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Using strategic planning to excel in a changing higher education environment: examining promising practices at an independent liberal arts college

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Content Running head: SUCCESS THROUGH STRATEGIC PLANNING 1
USING STRATEGIC PLANNING TO EXCEL IN A CHANGING HIGHER EDUCATION
ENVIRONMENT: EXAMINING PROMISING PRACTICES AT AN INDEPENDENT
LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE
by
Nicolas Fernandez Schatzer
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2023
Copyright 2023 Nicolas Fernandez Schatzer
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USING STRATEGIC PLANNING TO EXCEL IN A CHANGING HIGHER EDUCATION
ENVIRONMENT: EXAMINING PROMISING PRACTICES AT AN INDEPENDENT
LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE

A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
2023

___________________________________
Tracy Poon Tambascia, Ed.D.
Committee Chair

___________________________________
Cathy Krop, Ph.D.
Committee Member

___________________________________
Helena Seli, Ph.D.
Committee Member

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ABSTRACT

Recent demographic, economic and societal changes have put pressure on higher
education institutions (HEI) in the U.S. In the last decade, several institutions were forced to
close their doors or merge with other universities. For decades, HEI were successfully
operating a relatively unchanged business model. Current circumstances related to declining
enrollments and economic uncertainty force HEI to take unprecedented steps and consider
strategic and structural changes in order to remain viable. Strategic planning (SP) has a long
history of application in HE, yet it is often ineffective at leading to true changes. For strategic
planning to be effective it needs engagement from most important institutional stakeholders,
leadership commitment and funding as well as be done in an unrestricted fashion, among
other factors.
Through a case study approach, this study examined knowledge, motivation and
organizational influences that helped a small liberal arts college successfully implement a
multi-year strategic plan. At the examined college, several factors such as a well-structured,
communicated and funded process, combined with goals and deadlines and a participatory
process led to success in SP. Among the identified success factors, some are transferrable to
other HEI. Organizations can improve their strategic change efforts by committing to SP
through leadership, financially, broad participation and by ensuring accountability throughout
the process.
Keywords: higher education, strategic planning, change management, strategy formation

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to say thank you to the wonderful faculty of the program for having made
this experience engaging, intellectually challenging and foremost fun. I want to thank my
chair, Dr. Tambascia for her patience and valuable feedback. This program would not have
been the same without my classmates, whose experience and wisdom enriched discussion,
but ultimately also made this a very fun experience. I dearly recall all the amazing dinners
and conversations we had in so many different places around the world.
I also would like to thank my wife Melanie, who has been by my side during this
whole journey and (mostly without nagging) took on a lion’s share of household
responsibilities and taking care of our dogs during the time that I dedicated to research and
coursework. This would have been much harder without her support.

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DEDICATION
To my late brother Xavier, without whom undoubtedly I would have not embarked on this
journey.
To UIDE, which is deserving of a strong strategic plan.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ 3C
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................................... 4
DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................... 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... 6
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... 9
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. 11
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 12
Background of the Problem ..................................................................................................... 13
Strategic Planning as a Mitigating Force ................................................................................. 15
Environmental Scan ............................................................................................................. 16
Interaction of Planning with Vision and Mission ................................................................ 17
Identification of Priorities, Implementation and Revision ................................................... 17
Other Commonly Found Elements ...................................................................................... 18
Strategic Planning Involvement ........................................................................................... 18
Strategic Plan Durations ...................................................................................................... 18
Importance of a Promising Practice Project ............................................................................. 19
Organizational Context and Mission ....................................................................................... 19
Organizational Performance Status .......................................................................................... 20
Description of Stakeholder Groups .......................................................................................... 22
Stakeholder Group for the Study ............................................................................................. 23
Purpose of the Project and Questions ...................................................................................... 23
Conceptual and Methodological Framework ........................................................................... 24
Organization of the Study ........................................................................................................ 24
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ..................................................... 26
History of Strategy Planning in Business and Influences in Higher Education ...................... 26
History of Strategic Planning in Higher Education ................................................................. 28
Supporting Strategic Planning ................................................................................................. 31
Changing Higher Education Environments ............................................................................. 34
Enrollment During Mid 1970s – 1994 ................................................................................. 34
Enrollment From 1994 – Today ........................................................................................... 35
Future Enrollment Projections ............................................................................................. 35
Higher Education Institution Closures and Outlook ................................................................ 41
Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences .......................................................... 43
Conceptual Knowledge of Institution’s History, External and Internal Environment ......... 43
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Conceptual Knowledge of Organizational Willingness to Change ..................................... 43
Procedural Knowledge of How to Identify Important Issues in the External and Internal
Environment ......................................................................................................................... 44
Implementing the Strategic Planning Process ...................................................................... 44
Knowledge of How to Engage Stakeholders in the Strategic Planning Process .................. 45
Self-reflective Practice as Strategic Planners ...................................................................... 45
Perceived Value of Strategic Planning ................................................................................ 46
Organizational Recognition of the Value of an Effective Strategic Planning Process ........ 48
Organizational Provision of Resources, Time, People and Finances to the Strategic
Planning Process and Implementation ................................................................................. 48
Organizational Operationalization and Communication of the Strategic Planning Process
and the Final Plan ................................................................................................................. 48
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS ........................................................................................ 50
Participating Stakeholders ....................................................................................................... 50
Access to this site was approved by the president of CC. Interviews and document
analysis occured simultaneously. ..................................................................................... 51
Data Collection and Instrumentation ....................................................................................... 52
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 53
Credibility and Trustworthiness ............................................................................................... 54
Ethics ........................................................................................................................................ 55
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS ............................................................................................ 58
Overview of Participants .......................................................................................................... 58
Knowledge Assets .................................................................................................................... 59
Build on People’s Desire to be Heard .................................................................................. 65
Make the Planning Process feel Legitimate ......................................................................... 66
Communication .................................................................................................................... 67
Motivation Assets .................................................................................................................... 69
Organization Assets ................................................................................................................. 71
Emergent Assets ....................................................................................................................... 80
Formation and Previous Experience in Strategic Planning .................................................. 81
Accessible and Present President ......................................................................................... 81
Strategic Planning Champion .............................................................................................. 82
General Perception as a Strong and Popular Leader ............................................................ 83
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 83
CHAPTER FIVE: TRANSFERABLE PRACTICES ........................................................ 85
Transferrable Practice 1: Ensure Leadership is Committed to SP ........................................... 86
Build Leadership Support .................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Communicate ....................................................................................................................... 87
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Commit to the Plan .............................................................................................................. 88
Transferrable Practice 2: Cultivate Broad Participation .......................................................... 88
Step 2: Plan Environmental Scan and “Listening Activities” .............................................. 89
Step 3: Document the Process .............................................................................................. 89
Transferrable Practice 3: Create a Customized and Flexible Plan ........................................... 90
Step 2: Identify Key Stakeholders ....................................................................................... 92
Step 3: Outline Strategic Planning ....................................................................................... 93
Step 4: Customize the SP ..................................................................................................... 94
Step 5: Create a Communication Plan ................................................................................. 94
Step 6: Adapt the Strategic Plan as Needed ......................................................................... 95
Transferrable Practice 4: Resource Allocation and Accountability ......................................... 95
Allocate Funds to SP ............................................................................................................ 96
Accountability in Planning and Implementation ................................................................. 96
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 98
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 100
APPENDIX A ........................................................................................................................ 115
APPENDIX B ........................................................................................................................ 117
APPENDIX C ........................................................................................................................ 118
APPENDIX D ........................................................................................................................ 121
APPENDIX E ........................................................................................................................ 123

