education strategic planning

Ensure your strategic plan succeeds with your educational partners’ input

September 29, 2023

Sarah Mathias

Strategic planning in education – 3 keys to success.

Effective strategic planning is critical for creating positive change in your district. Among the many benefits, strategic plans align educational partners with a shared vision, mission, and values; promote productive decision-making; and help students reach their full potential.

While having a plan in place will usually improve results, strategic planning can present challenges—resulting in endless meetings, countless goal and tactic revisions, and plans that are never fully realized.

In this post, we explore strategic planning in education, touch on some K-12 planning tips, and share three best practices for making strategic planning successful in your school district. With your community’s insights and the right tools, you can win at strategic planning. Here’s how.

In this Article

• What is Strategic Planning in Education?

Strategic planning tips for K12

See thoughtexchange in action — watch the product tour, what is strategic planning in education.

Strategic planning is the process of setting goals, deciding on actions to achieve those goals, and mobilizing the resources needed to take those actions. A strategic plan describes how goals will be achieved using available resources.

While the concept initially stemmed from business practices due to people moving from the private sector into educational leadership positions, many strategic planning tools and paradigms have been adapted to focus on engagement and consensus.

This is because effective strategic planning requires community support at the school district level, both functionally and legislatively. School districts of all sizes use strategic planning to improve student outcomes and respond to changing demographics while staying within the given funding box.

In top-performing schools, leaders have proactively shifted their strategic planning process to include their educational partners. They know that their strategic plans are more likely to succeed with community support and the insights that come with community engagement.

Strategic planning is key to setting students up for success in K-12 and beyond. A solid strategic plan articulates a shared vision, mission, and values, increasing engagement while providing a framework to ensure students’ needs are met so they can reach their full potential.

Your strategic plan will benefit from your district’s input. Here are a few effective ways to engage your district in K-12 strategic planning.

Tap into your educational partners’ wisdom

Your educational partners have valuable insights. Consult teachers, staff, students , parents, and community members throughout the planning process, so your strategy aligns with their perspectives.

Whether you’re setting strategy at the district, school, or department level, consulting diverse participants will uncover unbiased insights, enhance trust and buy-in, and ensure greater success with new strategic directions.

Using ThoughtExchange , leaders can scale their engagement to efficiently and effectively include their community in their district strategic plans.

Use climate surveys

Completed by all students, parents/guardians, and staff, school climate surveys allow leaders to collect participants’ perceptions about issues like school safety, bullying, and mental health and well-being, as well as the general school environment.

ThoughtExchange Surveys get you both nuanced qualitative and robust quantitative data with instant in-depth analysis, ensuring your district understands all angles of school climate. Run surveys independently or combine them with Exchanges for faster, more accurate results.

• Collect benchmark comparisons while tracking and measuring improvements over time
• Gather quality quantitative data for reporting to state agencies or funders
• Identify outliers and trends across demographic groups

Put in some face time with town halls, meetings, or listening tours

In-person gatherings like town halls, meetings, and listening tours are effective ways to understand your educational partners’ wants and needs to ensure they line up with your strategic priorities.

When managed effectively, they give staff and other educational partners the chance to closely interact. In-person gatherings can build trust and morale, promote transparency, and help create a sense of purpose.

Leverage community engagement platforms

Community engagement software lets you streamline your community engagement initiatives. It allows education leaders to gather feedback and get tens, hundreds, or even thousands of people on the same page in just days. It also facilitates candid, collaborative community conversations that help districts realize their goals.

A comprehensive community engagement platform like ThoughtExchange allows you to integrate your strategy with your community and take decisive, supported action in less time. It provides planning, scheduling, and analysis tools to help you quickly set strategy and monitor execution.

3 keys to strategic planning success

1. get everyone on the same page.

Make sure your educational partners are on the same page by allowing them to contribute to and shape your strategy from the start. Lack of alignment about what strategy involves can hinder even the best plans. So the first step in creating a successful strategic plan is getting everyone involved to provide their insights and opinions.

Letting your people know you’re listening and that their insights affect decisions, builds trust and buy-in. Your community will be much more likely to support—not sabotage—a strategy or decision.

2. Be a collaborative leader

According to ThinkStrategic , creating a school strategic plan should always be a collaborative process. Avoiding a top-down approach and getting input from educational partners will help minimize blind spots and unlock collective intelligence. It will also ensure everyone is committed to the plan. Get all community members involved in how to make the most of the school’s possibilities.

Commit to becoming a collaborative leader and put a plan in place to ensure you can achieve that goal. That may include implementing technology that can support scaled, real-time discussion safely and inclusively for students, teachers, and other educational partners.

3. Get a holistic view of your district

Getting a holistic view of your educational partners’ wants and needs helps you build more inclusive, supported strategic plans.

Depend on a platform that meets all your engagement needs in one place—from surveys to Exchanges—and allows you to consult more people in an inclusive, anti-biased environment. You’ll reduce the time and resources spent on town halls and meetings, and reach your district’s goals more efficiently and effectively.

Engagement and survey software has been proven to contribute to more effective strategic planning in education. It empowers leaders to run and scale unbiased engagement initiatives where they can learn what the people who matter really think— explore ThoughtExchange success stories to learn more .

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Strategic planning

The need for an iiep remains higher than ever.                                    (unesco internal oversight services, 2013).

 An effective ministry is guided by a plan which brings together all stakeholders and is regularly monitored and updated. IIEP strongly believes that planning is not a one-off activity. Rather it is a continuous practice that should engage all ministry departments and partners at national and subnational levels in a consultative and participatory process. Institutionalizing planning necessitates that ministries establish a strategic vision and priorities, coordinate their programmes and budgets annually and within a medium-term expenditure framework, negotiate with national and international financing agencies, and periodically monitor that it is on track to achieve policy objectives through implementation reviews.

