1.3.2 Academic Strategic Planning—The Basics

How should the Chief Academic Officer (CAO) begin to organize the planning process? One should first identify key stakeholder groups and engage representatives of these groups. Strategic planning outcomes are strengthened when diverse stakeholders within the college or university community engage in active dialogue. This helps to foster commitment to change, as faculty, administrators, staff, and students all share an understanding of the institution’s mission and its vision, and they share a commitment to bringing about the future goal state (1.3.8 Successful Institutional Change—The Human Dimension). Initial thinking should focus on supporting roles for institutional change leaders: advocates, sponsors, agents and participants (1.3.8 Successful Institutional Change—The Human Dimension). Then, one must engage all academic leaders, such as deans and directors, in the process; designate an effective, collaborative leader or leaders (e.g. faculty member) to facilitate the academic strategic planning process; and organize a core team, such as a steering committee, to provide leadership and coordination, with representatives from all levels within the academic affairs unit, including students. Then, conduct an orientation or organizing session to address planning basics, communication strategies, resources, and the approach to strategic planning. After organizing, identify individual stakeholders who are interested in the success of the college’s academic programs and its graduates (1.5.3 Defining a Program) and include them at each step in the process.

Let’s examine each linkage:

Action Plans (3 yrs)

Academic action plans represent priority goals and initiatives identified as essential to accomplishing the mission and vision. Action plans generally span the length of two to three years.

Operational Plans (1 yr)

Academic operational plans focus on priority goals and initiatives for one year. These plans include specific objectives that define steps to be taken to achieve the goals, including resources needed and responsibilities. Several major units within the institution may need to collaborate to create such plans.

Action Projects (3-9 months)

Action projects are plans for the accomplishment of key initiatives based on action plans; other major units within the institution may need to collaborate to create these plans.

Academic Strategic Planning—An Application

Here are five steps for academic leaders to follow in creating an academic strategic plan: create a vision statement, clarify core values, write a mission statement, identify strategic issues, and write academic goals.

1. Create a Vision Statement

An organization’s vision focuses on strategic advantages, inspires by adding value to others, and is clear enough to support decision-making (Belasco, 1991).

To create a path to the future, one must have a concrete desired end state in mind. What does the organization want to look like, feel like, or be seen as in five years’ time? What does the organization want to become? A good way to envision the future is to have the team imagine themselves five to ten years in the future. Have each team member write a list of words that describe what the desired future state looks like. Develop a consensus on six to twelve words that describe what the organization will look like. Finally, draft a one-sentence statement, in the future tense, describing the new vision of what the organization intends to become.

2. Clarify Core Values

Core values are the underlying beliefs that determine how business is conducted and which facilitate decision-making (Levesque, 1998). Values determine one’s approach and attitudes toward events or phenomena. They are fundamental beliefs and ideas that serve as criteria for choosing among alternatives. Values help members of organizations to sustain their commitment to goals, to act with consistency, and to communicate to others what the organization stands for. Values concern not only the results, but also the methods by which decisions are made.

They are enduring and change slowly over time. Values are the measuring stick used to establish standards upon which important decisions are made. When core values are integrated and prioritized, they become a value system (Steiner, 1979).

To determine the core values of an academic affairs department, ask each team member to suggest two critical values that should guide actions. Discuss these with the team until you reach a consensus on the top six to eight values. A simple ranking system based on voting for the top six will yield a set of values that reflects agreement on academic affairs values.

3. Write a Mission Statement

A mission statement is an articulation of an organization’s purpose, consistent with its vision and values. As Levesque notes, the mission statement articulates the introduction of change, strikes a balance between challenge and achievability, and provides a context for decision-making (Levesque, 1998). Based on the vision, expected results, measurement (or standards), and benefits to stakeholders, consider what the academic affairs department or unit should be doing when the mission is accomplished. Engage the team in a discussion about the reason for the academic affairs unit’s existence. What are its unique characteristics, its geographical service area, major programs and services, and its role in the community? Ask team members to draft individual mission statements and share them in small teams. Once each team agrees on a common academic affairs mission statement, discuss the merits of each statement with the broader planning team to develop a proposed statement. This draft, with input from the entire team, may represent a good first draft, which can then be refined by a smaller team of two or three individuals. Finally, ask the planning team to affirm the final revised mission statement.

4. Identify Strategic Issues

Central to the academic planning process is identifying what critical issues must be addressed in order for the organization to be successful in accomplishing its vision and mission. Critical issues reflect the perspectives of the stakeholders who will be impacted by success or failure. Conduct a situation audit as a means of gathering key data for the planning process. The audit includes environmental scan data, institutional performance data (past, present and future), and expectations of internal and external stakeholders (Steiner, 1979). To define the academic strategic issues that must be addressed for success in accomplishing the vision, an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT Analysis) of academic affairs is essential. Strengths refer to organizational assets or internal areas of value, such as unique competencies, capabilities, resources, and competitive advantages. Weaknesses refer to internal organizational liabilities, or limitations in competencies, skill sets, competitive advantages, or resources. Opportunities and threats are external factors. Opportunities are current or emerging favorable circumstances that provide significant chance for the organization to explore new directions. Conversely, threats refer to current or emerging risks that may undercut the viability or continuing success of academic affairs.

A worksheet (Figure 3) may be used to define the three most significant academic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Based on a review of environmental data, the academic affairs history, present situation and possible future, and a SWOT Analysis analysis, summarize the findings to determine the critical issues to be addressed. Using small teams, list two to three critical choices or issues that could potentially prevent the accomplishment of the mission. These issues will be addressed over the next two to five years. While this process may yield some eight to ten critical issues for the future, the core team should examine each issue to determine congruence and/or overlap.

The core team should combine or merge issues to eliminate duplication and agree on the most critical issues based on the potential liability they pose for the organization. Ultimately, the team should agree on the top five to six strategic issues to be addressed in the academic affairs strategic plan over the next three to five years.

5. Write Strategic Goals

After defining the strategic issues, guide the team in writing goals that address them. Provide an overview to the team on the development of strategic goals. A strategic goal identifies the general change or result that must be achieved over the long term to fulfill the organization’s vision and mission. Goals provide direction for efforts, and focus on the most important customer needs, products, and services. When drafting a goal, consider the following questions: What are the key concepts within the academic mission statement, in broad terms? Does the goal reflect a most important customer need, program, product, or service? Who will benefit from the accomplishment of the goal? What factors or conditions may help or hinder goal attainment?

After developing a set of goals, review all of them together. Combine or eliminate any goals that do not contribute to the achievement of the mission. Remember, each goal should focus on a single issue that supports the academic mission, should be clearly stated, should be a long-term goal (two or more years), should be challenging but achievable, measurable, and important to key stakeholders. Finally, each goal statement should project a budgetary impact.

After completing these five steps, prepare a composite draft of the strategic plan and share it with the broader academic affairs division for review and feedback. After receiving comments, determine which enhancements to make. With that step, the strategic plan is complete and ready for approval by the leadership, the last formal step prior to implementation of the plan.