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1 Cc’s Mission and Vision Statement
19
TABLE 2 Assumed Knowledge Influences
45
TABLE 3 Assumed Motivation Influences
46

TABLE 4 Assumed Organizational Influences
48

TABLE 5 Members of the Steering Committee
50

TABLE 6 Interview Participants
57
TABLE 7 Knowledge Influences Validated, not Validated and Emergent Assets
58

TABLE 8 Organizational Influences Validated
71

TABLE 9 Transferrable Practices by Thematic Category
85
TABLE 10 Evaluation Plan for Transferrable Practice 1
87

TABLE 11 Evaluation Plan for Transferrable Practice 2
89

TABLE 12 Evaluation Plan for Transferrable Practice 3
95

TABLE 13 Smart Goals Explained
97

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TABLE 14 Evaluation Plan for Transferrable Practice 4
98

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LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1 Basic Elements of a Strategic Plan
17
FIGURE 2 Organizational Graph
73

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
This dissertation focused on the importance of effective strategic planning in helping
higher education institutions succeed in the rapidly changing and challenging U.S. higher
education environment. Since the great recession of 2009, the higher education sector has
experienced substantial challenges and faces an uncertain future. These challenges include
declining enrollments, reduced net-tuition revenues and state funding, increased
accountability requirements and public scrutiny related to college affordability (McGee,
2015; Mitchell & Leachman, 2015; Terenzini, 2013; Walsemann, Gee, & Gentile, 2015). At
the end of 2018, Moody’s, a financial analysis and credit rating company, reported the
prognosis as negative for 2019 in their higher education sector outlook (Crowe, 2018; Shaffer
& Smith, 2018), as operating expenses were expected to outpace revenue growth for another
year. Since 2014, an average of 20 college campuses have closed across the United States per
month, amounting to over 1,200 campuses to date and affecting over half a million students.
Although 88%of the closures were for-profit institutions (Vasquez & Bauman, 2019), small
liberal art colleges have also struggled to remain viable. Small colleges with less than 1000
students, no online programs and low endowment are particularly struggling against
declining enrollment and shrinking tuition revenue (Parthenon-EY Education practice, 2016).
More liberal art colleges and for-profit colleges and universities are projected to close in the
coming years (Horn, 2018).
A working definition of strategic planning is necessary when considering its role in
successful university planning. According to Shapiro and Nunez (2001) strategic planning
addresses dynamic environmental forces through planned change, clarifying the current state
of affairs, identifying core values, documenting goals and aspirations, and developing action
plans to achieve the defined vision. Most other definitions of strategic planning emphasize
the choices that are made to influence change by deciding on resource allocation over
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extended periods of time, in order to achieve objectives (Hax, 1990; Presley & Leslie, 1999).
In this study, Shapiro & Nunez’s (2001) definition will be used.
Background of the Problem
The higher education environment is changing due to transitions in economics,
demographics and technology with strategic planning potentially offering a mitigating force.
Higher Education Economic and Demographic Transitions
The economic crisis of 2009 led to considerable budget cuts in public higher
education institutions. Increases in enrolment, combined with state budget cuts for higher
education, led to a per student budget decrease of 26% between the academic years of 2007-
08 and 2011-12 (Danziger, 2013). In 2018, state funding for higher education remains seven
billion dollars below 2008 levels. the lack of funding was passed on to the student through
increased tuition and reductions in scholarships (Barr & Turner, 2013). Private institutions
saw their endowments drop by up to one-third, which led to cost-cutting measures and
increases in tuition (Brint, Yoshikawa, Rotondi, Viggiano, & Maldonado, 2016).
In 2010, the number of U.S. high school graduates reached a peak and has since
leveled off slightly which is further putting stress on colleges and universities to achieve
enrollment targets, and many institutions have seen their new student population fall in recent
years (McGee, 2015). The increasing cost of attending higher education institutions has led to
increased student borrowing to attend college. High loan levels, combined with increasing
loan defaults, are a concern for policy makers and society. With mounting pressure,
institutions need to be financially sustainable to survive, and if the current model ceases to be
viable, universities need to rethink and reorient their business model.
For struggling institutions, the strategic planning process allows for the consideration
of all mission-focused activities in total, as it considers needs to strengthen financial and
educational viability in the future. For instance, increasing institutional efficiency through
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Lean leadership and practices, borrowed from the corporate world, is one way of reducing
cost and making higher education more affordable. Lean leadership is a set of values, actions,
and competencies that seek to decrease or eliminate organizational politics, improve business
competitiveness, effective usage of resources, avoiding redundant work, while motivating
people (Maciag, 2019). For a shift towards a Lean organization to succeed, it must be
implemented through the strategic planning process as an overarching principle (Balzer,
Brodke, & Kizhakethalackal, 2015).
Technological Advancements
Also driving change in education is the increased reliance on technology. In fall 2016,
31.6% of all higher education students were taking at least one course entirely online, and
14.7% were taking all their courses online. While the number of total and online students
have increased, the number of on-campus students decreased throughout the last decade
(Seaman, Elaine Allen, & Seaman, 2018). As technology continues to evolve, new
opportunities and threats to universities may emerge.
Decisions to incorporate new education technology require a holistic consideration in
the strategic plan. Strategic planners need to consider an institution’s culture and anticipate
possible resistance to new technology and plan accordingly for technology implementation
success (Denić, Petković, Ilić, & Milić, 2017), and need to understand their institution’s
current technological needs and limitations to anticipate and incorporate new technologies
(Strong, 2007). Tight linkages between technological strategy and organization level strategy
improve performance (Arasti, Khaleghi, & Noori, 2010). Technology, such as Learning
Management Systems and increasingly sophisticated Academic Enterprise Resource Planning
Systems, already in use by many institutions, provide a wealth of information previously not
available to strategic planners. The emerging field of learning analytics and big data for
instance can allow for better decision making in strategic planning, but is yet rarely used by
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strategic planners (Amorim, Andler, Gustavsson, & Agostinho, 2013; Macfadyen & Dawson,
2012).
Strategic Planning as a Mitigating Force
The outlook for higher education in the United States is uncertain and problematic for
many higher education institutions. Strategic planning, as a means of defining and redefining
an institution’s purpose, and as a process that allows for defining a strategic path and action
plan, can help institutions to succeed in a challenging future. Most higher education
accrediting agencies require substantiation of evidence-based planning (Goldman & Salem,
2015), and strategic planning is seen as crucial to systematically achieving an institutions’
vision and mission. The object of strategic planning is change (Fish, 2004), but across
industries, 70% to 90% of all change efforts fail (Pisapia & Robinson, 2010). Planning often
fails because models are not sufficiently adapted to account for higher education’s
complexity. Plans frequently do not yield positive results when they are created in a vacuum,
lack leadership support or the stakeholders in charge of planning are insufficiently trained
and inexperienced and the planning is conducted in an inflexible and overly linear way
(Chance, 2012; Hinton, 2012; Society for College and University Planning, 2015). Done
correctly, strategic planning lays the path for an institution to advance towards its objectives
and vision while delivering on its mission. Furthermore, the planning exercise on its own,
regardless of its execution, is likely to benefit an institution as it promotes strategic thought
and action, improves decision making, enhances organizational responsiveness and improves
performance (Bryson, 1995). It is therefore important to understand what contributes to
successful strategic planning and what hinders it, or even worse, makes it counterproductive.
This dissertation aimed to identify knowledge, motivational and organizational assets of a
strategic planning committee that contributed to successful strategic planning.
The Mechanics of Strategic Planning
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Organizations engage in strategic planning for a variety of reasons. Some seek to
improve organizational performance by identifying and enhancing distinct competitive
advantages (Porter, 1985) or to provide collaborators with a direction by reviewing and
revamping priorities (Medley & Haki Akan, 2008). Strategic plans serve organizations as a
structured way of working to deliver on its mission and vision (Mittenthal, 2002). Strategic
planning can also serve to appease constituencies and to please lenders, or raise funds
(Schraeder, 2002). Strategic planning can be done to identify the funds needed to be raised or
develop a rationale for a fund-raising campaign (Webster, 2014).
There is no single way to do strategic planning (Hinton, 2012), and as theory on
strategy, organizations and change management have evolved, so has strategic planning
(Dooris, 2004; Hutzschenreuter & Kleindienst, 2006). There are, however, certain elements
that are found in most strategic plans and strategic planning processes. In their comparative
analysis of 33 strategic plans from universities worldwide, Strike and Labbe (2016) found
similarities in language, structure, visuals and goals. Strategic plans also share commonalities
in terms of the tools used and components.
Environmental Scan
Most strategic plans are preceded by an environmental scan. Such scans consist of
identifying external factors and developments that could impact an institution’s future,
including the regulatory, political, social, economic, technological and market environment.
Additionally, the internal environment is examined through surveys, focus groups and
interviews. The scan typically includes a process of identification of the environmental
scanning needs of an organization, information gathering, then followed by analysis and
communication of the results (Albright, 2004). SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats), trend analysis and competitor analysis are commonly used as part
of the environmental scan (Boyd, 2015; Hinton, 2012).
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Interaction of Planning with Vision and Mission
Strategic plans are closely linked to an institution’s vision and mission. The planning
process can serve to evaluate an institution’s vision and mission and adapt or rewrite it if
necessary (Fidellow & Hogan, 1998; Schraeder, 2002). Using the results of the SWOT
analysis, gap analysis, an instrument used to determine gaps between current conditions and
the vision, is commonly applied (Hinton, 2012).
Identification of Priorities, Implementation and Revision
Once the organization completes the environmental scan and the vision and mission
have been examined or revised, the information that has been gathered is used to define
institutional priorities and goals. Goals are typically structured in long-term goals that are
linked to achieving a vision and shorter - term or annual goals, which exist to support the
achievement of long-term goals (Boyd, 2015). Goals are usually accompanied by an action or
implementation plan that operationalizes goal- achievement by outlining concrete activities
and processes and the assignment of a budget (Hinton, 2012). During the implementation
phase, the implementation plan can be adapted in the face of changing circumstances
(Hinton, 2012). As the strategic plan is being implemented, institutions should engage in
ongoing and periodic evaluation to measure progress towards goal achievement. As Figure 1
illustrates, strategic planning is not a completely linear process, but rather is done with
several iterations, revisiting certain phases in the plan as circumstances change or new
information emerges (Trainer, 2004).

