3.2 Strategy and tactics
Strategy without tactics is the longest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
The above quote considers strategy and tactics as two sides of the same coin. There are many interpretations of what strategy means. But here, a strategy is the overall plan. The route you have laid out to achieving your goal. A tactic on the other hand is an individual step, one of many single actions that will get you there.
The distinction is important in campaigning. You might see an individual tactic, like launching a petition for instance, referred to as a campaign. But it is not really a campaign in itself. Rather, it is a tactic that might be one of many tactics in a broader campaign strategy.
This might seem pedantic, but it can be important for the success of your campaign. People often move straight to a tactic, like holding a protest, without a broader strategy in place and, likewise, there is no point having a strategy if you are not actually going to take any action.
With this understanding, it is time to study some tools for planning strategy and tactics. Click through the slideshow below.
Midwest Strategy Chart
Activity 3 Building campaign strategy
Using the issue you identified at the start of this week, try using the Midwest Strategy Chart to begin planning a collective campaign (feel free to imagine/make up any specific information you might be missing). There is no need to complete an entire strategy, but rather to get a feel for using the chart and begin thinking about how you might fill out some of the columns.
| Goals | Organisational considerations | Constituents (allies and opponents) |
Decision maker(s) | Tactics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long term | List the resources you have available | Who is directly affected by the issue? | Primary decision maker (who is the individual person that can give you what you want?) | Using your resources, how can each of your constituents put pressure on your decision makers? |
| Intermediate | Who is indirectly affected? | Secondary decision maker (who has influence over your primary decision maker?) | ||
| Short term | Allies? (Not affected but might be on your side) | |||
| Opponents? (Not a decision maker who can give you what you want, but someone who might not want you to win and could campaign against you) | ||||
Comment
Below is an example of a fictitious campaign so that you can see how a scenario can be distilled into a completed chart.
A local refugee charity has been renting a premises by a landlord which has turned out to not pass the required gas and electric safety requirements. The charity needs to begin work immediately and have decided the premises is not suitable. They had paid £6000 in rent up front as well as a £500 deposit, and want the money returned so that they can find a suitable premises. But the landlord has refused, insisting that the charity is bound by a contract. In partnership with a local community union, they decide they want to campaign for their money to be returned. Below is the campaign strategy:
Now that you have a strategy, the next step is to move to action. Think about your list of tactics. Where would you start?
It is important to remember that your strategy chart is a live document. Refer back to it. Maybe you will need to change your approach, maybe a tactic you hadn’t thought of will reveal itself, and hopefully… you will achieve your goals!