Strategic Thinking - Press the Fight

WARNING:  This is part 7 of a series on strategic thinking.  If you haven't read any before then this blog entry may not make as much sense.

When you have game-planned the battle scene and you have conserved or built up your force, the next step is to Press the Fight on YOUR terms.

Pressing the fight means:

1. Tenacity
2. Aggressive
3. Pushing the enemy into awkward positions.

We are launching the battle to franchise our company.  We have game planned, thought, and planned some more.  Now we are going for the big accounts.  That is Tenacity and Aggressiveness.

Crawl, Walk, then Run

I also believe in crawl, walk, and run as the way humans learn best.  That seems to contradict Pressing the Fight with aggression and tenacity.  It is NOT.

Some children take forever to walk.  Some move to walking quickly. 

We tested the concepts with small, local accounts in week one.  We met 100% success.
We tested the concepts with medium accounts in week two.  We met 100% success.

That's it.  Go for it.  That is what we are doing-Pressing the Fight.  Once you have done the prep work described in the previous sections, it is time to work harder and faster than your competition.  Press the Fight until you have victory.

Strategic Thinking - Resource Planning

After choosing objectives and planning the strategy, you need to review the cost for the objective and determine if it is worth paying.  Cross the feasibility of success against the cost.

A key principle to consider in planning for strategic operations is:  resources. 

You must understand your human and non-human resources:

• Strengths of the resources
• Weakness' of the resources
• Training level of the resources
• Experience level of the resources
• Morale or Motivation level of resources.

Then you must understand the resources of your opponent.  In business, you have competition.  In goal planning there are forces that fight against your success.  If you are negotiating for a raise you must understand the cashflow and resources of your employer.

While you are analyzing the resources of both sides both sides we are prone to underestimate our own resources and overestimate those of our opponent.  This is especially true when negotiating.

Protecting and establishing your supply lines, whether that is revenue, motivation, personnel, or training you have to establish it and then keep it.  Companies loose key people because competition recruits them away.

List all your resources with their answers to the issues above.  Then begin game planning how you can use these resources to accomplish the objective you mentioned and which resources you need to keep in reserve.

Next Entry will be a check list for anticipating the events of the battle or engagement.