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Figure 1
Basic elements of a Strategic Plan
Other Commonly Found Elements
Some other common elements are worth noting. Hinton (2012) specified that at
minimum, a plan should contain enrollment projections and goals as well as value and
principle statements (Dhillon & Vaca, 2018) and a timeline (Fidellow & Hogan, 1998). Some
institutions engage in scenario planning and futures studies (Roney, 2010). Furthermore,
departmental units often develop their own strategic plans which are aligned with the
institutional strategic plans (Linda, 2010).
Strategic Planning Involvement
Strategic planning is usually initiated by an organization’s leaders, who tend to
closely monitor and accompany the process (Mcfarlane, Pol, & Lim, 2018). The planning
process typically involves representatives of campus stakeholders including students, faculty,
administrative staff, academic leadership, alumni and the board of trustees (Hinton, 2012).
The degree of involvement varies, as some are assigned to permanent planning committees
and sub-committees, whereas others are expected to contribute with less frequency.
Organizations with an office of institutional research are likely to expect the office to be
closely involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation process (Nel, 2016).
Strategic Plan Durations
Most strategic plans are developed for a three to five-year horizon (Boyd, 2015;
Stephen E, 2005), but can range up to 50 years, as is the case at Northwestern University
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(Salyer, 2009). Some institutions do not set a specific time frame, but rather a range. Such is
the case at Colorado College (CC), where strategic planners indicated a range of seven to ten
years for their current 2013 plan (L. Williams, personal communication, Jun 23, 2019).
Importance of a Promising Practice Project
Through an examination of effective strategic planning processes in universities,
leaders of higher education institutions can better understand the success factors and the
knowledge, motivation and organizational features required of key stakeholders involved in
successful strategic planning in order to effectively use strategic planning despite uncertainty
and profound changes affecting the higher education sector. However, strategic planning
efforts often fail to produce necessary and long-lasting change (Pisapia & Robinson, 2010).
Therefore, it is necessary to identify key knowledge, motivation and organizational assets
which allow higher education institutions to adequately focus training and organizational
transformation efforts as well as provide incentives to gain such key assets. A deeper
understanding of promising practices in the field will help higher education organizations
avoid pitfalls and decrease the chance of change effort failure. Successful strategic planning
will allow universities to plan and control their adaption and thrive in a changing and
uncertain environment.
Organizational Context and Mission
Colorado College is a private, non-profit liberal arts college established in 1874 in
Colorado Springs, which in 2018 had a population of 472,688 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018).
Located in the state of Colorado at the base of the Rocky mountains, the college enrolls 2,026
students and has a selective admission process with a self-reported admission rate of 23%
(CC, 2019) and consistently ranks among the top 10% to 20% of U.S. colleges (Niche, 2019;
U.S. News & World Report, 2019). Students come from 48 states and 50 countries. Eighty-
one percent of students engage in study abroad activities (CC, 2019). The student body is
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predominantly White (65.8%) and female (54.51%). Students of color make up 24.3% of the
population, and international students make up 8.9% (CC, 2018).
CC boasts strong academic numbers such as a faculty-to-student ratio of 1:10 (CC,
n.d.), and an average class size of 16 students with a cap of 25 students per class (CC, 2019).
Ninety-eight percent of the 167 full-time faculty hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their
field (CC, n.d.). CC is best known for its Block Plan (“Year of Listening - Building on the
Block,” n.d.). With the Block Plan at CC students only take one subject at a time for three
and a half weeks each. The format has been of interest to researchers as it has decreased
student absenteeism and procrastination, while allowing for deeper and more immersive
learning when compared to traditional course formats (Baun, 2015). Colorado College’s
block plan was used as a model at University of Montana Western, which has run on a block
schedule since 2007 (Baun, 2015; University of Montana Western, n.d.). Table 1 presents a
summary of CC’s mission and vision.
Table 1
CC’s Mission and Vision Statement
Mission and Vision
“At Colorado College our goal is to provide the finest liberal arts education in the country.
Drawing upon the adventurous spirit of the Rocky Mountain West, we challenge students, one
course at a time, to develop those habits of intellect and imagination that will prepare them
for learning and leadership throughout their lives."