Strategic planning guides educational development by giving a common vision and shared priorities. Educational planning is both visionary and pragmatic, engaging a wide range of actors in defining education’s future and mobilizing resources to reach its goals. For policy-makers, planning offers the path to:

• implement education reform and system transformation;
• realize equal opportunities for children and youth;
• provide quality education for all.

IIEP has strong experience and expertise in strategic planning and has developed in collaboration with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) two newly published documents to help ministries in charge of education transform their processes and operations to meet the challenges of a changing world:

• Guidelines for Education Sector Plan Appraisal
• Guidelines for Education Sector Plan Preparation
• Guidelines for transitional education plan preparation

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5 Steps To Highly Effective Strategic Planning In Higher Education (FREE template)

A crystal clear strategic plan can be the big difference between becoming the leading university… VERSUS ending up at the bottom. You know - where you struggle to attract students, the right staff members or even funds to support your institution.

So, in order to achieve your university’s goals, you need to learn how to build an effective strategic plan. 

In this blog post, we will reveal:

• The #1 reason university strategies fail
• The overlooked role of a strategic plan for higher ed
• The 5-step process you can follow to build a plan with your team

What is strategic planning in higher education? 

Strategic planning is the process an institution follows to realize its vision of its ideal future state. It’s a roadmap for getting there. Your vision becomes a reality through the process that defines specific goals, needs, and actions. It helps you to structure and contextualize information leading to important decisions. 

Sounds obvious, right? 

So, the question is:

Why do so many universities fail at strategic planning?

Because they forgot what the main role of a strategic plan is.

Most universities and colleges work on some form of strategic planning, but they usually come out as a 28-page PDF. They create an impressive presentation with shiny headings, upload it to their website and consider themselves successful. 

The end result is a ‘strategic plan’ that serves more as a marketing brochure and less like a roadmap to success.

What’s wrong with this usual approach?

Most vice-chancellors and vice presidents are not even aware of what they are losing. Staff members and faculty members work in silos with no focus on the big picture. Departmental plans are unaligned with the overall strategic plan. This leads to inefficiency, wasted resources, and things getting missed.

Clearly, this approach lacks the organization and accountability necessary for success. As a result, some institutions are losing their reputation, while others are losing program accreditation, experiencing declining student success, or having fewer funds available.

Sometimes all of the above. 

Strategic planning goes beyond ambitious and attractive presentations that describe the organization’s state in the next 5, 10 or more years.

Now let's take a closer look...

What is the real purpose of the strategic plan in higher education?

Your first and foremost goal should be to stay true to the promises you made to your stakeholders.

Think of your strategic plan as the foundation to achieve your long-term goals.

It’s supposed to help you translate high-level ambitions into tangible actions at a departmental level. Furthermore, it organizes everyone so that they can do those actions and report on them in a systematic and transparent manner. 

It serves as a guiding light for your staff, allowing them to focus on the things that drive real progress towards the university's strategic goals. 

On top of that, it’s an important resource for planning your yearly budget allocation. Even in the most difficult financial times, integrating strategic planning and budgeting throughout the organization creates opportunities for success.

It's obvious, isn't it? You need to stop treating your strategic plan as merely a glorified marketing document.

What are the 5 steps in the strategic planning process?

This five-step process will help you to craft a strategic plan that goes beyond marketing and delivers on promised results.

1. Understand your current situation

An effective planning process starts with a thorough understanding of your current situation. 

You can start by asking these questions: 

• What are our core competencies?
• Which important KPIs are trending over the last few years upwards? 
• Where do we notice a drop in performance? What led to this drop?
• Where do we want to be in 5 or 10 years?
• Do we need to develop new programs?
• How do we get there? 
• What external factors can impact us in the future?

Search for answers and go deep into every department and aspect of your institution. From financial health and university rankings to student enrollment, retention rates, and placement rates.

Next, understand the expectations and needs of your internal and external stakeholders.

Remember, top-down approach doesn’t work for universities. Higher education institutions are highly interconnected with their community and shouldn’t neglect its interest when making strategic decisions.

Collect feedback from every stakeholder group whose expectations affect your performance:

• Alumni members
• Faculty members & campus community
• Community groups
• Senior administrators
• External partnerships

Include their input into planning and translate it into the institution’s major goals. Embrace this collaborative approach and prevent too many unexpected "buts" in the future.

Don’t forget that you’re only collecting information at this stage, not brainstorming solutions or action plans. 

‍ Cascade tip:

The SWOT analysis framework  is still one of the most effective methods for evaluating internal operations and the external environment. Be honest and thorough in your evaluation. You can use it numerous times through strategic planning but you should start early in the planning process.

2. Lead with vision and values

Your university's vision is a part of its identity and a powerful latent tool.

Higher ed institutions of any size can utilize it, but they usually don’t. They don’t believe that people care about the big picture or that it affects the university's daily operations.

However, a clear and unique vision statement will set you apart from the competition and make you more memorable to potential students. They will know exactly what to expect from studying at your university and why they should come. 

At the same time, it gives a strong sense of pride and belonging to current students, faculty, and alumni. It becomes an emblem that attracts the right students, staff members, and funding opportunities. 

Here’s  an example  of a vision statement for the university: 

We will work as one Oxford bringing together our staff, students and alumni, our colleges, faculties, departments and divisions to provide world-class research and education.

- University of Oxford

You can take it one step further and include your institutional mission statement. 

And don’t forget about the values. They define your university’s culture. They determine how people act, which behaviors are praised and which are condemned. 

When you build a culture intentionally, then everyone inside and outside your school knows what you stand for, reinforcing all the benefits of a harnessed vision.

Cascade tip:

One of the biggest blockers to the successful execution of a strategic plan is the attempt to accomplish too much at once.  Creating a Vision Statement  will help you to avoid that trap right from the start. It becomes your north star guiding your strategy. It will be easier for you to identify what is relevant and worthy of your attention versus what isn't.

