Colleges that have recently closed, are near closure, or are struggling to stay afloat all have one surprising thing in common. They all have a strategic plan.
Accredited colleges in the U.S. are required to share their strategic plans with their regional accrediting bodies. What they aren’t required to share is an effective strategy.
Ask this simple question
See if anyone at your college can answer this simple question, “What is your strategy?” Presidents and board members often struggle with their answers. Many refer to the fact that they have a strategic plan. But having a strategic plan is not the same thing as having a strategy.
What is strategy?
Strategy is about transformation. It’s the story of where you are, where you’re going and why, and how you’re going to get there. The purpose of a strategic plan is to document your strategy and provide a roadmap for its execution. Most strategic plans are ineffective (and often counterproductive) because they don’t start with a clear strategy.
Where are you?
Every strategy needs a context. Imagine you’ve been dropped in the middle of a desert and you need to get back home. Which direction should you go? The answer depends on knowing where you are. As a college, your strategic context describes your current situation and the opportunities and challenges you’re facing (or are going to face) to achieve your vision (or future state). Unfortunately, many colleges never confront the brutal facts of their situation and begin their journeys into strategy with unrealistic expectations. Knowing your strategic context helps situate your college appropriately so you can have a clearer sense of where you need to go next.
Where are you going and why?
Strategy is about making choices. If you’re in a desert, once you decide to go west, you have made the decision not to go east. Many colleges struggle with this concept. Their strategic plans often consist of a random collection of goals and objectives that point the college in multiple directions. The result is a detailed roadmap to nowhere. A winning strategy on the other hand is achieved by making a handful of strategic choices and articulating why these choices will lead the college in the right direction to achieve its vision.
How are you going to get there?
Execution is everything. If you’re in the desert and decide to head west to get home, you need to understand what it will take to get there. Successful implementation of your institution’s strategy will require you to prioritize your activities, define your needs, and align your people, resources, and structure around your strategic choices. This is something most colleges neglect to do. The unfortunate result is a strategic plan that ends up creating confusion and frustration as well as wasted time and resources. For colleges struggling to stay afloat this can be a recipe for disaster. To avoid this fate, challenge your team to start with strategy and develop a strategic plan that will take you from where you are to where you want to be.
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