(Colorado College, n.d.-b)
Organizational Performance Status
In 2011, Jill Tiefenthaler joined Colorado College as the institution’s 13
th
president.
President Tiefenthaler previously served as provost at Wake Forest University, a private
research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she served as provost from
2007 onwards. At Wake Forest University, Tiefenthaler had gained extensive experience in
planning as she was in charge of the creation and implementation of the institution’s strategic
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plan (Tiefenthaler, n.d.-a). The following section describes the strategic planning process CC
followed after president Tiefenthaler’s arrival and provides an overview of the status of the
plan implementation.
The Year of Listening
Given the context of continuous changes in technological innovations, approaches to
engaged learning, economic challenges, and increased competition for the students and
faculty, President Tiefenthaler engaged in what it called “the year of listening,” a phase that
served to gain “a deep understanding of what the people who make up this special place” and
“about the strengths, challenges, opportunities, and aspirations that will determine how we
move into the future” (Tiefenthaler, 2012, p. 1). During the year of listening, the college
embarked on conversations with stakeholders, including the local community, faculty,
students, alumni, trustees and parents. Teams were set up to lead the engagement process and
prepare for strategic planning (Tiefenthaler, 2012). The exploration set the stage for the
formation of a strategic plan after having spent a year gathering information from a variety of
stakeholders, understanding institutional strengths and weakness, and exploring opportunities
and threats in a complex and challenging environment (Colorado College, 2013).
The Year of Planning
By end of Summer 2012, the Board of Trustees approved the planning process and a
set of high level strategic priorities named “engaged teaching and learning,” “a distinct place
of learning” and “extending our reach” (Tiefenthaler, n.d.-b). Five committees were set up.
A steering committee in charge of overseeing the strategic planning process and
communications was formed. In addition, an institutional effectiveness committee that sought
to find ways of improving institutional efficiency and effectiveness was created, as well as a
committee for each of the high-level priorities (President’s Office, 2013b). From Fall 2012
until Summer 2013, CC engaged in an extensive strategic planning process that consisted of a
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series of meetings with stakeholders and several group retreats. The result of the planning
activity was a set of strategic recommendations accompanied by a plan to achieve them. In
July 2013 the board reviewed and approved the “Building on the Block” strategic plan
(President’s Office, 2013a). The strategic plan implementation has no stated duration, but
was expected to take between seven and ten years (L. Williams, personal communication,
June 23, 2019).
Implementation and Amendment
The strategic plan implementation is accompanied by an ongoing, national
fundraising campaign to fund the strategic plan implementation. By July 2019, CC has raised
$353.4 million of a stated goal of $435 million (College Colorado, n.d.). The plans’ goals of
creating an innovation institute, launching summer programs and greater support structures
for the block plan have been achieved (L. Williams, personal communication, Jun 23, 2019).
Given that by 2016 CC had made significant process in implementing the plan and an
opportunity to acquire a local art center emerged, an extension of the strategic plan was
required by the Board of Trustees which resulted in the “Building on the Block 2.0” plan
amendment. The amendment included two new initiatives and an additional strategic
recommendation (Colorado College, 2018a). Since the plan has been achieved in parts, a new
strategic planning circle will initiate in three to four years (L. Williams, personal
communication, Jun 23, 2019).
Description of Stakeholder Groups
Strategic planning is resource-intensive and involves stakeholders at all levels of the
institution. Furthermore, the achievement, or lack thereof, of a strategic plan impacts the
organization as a whole. While a wide variety of stakeholder groups were involved in CC
meeting its performance goals, three vital contributors are the strategic planning committees,
the Board of Trustees, and the institutional research office. The five main strategic planning
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committees, established in 2012, were in charge of overseeing the creation and
implementation of CC’s strategic plan. The Board of Trustees is an important stakeholder
that ensures that founding principles of the institution are taken into account in planning
efforts and that the plan is financially viable. Ultimately the Board approves the strategic
plan. Likewise, the administrative and academic leaders who contribute to the plan through
sub-committees and other mechanisms that inform the planning process, play a role in the
plan’s success.
Stakeholder Group for the Study
While the joint efforts of all stakeholders involved contribute to the achievement of
the creation and implementation of a strategic plan, it is important to understand the
promising practices and strategies utilized by strategic planning committees as they were
crucial in the creation, implementation and evaluation of the plan. Therefore, the stakeholders
of focus for this promising study were the committee members. Each of the five committees
has between 12 to 15 members. Membership is diverse with students, alumni, trustees,
faculty, administrative staff and institution level leadership all having representation on the
committees. Membership can be appointed by the president, suggested through nomination
by stakeholders or upon request.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project was to examine the knowledge, motivation and
organizational assets that supported the development of CC’s strategic plan. The analysis was
initiated by generating a list of potential or assumed assets on performance that were
examined systematically to focus on actual or validated influences on performance. While a
complete analysis would focus on all stakeholders, for practical purposes the stakeholder to
be focused on in this analysis was the planning committee. Using the planning committee as
the primary stakeholder, this study analyzed the knowledge, skill, motivation and
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organizational resources that members of this committee utilized to support the institution’s
change efforts with a strategic plan.
Two questions guided this study:
1. What are the planning committees’ knowledge, motivation, and organizational assets
related to developing, executing and implementing a strategic plan?
2. What recommendations in the areas of knowledge, motivation, and organizational
resources may be applicable for strategic planning and implementation in other
universities?
Conceptual and Methodological Framework
Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis model is a systematic, analytical method that
helps to clarify an organization’s goals and identify the gap between its current performance
level and its preferred level. This model was implemented as the conceptual framework for
this study and adapted to a promising practice study to understand organizational goal
achievement. The methodological framework is a qualitative case study with descriptive
statistics. Assumed knowledge, motivation and organizational assets that allowed
organizational goal achievement have been generated based on personal knowledge and
related literature. These influences have been assessed through interviews, literature review
and document analysis. Based on the findings, research-based recommendations are offered
to other higher education institutions planning to engage in strategic planning and execution
to meet rapidly changing environments and demands facing higher education institutions.
Organization of the Study
This study is organized in five chapters. The first chapter served to familiarize the
reader with current and recent changes in the last decades that affect higher education
institutions. Strategic planning, as a means to navigate and prepare institutions for success, is