3. Concentrate your strategic planning efforts on key areas

There's a problem most presidents and strategic planning committees face: they don't define the real focus of their plans. 

You see, you can’t achieve everything, everywhere, all at once.

Your resources are limited, and you should prioritize accordingly. 

I’m glad you followed the first two steps. Now you have all the information you need to identify the biggest and most urgent challenges your university faces.

Clarifying the obstacles ahead of time helps you prioritize your strategic goals and develop focused efforts to achieve them.

For example, let’s say you’re creating a 5-year strategic plan. Here are some key focus groups you might want to focus on: 

• Provide superb undergraduate experience 
• Ensure graduate education and lifetime learning 
• Increase community engagement 
• Increase research excellence 
• Optimize financial resources

Focus areas help you decide what falls outside the university's priorities and prioritize your strategic planning efforts. 

We usually suggest creating between 3 to 5 Focus Areas. Any fewer and they will probably be too vague. Any more, and well..... you lose your focus. Dive deeper into focus areas with this  guide . 

4. Translate plan into tangible actions

This is the part that turns your strategic plan into reality. 

If you ever want to achieve your goals, you need to break down the plan into smaller, granular pieces specific to each department. Start by adding strategic objectives to your focus areas. 

The secret to  writing great strategic objectives  is simplicity and specificity. Avoid jargon and use a verb to indicate action. Accompany it with a deadline and preferably an owner (or two).

Here is an example:

Increase citations per faculty by 5% by May 2024, owned by Jane Doe.

The next step is to migrate from goal-setting to action-planning with projects. Projects describe what you’ll do to accomplish your objectives.

Projects  articulate a set of actions within a certain timeline. They include specific tasks, milestones, dependencies and dates (deadlines). Every objective should include at least one project or action-like event. Otherwise, you’ll never achieve any progress towards it.

Of course, nothing is so linear, but this process forces you to come up with action plans to support every strategic initiative and allocate funds and your staff’s time appropriately.

One of the most important steps in the planning process is to take the high-level plan and break it down into tangible actions at the departmental level. 

Cascade  helps you to achieve that with  planning models completely customizable  to your strategic planning approach. 

You can create a university-wide strategic plan and then break it down into  portfolio or departmental plans.  Clarify their goals, projects and key metrics. Collaborate with your teams to build multiple inter-connected plans and tie them back to the overall plan.

You get complete  visibility into how different plans or projects are connected  and contribute to the overall strategic plan. 

5. Don’t forget to measure progress

There is no perfect strategic planning for higher education (or anywhere for that matter). 

Every plan can be derailed by events beyond our control (such as a pandemic, change in public policy, or an unstable economic environment on a global scale). There is, however, disciplined execution through regular reviewing habits. The secret lies in the way you measure your progress and the frequency of reviewing it.

Determine the indexes that you want to improve and then  set key performance indicators (KPIs)  to drive and measure your performance against set targets. 

Here are some examples of KPIs you might want to keep track of:

• University ranking
• Post-graduation placement rate
• Number of students involved in undergraduate research
• Fundraising ROI

Establish the KPIs you will be reporting on in advance, and always end your reviews with a "next steps" discussion.

Create dashboards to measure progress in real-time.  Cascade’s customizable dashboards  help you to quickly identify areas that are underperforming and act before it’s too late.

Zoom your screen in on the screenshot below to check out Cascade's beautiful dashboards!

Extra tip:  Use Cascade reports to help you demonstrate your success in a transparent way and attract more investments in the key areas of your university. 

What’s next for your university?

Most university’s failure to reach their strategic goals isn’t because of bad strategy, but because strategy is constrained by PowerPoint. Kept miles from those who can make it happen. The best in Advancement, the finest HR, the most profound ideas - they’re all framed in slides rather than shaping every day’s activities for everyone across the university.

Remember, a strategic plan isn’t just a glossy presentation to attract new students or to get that accreditation approval for your academic program. It’s a manifesto for every employee to embrace and enact in whatever they do at your university. 

So, the next step is to transform your strategy from an intellectual exercise to an executable plan. It’s just a matter of shifting your approach and using the right tools. 

And once you make that shift, you’ll be able to create  an organized and aligned approach  to make your strategic goals happen.

Do that and get your plan to everyone, and your competition will be choking in your dust.

Are you ready to create your plan and start executing it? Turn your strategic plan into a competitive advantage with our 100% free, battle-tested strategic plan template , built for teams in higher education. 

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The Importance of Strategic Planning in Education

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blog , Education , Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is a method used in various industries to deliberately guide decision-making. In education, strategic planning provides leaders with guidance to keep the institution operating, carry out its missions and comply with regulations. Educational strategic planning focuses on the future of a college or university, providing an intentional way to reflect on performance and determine where to implement initiatives to make positive changes for the future.

To create effective university strategic plans, administrators and stakeholders must understand the ins and outs of how they work and how they can apply them.

In This Article

• Lack of Ownership
• Poor Strategic Alignment
• Poor Communication
• Slow Plan Adoption
• Improve Efficiency
• Engage Stakeholders and the Community
• Form a Focus
• Plan a Future
• Test Your Hypotheses
• Use Specific Language
• Make Implementation a Priority
• Hold Team Members Accountable

Transform Strategic Planning and Execution Within Your Education Institution With AchieveIt

The challenges of strategic planning in education.

Universities and colleges face several pressures and challenges that can complicate strategic planning in educational environments. Understanding some of these challenges can help you overcome them to create an impactful approach.

1. Lack of Ownership

While strategic plans involve feedback and participation from all of your institution’s departments and entities, you should limit ownership of the plan and documentation to one person. Without explicit ownership over the strategic plan, initiatives are more likely to be lost, forgotten or overlooked. With one person in charge, your school is more likely to achieve success.

