear. Tacticians are wonderful additions to a team because when a job is placed in their hands, the visionary and strategist can be sure that the task will be completed.
In conclusion
If you are the boss and a visionary, make sure you hire a strategist as your ‘right hand’. Strategists need to make sure they hire tacticians. However, whatever gift you have, once you determine the inherent traits of those you work with, you must modify your communication style to suit their needs if you want to eliminate or minimize frustration. At the same time, if your boss is micromanaging you, ask yourself, “Is it because my boss is a visionary and I’m not communicating properly, or is it because my boss is a frustrated strategist?” Once you figure it out, your next course of action will be easy.