explored in detail with focus on its mechanics and importance. Furthermore, the context of
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the organization and the purpose of the study to identify knowledge, motivational and
organizational assets related to effective higher education strategic planning and execution
are explored. Additionally, the chapter introduced the mission of the organization of focus
and its main stakeholders’ goals.
Chapter Two reviews relevant literature on the history of strategic planning, guiding
theories and their application in business, strategic planning in higher education, the changing
forces in higher education and the role planning plays in preparing higher education
institutions for the future. Chapter Three details the assumed stakeholder assets that enabled
successful strategic planning at the organization of study as well as the methodology as it
relates to how participants were sampled, data collection and analysis. In Chapter Four, the
data and results are assessed and analyzed. Chapter Five provides strategic planning
recommendations for other higher education institutions as derived from literature and the
findings of this study.
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CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The external environment in which higher education operates has become far more
challenging than in previous decades (Terenzini, 2013). Higher education institutions need to
create strategies that respond to a changing and increasingly challenging environment, and
they need to effectively implement strategies to remain viable and thrive. Taylor, De Lourdes
Machado, and Peterson (2008) suggested that strategic planning is essential to intelligent and
impactful resource allocation, especially in times of a changing higher education
environment. Provided the appropriate knowledge, motivational and organizational
influences are present, strategic planning can help an institution to implement change in
response to opportunities or threats.
History of Strategy Planning in Business and Influences in Higher Education
Strategic planning can be tracked back several centuries as it found application among
kings and military leaders (Kagay & Villalon, 1999). However, Strategic planning as a
distinct model in the corporate world developed mostly during the second half of the 20th
century. It evolved through influence by contemporary thinkers and academics as well as
fluctuating economic circumstance.
Beginnings of Strategic Planning
Strategic planning as a structured form of strategy formulation and implementation in
business was first discussed in 1916 by Frenchman Henri Fayol, who documented how he
used interrelated short, medium-and long-range plans to succeed in his mining companies. He
received a prize from the French Academy of Science for his novel work. The Pennsylvania
Railroad Company created a strategic plan in 1860, and other big industrial firms worked
with strategic plans at the turn of the 19th century. Companies that formalized strategy
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through a plan were, however, an exception rather than the norm until the second half of the
20th century (Roney, 2010).
Strategic Planning in the Second Half of the 20th Century to Today
In the 1960s and 1970s, publications such as Melville Branch’s The Corporate
Planning Process (1962), Ansoff’s Corporate Strategy: An Analytic Approach to Business
Policy for Growth and Expansion (1965) and Steiner’s (1969) three-volume collection of
corporate planning principles influenced business practice and contributed to a generally
accepted model of strategic planning by the late 1970s. It became common practice in
strategic planning to depart from a company’s mission and include an assessment of internal
and external factors. The model also called for development of goals and strategies followed
by action programs and continuous advancement tracking and evaluation, subsequently
resulting in re-evaluation of goals and strategies. Surveys of large corporations from 1955 to
2000 found that a majority engaged in strategic planning (Roney, 2010).
Strategic planning should be seen in the broader context of strategic management
philosophies, how they changed over time and how that impacted strategic planning.
Hammer (1996) noted that there have been three major stages in strategic planning in the last
40 years. The first era is referred to as portfolio management, with the guiding principle that
corporations are holding companies which allocate resources strategically among their
business constituencies. The second stage is known as the industrial economies model,
wherein strategy is built based on analysis of competitive power relationships. This epoch
was influenced by Michael Porter’s five force model, and companies sought to strategize
around variables defined by the models, such as buyer and provider bargaining power, threat
of new market entries, threat of substitution and competitive rivalry (Porter, 2008). The third
era is shaped by the concept of core competencies with the underlying idea being that
companies should identify and focus on what at which they are particularly good. Influenced
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by these wider management philosophies, strategic planning processes changed over time
(Candy & Gordon, 2011).
The importance and prestige of strategic planning, however, started to decline in the
1980s and 1990s with the publication of several research papers that called its effectiveness
into question and with the recessions of 1980 to 1982 and 1990 to 1991. Previously, strategic
planning relied on a relatively stable and forecastable environment. However, the onset of
economic crisis and instability called the current strategic planning practice into question.
Henry Mintzberg, in his widely cited (1994) publication The Rise and Fall of Strategic
Planning, argued that strategic planning was an oxymoron, mostly ineffective, and could
even hinder strategy. Ansoff, Kipley, Lewis, Helm-Stevens, and Ansoff (2019) argued that
Mintzberg mislabels long-range planning as strategic planning and that strategic planning, if
done correctly, provides great benefits to organizations.
History of Strategic Planning in Higher Education
There is a long history of strategic planning in the business world, and, while a
majority of firms continue to engage in strategic planning today, it has critics and genuine
limitations dependent, in part, on how it is done. While it began with a focus in the business
world, its influence has spread to higher education. Higher education adapted strategic
planning sometime after the business world, and, while it decreased in importance in the
business world, it has not in higher education. In this field, it continues to be practiced mostly
in its original form. Dooris, Kelley and Trainer (2004), in their review of several cornerstone
publications on the subject, wrote that strategic planning likely emerged as a distinct
methodology in the United States somewhere between the 1950s and the 1970s. Strategic
planning initially focused on facility planning in higher education (Holmes, 1985). Initial
meetings of facility planners in the summer of 1959 at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, led to 300 members founding the Society of College and University Planning
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(SCUP) in 1966. However, during the first years, the society mostly focused on facility
planning (Holmes, 1985).
Strategic Planning in 1970s to Mid-1980s
From about the second half of the 1970s until the mid-1980s, higher education faced
hardship due to demographic, economic and technological changes (Dooris, 2004; McGee,
2015). Higher education’s cost outpaced inflation, and public support decreased. With
declining enrollment and more public scrutiny and calls for accountability, universities
responded by engaging in strategic planning seeing it as "a disciplined effort to produce
fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guided what an organization is, what it
does, and why it does it" (Bryson, 2011, pp. 6–7). In those turbulent times, George Keller
released his 1983 book Academic Strategy, which was named the most influential book in
higher education by the New York Times and Change magazine (Dooris, 2004). With
illustrative real-world examples, the book outlined how some institutions applied what today