2. Poor Strategic Alignment

Alignment and representation across your university are crucial to success. Universities and colleges often experience a lack of strategic alignment because the church and state divisions typically have different goals for schools. These clashing perspectives lead to poor strategic alignment and a stand-still in decision-making.

3. Poor Communication

Many educational institutions also struggle with strategic planning due to poor organizational communication. Effectively implementing a strategic plan requires institutional-wide teamwork. Poor communication significantly increases the difficulty of agreeing upon and executing effective solutions and setting attainable goals.

4. Slow Plan Adoption

With a significant focus on innovation and growth, universities may make numerous changes in a year. Constant changes often lead to low motivation to adopt new plans. The longer your teams take to implement a strategic plan, the more likely it is to become outdated. When this situation happens, the plan becomes irrelevant to your current processes.

Why Education Institutions Need Strategic Planning

Despite the inherent challenges, educational strategic planning is necessary for a successful institution operation. A strategic plan can help you improve several aspects of your educational institution through intentional goal-setting and initiative implementation. Strategic planning for colleges and universities helps students, staff and the community progress toward a better future.

Here are a few reasons you should use strategic planning in education:

1. Improve Efficiency

One of the biggest reasons to begin strategic planning is the opportunity for improved efficiency in numerous areas of your organization. The challenges of educational planning often lead to a lack of efficiency. Strategic planning for schools allows leaders to determine more effective ways to streamline processes.

For example, your decision-making teams may take significant time to agree on new policies or procedures. Strategic planning helps your institution use time more efficiently because it allows you to form decision-making strategies.

Improved efficiency also results in better cost-effectiveness. The less time is wasted, the more money you’ll save, especially over time.

2. Engage Stakeholders and the Community

Strategic planning involves more people than only the primary decision-makers — your planning should involve your community and stakeholders. Feedback from these entities can help you develop a more beneficial and strategically targeted plan based on what these entities want or need from you. Engaging the stakeholders and community also shows you value their input and want to create an environment where they want to be.

3. Form a Focus

Determining a focus for the school year ahead can be challenging without clear objectives. Without focus, your institution will struggle to grow and attract students and staff. For example, you may have vague expectations for the upcoming school year, which prevents decisions and progress from being made. A strategic plan allows you to determine your goals and focus for the upcoming year and beyond while also helping you track your progress.

4. Plan a Future

Strategic planning is ideal for planning a successful future for your institution. Developing a plan for your future helps ensure your school can grow and continue benefiting from its offerings. Rather than being unprepared for the next year and future school years, you can effectively strategize to make the most of your school year.

Strategic Planning Tips for Education Institutions

While every school’s strategic plan will look different depending on its goals and resources, the strategic planning process is often similar for colleges and universities. Explore a few tips for educational strategic planning to help you get started:

1. Test Your Hypotheses

You’re ultimately hypothesizing the outcome when you set initiatives in your strategic plan. These hypotheses are often based on assumptions, though it’s typically best to experiment to determine what would work and what may not. For example, if you ask your faculty to begin submitting weekly reports, conduct a quick test to ensure they can do so and have time to do so.

2. Use Specific Language

Using vague or wordy language increases the risk of confusion and the possibility of initiatives being misunderstood and ignored. Swapping out complicated words for simpler, more specific words can help ensure everyone understands your plan. It can help to have someone review the language you use to ensure nothing is confusing and everyone is on the same page.

3. Make Implementation a Priority

Because schools involve numerous departments and divisions, implementing a plan can be difficult without prioritization . Make your plan a priority to ensure it’s properly implemented. Doing so is often easiest when leaders promote and require implementation.

4. Hold Team Members Accountable

Another way to make university strategic plans stick is by holding team members accountable. School performance management software allows you to track reports and other strategy-related information to determine who’s completing their duties so you can keep them accountable.

Educational institutions require significant planning to ensure a successful school year. Strategic planning software for higher education can help you focus your strategy despite your institution’s challenges. Software like AchieveIt has features that help your team turn ideas into actions.

A few things you can do with our software include:

• Solve common implementation challenges: AchieveIt makes connecting members of your team and various initiatives easy. You can track projects, keep everyone on the same page and quickly send updates.
• Gain comprehensive visibility: Our platform lets you see every initiative in real time, providing comprehensive visibility over progress.
• Consult with our experts: Our strategic plan experts help you execute your plan effectively. Draw on our expertise for inspiration or customize one of our templates to create your plan.

Let’s actually do this. Request a demo of AchieveIt to see what we can do for you today.

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Colleges and universities are facing declining enrollment, financial instability, and prolonged educational disruptions. A recent BCG survey found that 72% of college presidents are concerned about the perceived decrease in value of higher education. In short, colleges and universities are facing an existential crisis.

The changing nature of the higher education industry demands a strategy that is inclusive, collaborative, and resilient. BCG helps today’s leaders stay competitive by navigating key trends in higher education, such as:

A growing need for higher ed-employer collaboration . An estimated 1.3 billion people have competencies misaligned with the work they perform, fueling a rapidly growing skills mismatch across the globe.

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New business and delivery models. Competency-based models, massive open online courses (MOOCs), “boot camps,” and microcredentials are all emerging. But shifting from in-person to online instruction—while maintaining quality—is not a simple task.

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In education, evolution and adaptation are constants. Academic institutions must stay up to date with technology and teaching methods to succeed, while also managing students' social, emotional, and academic needs. With all of these considerations in addition to budgetary constraints, It's easy to see why ensuring student and institutional success requires a dynamic strategic plan.

This blog post will outline the best practices academic institutions should consider when developing an effective strategic plan to address these challenges. To create an effective strategic plan, we need to eliminate the disconnect between leadership's high-level vision and employees' tactical work. Leading academic institutions, growing companies, and organizations adapt to change through dynamic strategic planning. 

