When it comes to achieving a shared goal, building a defined game plan is a critical part of the process. However, executing on that game plan is easier said than done.

We witness this story every March in the world of sports, as highly favored, top-seeded teams fall to the Cinderella underdogs that even the best college basketball analysts fail to predict. Both teams prepare a game plan they believe will give them an advantage, but when the whistle blows, tactical execution is all that matters.

Tactics help teams exploit their strengths, minimize their weaknesses, and adapt to changing situations to give them the best chance of success. And just as tactics play a significant role in shaping a team’s approach to a big game, the same can be said for companies looking to achieve their vision.

Unfortunately in the realm of business, companies falling short of their goals is far too common. In fact, research from Harvard Business Review shows that between 60-90% of strategic plans never fully launch, and for those that do, roughly 48% fail to meet at least half of their targets.

This is why we built Elate - to simply help companies execute. And this is why we are so excited to announce our latest feature: Tactics.

Introducing Tactics

What is Tactics? In its truest essence, Tactics bridges the gap between high-level strategy and daily execution. With Tactics, companies can better understand how their quarterly objectives are being supported by the work of their employees. It gives leadership teams and department leads more visibility into what's working, what's not, and what needs to be acted upon.

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Tactics also shows teams and individual contributors how their daily work aligns with the goals they are setting out to achieve as a company, creating more buy-in and ownership into the organization’s longer-term strategy.

Related: Register for our upcoming webinar (June 28th) to see Tactics in action!

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Why we built Tactics

At Elate, we help companies adapt to change, make better decisions, and move faster together. Connecting strategy and execution together is critical to bringing this to reality. When done right, it aligns the entire organization around a shared definition of success and creates visibility into how the company is trending towards those mutually agreed upon goals.

Within Elate, companies set their annual goals, which are referred to as "Themes" in the platform. After setting their Themes, companies then create the quarterly objectives, or simply Objectives, they need to execute on to achieve those Themes.

While Themes and Objectives do a great job of tracking progress at the strategic level, we received feedback that we were not giving companies enough tools and insights into the tactical execution of their strategy. When companies have rolled out Elate to individual contributors or teams, some have experienced a gap in how they could show progress… until now!

By unlocking this layer of how a strategy is brought to life, companies are empowering employees, building stronger plans, and creating a foundation of execution that is felt throughout each layer of the organization.

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The importance of Tactics

It’s no secret that many employees today suffer from a sense of priority fatigue. With resource constraints, hiring freezes, or budgetary cuts, employees are being asked to do more than ever before. This makes everything feel like a priority, resulting in nothing being a priority.

Instead of defining every task or project as an Objective for the quarter, which should be viewed as the highest priority level, Tactics provides a way to track all the contributing factors required to accomplish that Objective. It can help identify different dependencies, connect work being done across different departments, and even help managers understand where team members are focusing their efforts.

Simply put, Tactics helps companies drive better execution.

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How Elate customers are using Tactics‍

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FormAssembly

FormAssembly needed a way to ensure they didn’t lose sight of the work to be done, while still ensuring activity aligned with the priorities of the business. Like so many companies before them, FormAssembly had seen false starts in introducing OKRs to the business prior to implementing Elate. 

However, one of the ways to ensure their framework saw the adoption of the entire business was the introduction of Tactics. With over 80% active users engaged week-over-week on the platform, FormAssembly has made Elate a part of their regular operating cadence. 

Not only has Tactics helped drive adoption, it has helped FormAssembly prioritize what matters most to the business. Rather than inundating their team with everything being an objective, they have leveraged Tactics to drive better alignment and support to delivering on objectives. With an average objective score of 4.2 out of 5 last quarter, Tactics helped FormAssembly achieve over 80%+ Objective Success Rate across the entire company.

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‍In conclusion

With Tactics, companies can bridge the gap between high-level strategy and daily execution. By aligning daily work with long-term goals and providing visibility into progress, Tactics empowers teams to execute their game plan effectively. Say goodbye to strategic plans that fall short of expectations and hello to a more successful and focused approach to achieving your company's vision.

Don't forget to register for our upcoming webinar if you're interested in learning more about Tactics!

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If you're a current Elate customer and want to learn more about how Tactics can fit into your strategic plan, reach out to your CSM.

Interested in learning more about Elate? Book a meeting to chat with our team of strategy experts.