would be considered common managerial practices, which resulted in a competitive edge.
Furthermore, the author called for managerial structures that enable institutions to question
their core purpose and values while understanding what makes them different and where they
want to go (Temple, 2018). Strategic planning started to integrate those elements, leading to a
process that is similar to the ones still practiced today in higher education.
Strategic Planning in Mid-1980s to 1990s
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, strategic planning’s importance continued to
increase. During that time, the approaches to strategic planning in higher education were
mostly top-down, and plans were often not executed but created to please stakeholders or
accrediting agencies (Albon, Iqbal, & Pearson, 2017) or for promotional purposes (Hinton,
2012). Those years also saw the appearance of critics of strategic planning. Publications such
as Henry Mintzberg’s 1994 book Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning and publications by
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Tom Peters (1994) criticized strategic planning as not accounting for organizational context
and culture, being too linear, relying too heavily on hard facts, creating increased
bureaucracy and impeding creativity and the emergence of real strategy. Robert Birnbaum
(2000) criticized higher education for adopting management fads. He considered strategic
planning and total quality management to be among such trends.
Strategic Planning Today
During the last two decades, the perspective on strategic planning changed, as
administrators recognized that strategic plan should not be solely bottom-down process, but
one which requires engagement from a wide variety of stakeholders (Albon et al., 2017).
Today, strategic planning is an activity that most public institutions engage in and practiced
by a majority of private institutions as most accreditation bodies require proof of research
based planning activities (Goldman & Salem, 2015). The results of strategic planning
continue to be mixed as the quality of the process and implementation varies between
institutions (Hinton, 2012). Some institutions have a history of several decades of planning
efforts that failed to achieve the desired change. Taking the considerable demands that
planning adds to everyday faculty and administrators’ duties into account, it can lead to
planning fatigue (Ansoff et al., 2019). Often strategic plans are unsuccessful because of lack
of leadership support, stakeholder resistance, unrealistic goals and failure to translate a plan
into actionable objectives (Ewenstein, 2015; Hinton, 2012). Pisapia (2006) identified that
failure in achieving change through strategy in education and business is in part due to
leadership shortcomings that include lacking most of eight leadership attributes associated
with successful leaders, ineffectively applying the administrative foundational skills of
decision making, communicating, motivating, and conflict management as well as a lack of a
strategic mindset. As a result, the justification for strategic planning has been questioned
amid often-disappointing outcomes. Strategic planning is sometimes perceived as an extra
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cost and unnecessary time-consuming endeavor (Society for College and University Planning
[SCUP], 2014). However, it is not that strategic planning does not work; it is that it is often
done poorly, and emphasis should be placed on doing good planning (Ansoff et al., 2019;
Dooris et al., 2004; SCUP, 2015). Rose (2001) and Shapiro and Nunez (2001) identified a set
of factors necessary for strategic planning to succeed. These include procedural, motivational
and organizational components.
Supporting Strategic Planning
Factors that influence success in strategic planning are similar in business and higher
education environments. Evidence suggests that success depends on a variety of factors. For
instance the levels of uncertainty and risk of the industry, leadership engagement, thorough
understanding of environment, stakeholder participation in the right amount, hope and
institutional narrative, focus on key organization-wide goals and an actionable
implementation plan with clear assigned responsibilities and measurable performance
indicators determine success in strategic planning.
The link between strategic planning and performance has been studied exhaustively
and is found to be positive, with effectiveness depending on characteristics of the
organization, environment and an institution’s leadership (Hutzschenreuter & Kleindienst,
2006). Strategic planning has been more effective in organizations with a lower level of risk
and uncertainty (Zwikael & Sadeh, 2007). Factors that make industries riskier than others are
business models that depend on fast-paced, continuous technological innovation and operate
in volatile markets with regulatory, currency and political risks. For instance, studies focused
on high-risk fields such as software and product development and R& D projects found lower
effectiveness. However, studies focused on lower-risk projects such as construction found
that strategic planning had positive effects on success (Zwikael, Pathak, Singh, & Ahmed,
2014). Higher education is comparable to lower-risk industries, as it has high barriers of entry
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due to the regulatory environment and accreditation requirements (Christensen, Horn,
Caldera, & Soares, 2011). Also, setting aside minor fluctuations, undergraduate enrollment
has consistently grown since the end of World War II, making for relative stability,
protection and predictability. Pisapia and Robinson (2010) noted that “When strategic
planning techniques are implemented in a mechanistic organization with high levels of
certainty and agreement they work well” (p. 3). Since certainty is arguably more present than
in higher-risk industries, it is other distinctive features in higher education organizations that
can lead to failures in strategic planning. According to Kezar (2001), such features are goals
which are difficult to quantify, a relative independence from environmental influences,
anarchical decision making, voluntary collaboration, multiple power and authority structures.
Also, image as opposed to bottom line performance measures can contribute to strategic
plans’ failure (Pisapia & Robinson, 2010).
Role of Leadership in Strategic Planning
Leadership engagement, buy-in and competencies such as intuition and effective
communication are important for strategic planning success (Goldman & Salem, 2015; Rose
& Kirk, 2001; Shapiro & Nunez, 2001). Leaders need to believe in the value of strategic
planning and communicate it within the organization (Hinton, 2012; SCUP, 2015). Leaders
should not see strategic planning as a linear process, but, rather, as iterative and concerned
with synthesis. They should remain flexible and push to adapt when circumstances change
(Hinton, 2012). A plan should not be seen as a road-map and recipe to follow, as this would
be ill-suited in today’s rapidly changing environments. Rather, plans should be evaluated
continuously during implementation and revisited and adapted if necessary (Chance, 2010;
Hinton, 2012).
There is no one way to do strategic planning. The process needs to be adapted to an
institution’s unique needs and circumstances (Albon et al., 2017). Leaders need to anticipate
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change and establish new relationships by linking internal and external environments and
balancing stability with change (Pisapia, 2006). While the strategic planning process should
be participatory, it is senior leadership’s role to orient and return focus on broad institutional
goals and priorities because senior level leadership has the most complete picture of an
institution, and a participatory process carries the risk of losing focus on priorities in favor of
individual stakeholders’ priorities (Goldman & Salem, 2015). Furthermore, leadership
support, strategic decision commitment and competencies determine success
(Hutzschenreuter & Kleindienst, 2006; Rose & Kirk, 2001; Shapiro & Nunez, 2001). Ansoff
et al. (2019) cautioned that while top-management support and enthusiasm is a necessary
condition, it needs to be passed on to mid-level management to bring about successful
change.
Strategic Planning as a Participatory Process