A dynamic strategic plan breaks down an organization's long-term vision into short-term goals and then builds a roadmap to achieve those goals. As part of this process, the organization's plan should be reviewed and revised regularly to ensure relevance and alignment with its mission. Academic plans are typically written as multi-year plans and organizations often face challenges in developing effective strategic plans that are easy to understand and execute. Here are a few suggestions to help address these challenges:

• Clearly define your vision: The first step in developing an effective strategic plan is to define the vision for the school. This should be a clear, concise statement that articulates what the school hopes to achieve. 
• Identify key objectives: Once you have a clear vision, identify the key objectives that will help you achieve them. These should be specific and measurable goals that align with your vision.
• Create measurable, outcome-focused key results: With your objectives in mind, it is important to focus on creating key results that drive outcomes, not outputs to help you reach your targets. Schools that focus on driving actionable objectives with outcome-based key results will ensure they stay aligned on what truly matters.
• Prioritize and allocate resources: It's essential to prioritize your strategies and allocate resources accordingly. Determine which strategies are most critical to achieving your objectives and ensure that you have the resources (e.g., time, budget, personnel) to implement them effectively.
• Monitor and evaluate progress: Finally, monitor and evaluate progress regularly to ensure that you are on track to achieving your objectives. This will help you identify areas where you may need to adjust your strategies or allocate additional resources.

By following these steps, academic institutions can develop a strategic planning framework and process that is effective, simple, and links vision to tactical execution. So now that we have the steps needed to build our strategy, let's start to bring it to life.

Take a field trip: host an annual Strategic Planning Offsite 

Before each academic year, we recommend holding a strategic planning meeting offsite with your leadership team. This is dedicated time to focus on the priorities for the upcoming year. Before diving into where you're headed, set aside time for a retrospective to discuss the previous year. In addition, discuss the current education landscape.

To build a future-focused and tailored plan for your academic institution, the team should reconfirm your mission and values, set your vision, and define your top strategic priorities. 

As you head into your offsite, we recommend the following best practices that lead to success:

• Get Outside of the Office : Find space outside of the work environment to reduce distractions and encourage collaboration.
• Set a Clear Agenda : Agree ahead of time on the purpose of each day, the deliverables, and actionable next steps. 
• Make Space to Think: Carve out time for free thinking vs. relying on group thinking to encourage new ideas. If you need a template, we recommend using this worksheet to guide the conversation .

Simplify the strategic plan: align your high-level strategy with tactical execution

Academic plans are typically written as multi-year plans (5-year plans are most common) which can lead to a very detailed and dense plan. Given the complexity and length of the strategic plan, it can feel overwhelming and difficult to break the plan down and prioritize what’s most imperative to execute and focus on. We recommend breaking the larger multi-year plan into digestible annual plans that are more manageable. 

We recommend identifying 3-5 main themes in your strategic plan, often referred to as pillars or rallying cries. Once you have core themes, you can prioritize and bucket the most critical initiatives and objectives. Every theme will have specific supporting objectives and key results. We recommend using consistent nomenclature when creating themes, objectives, and key results so any team member can easily understand why the work is significant. 

Once we have the multi-year plan broken into annual plans and themes identified, we recommend defining short-term objectives (quarterly or semi-annually) and measurable metrics to drive key results. Breaking down the plan into quarters will feel more approachable and attainable. In addition, it will provide clarity and transparency for the executing team. When the strategic plan is broken down into actionable items, small wins can be celebrated along the way. This boosts motivation, engagement, and morale.  

Consistency is key to a successful strategic plan

When individuals understand how their work aligns with the high-level strategy and vision, they can prioritize their initiatives. Establish clear, measurable objectives and key results that are easy to track and provide consistent nomenclature. Keep these three tips in mind when writing your strategic plan objectives:

• Objectives should be aspirational and push people outside their comfort zone.
• Each objective should have 2-3 measurable and quantifiable results.
• Have a clear, defined owner responsible for recurring status updates. 

The best way to write objectives is to start by asking, “Why is this initiative important?” When you understand the why, you can create measurable outcome-driven results. Let’s walk through an example objective with key results laid out in Elate.

Theme: Develop and retain a diverse educator workforce.

Objective: Strengthen and diversify the educator pipeline and workforce.

Objective Purpose Statement: Increase mentoring and leadership development programs to retain educators, particularly educators from under-represented backgrounds. 

Key metrics: 

• Increase mentoring program engagement by 50% 
• 96% educator retention rate 

Implement rituals and track success with dynamic strategic planning

After your plan is built, it is imperative to establish rituals to stay on track and measure progress against the strategic plan. Rituals are defined as a rhythm, cadence, and process for reviewing objectives and strategic plans. Establishing strong rituals allows critical conversations to happen proactively. When objectives are stuck in limbo or fall off track, proactive discussions can happen. However, many academic institutions have different rituals for different teams. Implementing consistent rituals regularly will help you stay aligned, measure progress, and ensure you’re having the right conversations at the right time.

To keep everyone on the same page and connect tactical execution to strategic vision, we recommend objective owners provide bi-weekly updates. Across many academic institutions, strategy, and operations leaders spend countless hours tracking down updates that become outdated quickly. With Elate, reminder notifications are automatically sent to team members so they can focus more on execution and less on chasing down updates. 

We recommend spending a few minutes in executive team meetings reviewing objectives that are off-track or not making progress to create an action plan moving forward. This ritual of reviewing the plan early often brings awareness to the leadership team about objectives that need attention or are falling behind. It also allows space to celebrate accomplishments and wins. 

This makes it easy to ensure the strategic plan lives and breathes. Setting and clearly defining rituals for how the plan progresses, updates are made and reviewed, and addressing red flags is key to success. 

Focus on the right metrics to measure your strategic plan's success

With key results, objectives, and business-as-usual metrics all in one place, Elate keeps the strategic plan organized with a consolidated view. In Elate, scorecards provide an essential view of business-as-usual metrics and progress. Create specific scorecards for the board, enrollment, grant, and donor activity. 

Elevate your strategic plan with Elate

Strategic planning is critical for academic institutions that want to stay competitive, adapt to change, and achieve their goals. By following these best practices, higher education and academic institutions can achieve their goals and stay competitive in an ever-changing environment. 

Strategic planning has never been easier with Elate. Our platform simplifies and streamlines the strategic planning process, taking the stress out of it. We make it easy to stay on track with transparent reporting, simple collaboration, and one-click integrations with Salesforce, Google Sheets, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. Your vision can finally meet your strategy.

Learn more about our strategic planning tools and services, or contact us today to learn more about how we specifically work with other Academic Institutions!

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Everything you need to deliver your plans, manage strategy and report progress.

• Customizable plan structure
• Automated and on-demand progress reports
• Save time with AI features

Centralize, analyze and visualize your performance data. Align performance measures with plans.

• Centralized performance data
• Scorecards and interactive dashboards
• Slice and dice for new insights

Manage, deliver, and communicate projects. Align projects with plans for end-to-end visibility and reporting.

• Gantt view of projects, tasks and dependencies
• Interactive maps and dashboards
• Plan alignment and reporting

Share your strategy story with external stakeholders via customizable public dashboards.

• Progress dashboards with roll-up reporting
• Matched to your branding
• Fully ADA Compliant

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Strategic Planning

3 exceptional examples of strategic planning in higher education.

By Mary King

25 october 2023.

• 1 Strategic Plan Example 1: Data-Driven Strategy for Equity with Green River College, WA
• 2 Strategic Plan Example 2: Strategic Innovations in Accessibility with Gallaudet University, DC
• 3 Strategic Plan Example 3: Best Practices Measuring Performance with NEOMED University, OH
• 4 Get the Guide↓

The landscape of higher education is one of rapid change and innovation. Institutions are constantly challenged to adapt and plan strategically to ensure that they stay relevant, on-mission, and competitive. While current and prospective students are critical stakeholders for higher-education institutions, there is also a board of governors, a complex internal employee system of both educators and administrators, and the broader local community. All of these entities interact and form an ecosystem of needs, hopes, ambitions, and goals: balancing so many differing entities and groups (sometimes with competing interests) is where strategic planning in higher education comes in.

An educational institution’s strategic plan plays a pivotal role in guiding positive, sustainable, inclusive, and student-focused growth. From embracing strategic planning software for education and nuanced data to support ground-up change, to improving overall accessibility and work opportunities, let’s explore three examples of strategic planning in higher education that have set benchmarks and best practices for other higher education institutions—whether they are universities or colleges—to follow.

Strategic Plan Example 1: Data-Driven Strategy for Equity with Green River College, WA

In the spring of 2020, Green River College initiated an Equity-Centered Strategic Visioning and Planning process . The primary objective was to create a comprehensive equity-centered strategic plan that would serve as a guiding light for the college’s future endeavors. This plan aimed to articulate a vision, mission, and core values that would shape the college’s path, emphasizing the importance of building a more equitable community. To ensure the inclusivity of all stakeholders invested in the college’s success, a meticulous 10-month community engagement process was conducted. They collected data as part of an Environmental Scan initiative, which offered a thorough overview of both external and internal trends, and provided valuable insights, suggestions, and points of interest from both Green River College and community stakeholders. All of this input played a crucial role in shaping the college’s Equity-Centered Strategic Plan .

The resulting strategic plan stands as a blueprint guiding the entire college forward over the next five years. It delineates clear goals for this period, shows areas for improvement, and details the ways the strategic plan can remain agile and evolve in tandem with the college’s growth and aspirations.

The six strategic pillars of focus (and their success metrics) are:

1. Success for All Students: Green River College has specific KPIs and deadlines to measure the progress made towards this strategic pillar. By 2026, Green River College will have established an extensive student onboarding procedure, ensuring that all students develop educational, financial, and career transition plans within their first two quarters of enrollment. Green River also aims to diminish or eradicate opportunity gaps in students’ retention, progression, and completion by 2026. Finally, they’re aiming to raise the student completion rate from 38% to 43% in that same time period.

2. Excellence in Teaching and Learning: By 2026, every faculty and staff member will have undergone training in anti-racist, equity-focused, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion principles. The objective is to reduce or eradicate instructional opportunity gaps associated with race, gender, economic status, and other demographic factors.

3. Responsive Educational Programs and Support Services: There is a targeted goal to increase the percentage of students who experience a “sense of belonging” at Green River by five percentage points annually. The college is measuring this through student surveys, to help them determine whether or not this objective is being met.

4. Integrated and Effective Organizational Structure, Systems, and Processes: By 2026, Green River College is aiming to have established an equity-focused approach for employee recruitment, hiring, and onboarding. They’re also working towards implementing a comprehensive organizational framework, which employs equity-centered principles in shared governance, planning, resource allocation, assessment, and policy development. Included under this strategic pillar is also an effort to increase the representation of faculty and staff of color, aiming to match or surpass the levels in neighboring colleges by 2026.

5. Accessible and Responsive Facilities and Technology​​: One of the success metrics for this pillar is the goal that by 2026, they will have implemented a Facilities Master Plan and a Technology Plan designed to promote accessibility and equity-centered teaching and learning.

6. Impactful Community Connections : By 2026, Green River will be the foremost institution of higher education in the region; one of the ways they are doing this is by building strategic community connections. They are making inroads with the local food bank, strengthening connections with veteran services, visiting and volunteering at local high schools (in fact, all educational institutions—from K-12), establishing artist and speaker series’, and uplifting partnerships with the City of Kent, and South King County, Washington.