The strategic planning process needs to be informed by understanding the internal and
external environment and how it is impacted by societal, political and institutional forces
(Pisapia & Robinson, 2010). The process starts with vision- and goal-setting, which need to
be informed by the external and internal environment, and an understanding of the
institutional constraints and policies. Further, system-wide goals need to be collaboratively
defined and responsibilities must be assigned to stakeholders with relevant knowledge and
motivation to achieve goals. Goals and expectations need to be clearly defined and in
harmony with each other. Also, it is important that goals are measurable and actionable. A
successful planning process is open and informed by the interconnectivity of actions and
decisions (Hinton, 2012; Society for College and University Planning, 2015). For real change
to happen, faculty support and commitment are required in the planning and implementation
stages (Goldman & Salem, 2015). Empathy is increasingly seen as a key to successful
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strategy, as it forces strategic planners to understand stakeholder perspectives and provides a
clearer path to achieve alignment and momentum (Wharton Knowledge, 2019).
Hope and Institutional Narrative
Resistance to change is a common cause for strategic plans to fail in the
implementation phase. Therefore, it is important consider potential change barriers during the
planning process and find strategies to overcome them. Holstein, Starkey and Wright (2018),
for instance, identified hope related to the future as essential in uniting different narratives to
achieve change through strategy. Hope overcomes the barriers of conflicting narratives (past
concept of an institution versus future concept) in response to environmental changes. Their
findings suggest that framing strategy in a way that draws on history and what being a
university means in the societal context fosters hope and decreases fear of change while
uniting conflicting narratives. It is important for strategic planners to be aware of the
components and characteristics of successful strategic plans in order to address a changing
higher education environment that will be outlined in greater detail in the next section.
Changing Higher Education Environments
The following section addresses challenges ranging from fast-paced enrollment
demographic, and technological changes, and issues of affordability to decreasing state
funding due to budget cuts and shrinking endowments.
Changing Demographics and Enrollments
Higher Education has seen decades of continuous growth in demand. After WWII, the
GI Bill made higher education accessible to veterans, leading to rapid enrollment growth,
while the civil population also increasingly enrolled in higher education institutions. The
Baby Boomer generation fueled enrollment at institutions during the 1960s until the 1970s.
Enrollment During Mid 1970s – 1994
Although high school graduation rates declined by 22% between 1976 and 1994 as a
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result of a decline in traditional-aged students due to the “baby bust” after the Baby Boomer
generation, higher education institutions maintained or grew their enrollment by recruiting
older students, tapping additional markets with new programs, increasing access to minority
populations and growing their female student population, which tripled in the same period
(Geiger, 2014; McGee, 2015). Furthermore, high school to college attendance rates continued
to improve, helping to offset the decreasing high school graduate population (National Center
for Education Statistics, n.d.-a). By 1994, children of the Baby Boomers reversed the
downwards trend of high school graduates.
Enrollment From 1994 – Today
In the period between fall 1994 and 2009, the population of 18- to 21-year-old
students at all degree-granting higher education institutions in the United States rose by 51%
and total undergraduate enrollment rose from 12.7 to 17.3 million students during that same
time (McGee, 2015). Illustrative of the growth of higher education are the number of higher
education institutions, which grew to 4,726 in the 2012–2013 academic term from 3,688
during the 1994–1995 term. High school graduate numbers reached a high in 2010 and have
levelled off since then.
Future Enrollment Projections
For the 2023–2024 academic year, enrollment levels are projected to reach 2010
heights again. As high school to college participation rates are already at very high levels
(National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.-a), it will be difficult for institutions to
compensate for declining high school graduate populations. In the past, declining populations
of traditional students were mitigated by growing enrolment numbers of black and Latino
students. However, today, participation rates among 18- to 24-year-old black and Latino
students are only 4% lower than that of the White population (National Center for Education
Statistics, 2017), and, therefore, future growth coming from those populations is limited.
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Women are attending higher education at rates greater than males (National Center for
Education Statistics, n.d.-b). This situation has led to competition for high school graduates,
and some institutions will have lower enrollment (McGee, 2015). Since the decline of high
school graduates is projected to continue for several years, higher education institutions that
have not planned for this situation are likely to face difficult times. Unlike other developed
nations, such as Germany, Japan and South Korea, the United States is still projected to see
growth in the population through 2060 (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.). Overall, the population is
projected to grow steadily and slowly over decades. Such projections, however, rely on
migration, and, with a change in migration policies, the U.S. population growth might slow
even further (Horrowitz, 2019).
In strategic planning, demographics should be an integral part of the external
environmental scan. Further, they should inform enrollment goals and projections, which
should be stated in the strategic plan (Hinton, 2012). Strategic planning allows institutions to
connect external influences such as demographics with the vision and mission as well as
institutional strengths and weaknesses in order to strategically navigate opportunities and
threats.
Aging Population
Populations in OECD countries are aging and shrinking due to birthrates that have
fallen below 1.5 children per couple (OECD, 2019), with the proportion of individuals above
60 years of age projected to reach 21.1% by 2050 from only 9.2% in 1990 (United Nations -
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2017). While the U.S. population is projected to
slowly, but continuously grow over the next few decades, the composition of the population
is changing dramatically. In 2020, there will be 3.5 working-age adults for every retirement-
age person, but, by 2060, that ratio will have fallen to 2.5 working-age adults for every
retirement-age person(U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.). As the population ages and people live
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longer, supporting pension systems at current retirement ages and benefits becomes
increasingly difficult. This means that the current workforce and younger generations will
likely have to retire at older ages. If people live longer, it is of societal and economic interest
for them to stay active. The need for ongoing education will provide opportunities for
universities to offset the declining enrollment from shrinking younger populations (Jin,
Schneller, & Roche, 2015, p. 42).
Strategic planning can help to predict opportunities and outline a path for the
institution to prepare and seize them. First, institutions need to recognize the ageing
population as a factor that will influence their future. An honest assessment of strengths and
weaknesses will allow the institution to understand the value of its offerings for adult learners
(Hinton, 2012). The institution needs to examine and possibly revise its mission and vision
statements to understand how they relate to providing education outside of the traditional
undergraduate and graduate realm. An analysis of costs and risks will provide insight into the