Strategic Plan Example 2: Strategic Innovations in Accessibility with Gallaudet University, DC

Located in Washington, D.C., Gallaudet is the world’s only university that specifically caters to Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Deaf-Disabled, and Deaf Blind people, of all backgrounds and identities.

Gallaudet’s strategic plan spans an impressive 10 year vision that will situate them as a “beacon” for the community’s values and vision for their student community. This vision will offer improved opportunities for work, career advancement, and an accessible student experience that affirms the value of their diverse student body. In their “Gallaudet Promise,” they aim to uplift the “lives and experiences of all Deaf people of different intersectional identities, wherever they are.”

The “Gallaudet Promise” is the university’s strategic focus built around five action areas:

• 1. Transformational Accelerators
• 2. Anti-Racism
• 3. Bilingual Mission
• 4. Academic Reimagining
• 5. Creativity Way, Including the Memorial Project

Watch an explanation of Gallaudet’s new Envisio-powered public dashboard in ASL! Click “CC” on the video player for closed captioning.

Gallaudet’s strategic plan has made a particular effort to embrace innovation as a tool across all of their pillars. This makes sense: accessibility and innovation go hand in hand. Assistive technology, as well as improved online access and tools, are a component of the first action item, but relates to the other areas as well.

In general, when it comes to higher education strategy and accessibility, higher education institutions are a great place to implement changes around accessibility. They are (typically) moving to be more welcoming to assistive technology, and may even be involved in the development of innovative approaches to education, accessibility justice, and the role technology can play. All students with all sorts of access needs attend universities or colleges—ensuring accessibility to higher education is critical for those with disabilities to be prepared for the workforce and (ideally) achieve a better degree of upward economic mobility and access.

A strategic plan in higher education related to accessibility should include a comprehensive needs assessment. It should also work carefully to ensure a budget that allocates adequate resources to the students, while providing training and raising awareness among faculty and staff, ensuring physical and digital accessibility, offering tailored academic support services, collaborating with disability support organizations, and implementing a feedback mechanism, so they can evaluate and improve their services on an on-going basis.

Gallaudet University is working on all of these areas. They are measuring progress by establishing new customer service operating models, establishing an online platform to disseminate research, lectures, films, and other content produced by The Center for Black Deaf Studies , and restructuring entire sections of the university learning management systems that are able to accommodate a truly bilingual (ASL and English) experience, to better create opportunities for their students and help other sign language economies grow.

Strategic Plan Example 3: Best Practices Measuring Performance with NEOMED University, OH

Best practices for strategic planning in higher education include getting very clear on what objectives are being measured, and why. Understanding the definition of success and identifying priority areas for action are crucial. Without a clear understanding of the problems to be addressed, it’s challenging to initiate a strategic action plan in higher education. As we see across the public sector, higher education strategic objectives can often involve a mix of the more abstract, impact-oriented metrics (measuring a “sense of belonging”), and tangible, output-focused goals (“Increase number of mobile clinics in low-income areas by 15%”). As a best practice, it’s good to be granular and specific about what kind of performance measurement program you’re using, sharing how success is measured, and making sure your goals are all SMART : S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R elevant, and T ime-Bound.

At Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) in Portage County, Ohio, they do exactly that!

At NEOMED, success is measured across six pillars through forty-two strategic initiatives. Their strategic plan emphasizes promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion among students, staff, and employees. Given NEOMED’s role as a leading medical research institution training future medical professionals, these values are also very practical metrics. For instance, the university tracks performance measures such as gender demographics and specific actions aimed at reducing disability stigma as outlined in their Strategic Plan: Creating Transformational Leaders Dashboard. Whether it’s a broad, impact-focused goal like fostering a more inclusive environment or a specific, output-oriented objective like establishing a low-cost tutoring center in the library, a well-structured strategic plan provides the necessary steps to initiate and maintain progress toward these goals.

For instance, we can see with regards to their financial aid banner optimization, they are measuring the performance of this project against data regarding financial aid and tuition. Financial aid is a pressing matter for NEOMED–they want to ensure people from diverse backgrounds, including economically disadvantaged backgrounds, are able to attend medical school. They want to become experts in financial aid content, utilizing their expertise to educate NEOMED faculty, staff, and students about the available student aid policies and possible funding opportunities. Tracking data over time—such as seeing how many scholarships have been awarded over time—demonstrates how often these resources are being used, and can indicate how accessible they are.

It’s important for higher education institutions to strategize effectively to maintain their relevance and competitiveness. Embracing progressive, innovative processes and being meticulous with data is a great way to lay down a strategic plan that also balances the complex network of relationships of internal educators, students, administrators, and the wider communities served. A higher education institution’s strategic plan plays a pivotal role in the growth of the institution and the wellbeing of students! We love to see these strategic plans that embrace data to drive equity, make changes around accessibility, and push for better, more meaningful performance measures.

“All of the metrics related to our strategic plan live in Envisio, and we have assigned the ownership and agency of those data points to certain people. It’s helped us develop a common lexicon, and it is the tool in which we demonstrate our progress. Oftentimes, the focus of it is really to celebrate all of the people who contribute to our strategic plan. All of those contributors, the 90 plus folks that are in Envisio, deserve to be recognized and congratulated and to see the impact of the work that they’re doing. It’s important to show the collective impact on driving the mission forward.” — Lacey Madison, VP Strategy and Transformation, NEOMED.

Get the Guide↓

So you’ve got your plan, but how can you go from strategy to operationalization? What about aligning your budget with your strategy? Our free, comprehensive guide From Strategy to Action: A Guide to Operational Planning for Local Governments & Public Sector Organizations , contains insights gathered from the experiences of over 150 public sector organizations, including higher education institutions.

Download now for practical guidance on operational planning now!

Mary King is a professional writer and researcher based in Toronto. She comes to Envisio with a Masters Degree, where she researched the relationship between the disappearance of urban public spaces, and high level decision-making processes in local governments. For nearly a decade, Mary has worked as a community organizer, promoter, and supportive researcher in a variety of nonprofits and think-tanks, and her favorite area of focus was in connecting local artists with marginalized youth. Since 2017, her writings and research on policy, local governance, and its relationship to public art and public space has been presented at conferences internationally. She has also served as both a conference chair and lead facilitator on professional and academic conferences across Canada on how to better bridge academic research with local change-agents, policy makers, artists, and community members. Envisio’s mission of excellence and trust in the public sector maps onto Mary's interest in local government and community mobilization. She loves working at Envisio because she cares about having well organized, strategic, and transparent public organizations and local governments. Mary is also a creative writer and musician and has been supported in her practice by the Canada Council for the Arts. Her stories can be found in literary journals across Canada.

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Project Management Support Senior Officer - Planning and Monitoring (Retainer)

Organizational Context UNOPS supports the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner. 

Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices, always satisfying or surpassing our partners’ expectations. 

With over 7,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, wherever they need it. 

A flexible structure and global reach means that we can quickly respond to our partners' needs, while offering the benefits of economies of scale. 

Ethiopia Multi-country office (ETMCO) sub-region currently consists of an established Operation Centre in Addis Ababa which manages a portfolio of engagements in four (4)  Horn of Africa countries  (Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan and South Sudan).  ETMCO focuses on Infrastructure, Procurement, Project Management, HR and Transactional Services, and Fund Management services across a wide range of sectors including Health, Education, Agriculture, Resilient infrastructure among others.  

Our goal is to support countries, help people in need and enable our partners through  delivering on our mandate of infrastructure, procurement and project management in the countries in the Horn of Africa.  Building on our global experience successfully delivering projects in complex operating environments, a healthy pipeline of engagements are at various stages of discussion with our priority partners.  

Project Background

UNOPS has signed a project agreement with the Ministry of Health to strengthen the Capacity of the Ministry for the Realization of Health Sector Development and Investment Plan (HSDIP) on selected priorities. This project will be implemented in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and the overall objective/purpose is to contribute towards the realization of selected strategic priorities of the Health Sector  Development and Investment Plan (HSDIP) which is more on project management focusing on institutional capacity building, technical assistance etc. UNOPS is selected to manage and implement the project by creating a project management unit (PMU).

This unit will be formed by a group of experts and specialists in the relevant matters that will be in charge of delivering the outputs.

The Project Management Support Senior Officer will report to the UNOPS Project Manager and will be working in close and day-to-day collaboration with the client institution, particularly the Strategic Affairs Office. The PM will also gather feedback from the client to manage and assess the deliverables.

Strategic Initiative:   

Enhance informed decision making and innovation

Improve health financing 

Build strong partnerships with the government and other key stakeholders to ensure implementation of “One plan, One budget and One report”  

Prepare and share term of reference for annual plan preparation 

Actively participate in different technical working groups 

Capacitate planners working at national, regional and woreda as well as facility level

Prepare planning tools and guidelines that help the health sector 

Support to develop harmonized and aligned strategy and annual plan 

Ensure successful implementation of the plan for achieving health outputs, outcomes and impacts

Organize Woreda Based Health Sector Plan at national level and assess and identify any gaps in process of Woreda Based Health Sector Planning Process

Facilitate to conduct Woreda based plan reconciliation

Facilitate quality plan alignment with different stakeholders 

Provide support to cascade the core plan up to individual level. 

Enhance partnership with different stakeholders to actively participate in the planning and align their respective plan with the health sector 

Provide support in preparation of performance report;

Support strengthening multi-sectoral collaboration  

Work with governmental and non-governmental partners to strengthen the implementation of health policy.

Organize the financial gap of the health sector by geographical and programmatic areas 

Undertake other responsibilities within the scope of the role.

The strategic plan of the sector (HSDIP) is cascaded and contextualized in all regions

Plan implementation are periodically reviewed and critically analyzed for feedbacks 

Annual work plans are readily available harmonized among regions, and directorates and sector agencies 

One plan, one budget and one report approach is fully adhered to and technical support is ensured to all. 

Federal and regional planning experts are mentored and coached 

Monthly and quarterly  progress report submitted

The above deliverables are only indicative and are subject to change within the scope of role.

Advanced University Degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) in Public health or other related fields is required. OR

First-level University Degree (Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent) in Public health or other related fields with an additional two (2) years relevant experience may be considered in lieu of the advanced degree.

 Experience 

A minimum of  two (2) years professional work experience working in developing the Health Sector Strategic Plan and managing health programs including health sector planning, policy analysis and monitoring and evaluation is required.

Practical experience and skills on planning tools, such as, one-health, balanced scorecard is desirable. 

Experience within the Ethiopian health system and government policy planning and monitoring is desirable

Proven ability to analyze routine health information and survey results and prepare analytical reports is required  is desirable

Proficiency in use of spreadsheets, G-Suits, SPSS, is an asset.

Experience in program designing, planning, capacity building and ability to develop Health Sector Monitoring & Evaluation tools and databases is desirable. 

Familiarity with health systems policies and sectoral reform processes; good skill in analysis of situations, projection and scenario developments is desirable

• Fluency in spoken, written and reading English is required.
• Knowledge of another UN official language is an asset.
• Contract type: Local Individual Contractor Agreement  (LICA)
• Contract level: LICA-9 (ICS9)
• Contract duration: One year, with possibility of extension.

Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply.  These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract  here .

All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

To apply for a vacancy, please  create a UNOPS Jobs Account . This involves submitting details such as personal information, education, experience, languages, skills and other information.

Learn more about  how to apply .

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Together, we build the future.