feasibility of pursuing this opportunity. Only then can the institution lay out a strategic plan
to tackle this ageing segment (Hinton, 2012).
Technology as a Change Agent
The internet and omnipresent access to it over smart devices have changed the way
people interact and access information. Also, increasingly sophisticated data analytics and
learning platforms provide opportunities to improve the way students learn (Chen, 2016).
These technological advances have benefitted higher education institutions, but also pose a
threat, as non-traditional players take advantage of technological advances like online
education in disruptive ways (Christensen et al., 2011). So far, technology has not disrupted
higher education, but has changed it gradually (Christensen et al., 2011). Massive open online
courses, called MOOCS, are courses offered over the internet free of charge. While smaller
scale MOOCS were offered before 2012, MOOCs became a topic of great interest and
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potential disruptor in higher education after Stanford offered its first MOOC, and thousands
of students enrolled (Selingo, 2013). MOOCS give free access to courses at elite universities
to anyone with internet access (Thomas & Nedeva, 2018). MOOCS did not disrupt education
on a large scale, but the industry shows signs of proneness for disruption (Christensen et al.,
2011) .The rapid spread of the internet has impacted people’s cognition and the ways in
which they interact and obtain information (Loh & Kanai, 2016). In response to technological
opportunities, educational institutions are adapting their teaching and the learning outcomes
they seek to achieve, sometimes referred to as 21st century skills (Boyles, 2012). With access
to endless information over smartphones, memorization becomes less important, but critical
thinking to evaluate sources and credibility of information gains importance. Technology has
added to the portfolio of tools that help teachers to improve learning, and most universities
now use some type of learning management system (Walker, Lindner, Murphrey, & Dooley,
2016). Many universities also offer online or hybrid degrees, which only became possible due
to the internet. Another promising technology is virtual and augmented reality, which are
industries projected to grow from less than 2 billion in 2016 to 120 billion by 2030 (Martín-
Gutiérrez, Mora, Añorbe-Díaz, & González-Marrero, 2017). Application of this technology
in education has shown positive results, but, due to cost restrictions, has not been
implemented on a large scale. As technology evolves and becomes more affordable, virtual
and augmented reality are likely to have great impact in education and in similar terms, the
advancement of artificial intelligence will provide opportunities for institutions to improve
education (Martín-Gutiérrez et al., 2017). Examples are learning management systems that
already use algorithms to adapt content and approaches to individual learners based on past
performance and descriptive variables (Sora & Sora, 2012).
Unforeseeable technological advancements provide opportunities for existing
institutions and incumbents to improve or reshape their offerings. Disruptive innovation, a
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concept of unforeseen shift in market domination from established players to new entrants
due to innovation, is a threat that institutions face if they fail to remain relevant and capitalize
on emerging opportunities (Christensen et al., 2011; Christensen, Raynor, Rory, &
McDonald, 2015). Under such circumstances, institutions need to proactively engage with
technology and attempt to predict future possibilities to plan for its potential application.
Technology can explicitly form part of strategic plans, like in the case of Vanderbilt
University’s 2013 plan that made “Transforming education models through technology and
research” one of five key priorities (“Academic Strategic Plan for Vanderbilt University,”
2014). Technology can aid the achievement of strategic plans in a supportive role, or it can be
a strategic priority, such as a unique technological competitive advantage that an institution
seeks to obtain. Technology requires strategic consideration and should form part of the
strategic planning process as a tool for planning, a factor to consider in Gap and SWOT
analysis as well as in scenario planning. Denić et al. (2017) strongly encouraged
technological issues to be strategically handled in order to succeed with implementation and
supporting other strategic initiatives.
Economic Environment, Affordability and Outlook
The great recession of 2007 to 2009 was the largest contraction of the U.S. economy
since the Great Depression. Some 30 million people lost their jobs, and the Gross Domestic
Product and household wealth decline was the largest ever recorded (Kalleberg & Wachter,
2017) and long-term unemployment doubled its previous high (Song & von Wachter, 2014;
p.201). The great recession was especially severe because, even after its end, recovery was
considerably slower than in recessions of previous decades. The recession was preceded by
rising inequality between the bottom 95% and the top 5%, and the economic downturn
exacerbated the rift between top income earners and the vast majority of Americans
(Cynamon & Fazzari, 2013). The rise in income among the middle class has been so marginal
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in recent decades that it did not translate into perceived improvement in the standard of
living, and growth estimates of income of the middle class are at preindustrial levels
(Komlos, 2018). Much of the economic growth has been captured by the top 5% income
earners (Kopczuk, 2015).
In fall 2007 and fall 2010, at the height of the recession, higher education enrollment
grew by 15% (Danziger, 2013) with most of that growth coming from people who lost their
job (Barr & Turner, 2015). During that time, Pell grants and government loan programs were
expanded. Furthermore, unemployment insurance receivers qualified for Pell grants, leading
to a direct increase in enrollment of the unemployed (Barr & Turner, 2013; Danziger, 2013).
While enrollment did not decrease as a consequence of the great recession, both
public and private universities faced difficult times for differing reasons. The economic crisis
of 2009 led to considerable budget cuts for public higher education institutions, which, in
turn, passed on the lack of funding to the student by increasing tuition and cutting down on
scholarships (Barr & Turner, 2013). The increase in enrollment, combined with state budget
cuts for higher education, led to a per student budget decrease of 26% between the academic
years of 2007–2008 and 2011–2012 (Danziger, 2013). In 2018, state funding for higher
education remained 7 billion below 2008 levels. Tuition only partially offset the decline in
state funding, which led to cuts in faculty and administrative positions, worsening faculty-
student ratios and a worsening student support services (Mitchell, Leachman, & Masterson,
2016; Mitchell, Leachman, Masterson, & Waxman, 2018). Private institutions, in contrast,
saw their endowment decrease by up to one-third, which led to cost cutting measures and
increases in tuition to compensate. Endowment and faculty salaries, however, surpass pre-
crisis levels (Brint et al., 2016).
Strategic planning can help universities weather economic recessions by re-focusing
on mission related activities. Furthermore, it helps institutions identify costly and unrelated
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activities and disengage from them. At the same time new opportunities related to an
institution’s purpose can be explored and planned for in order to offset economic hardship.
Increase in Tuition
The budgetary constraints of both private and public higher education institutions
caused by the financial crisis contributed to disproportionate tuition increases after adjusting
for inflation. Taylor and Morphew (2015), in their analysis of net tuition income and
education expenses, found that tuition increased more than actual education spending did,
suggesting that students pay an increasingly higher share of the cost of operating a university.
As cost of attending has grown disproportionately when adjusted for inflation, debt increased
steadily to USD 1.5 trillion in 2018, second only to housing borrowing (Scott & Bloom,
2018). Loan delinquency has grown considerably in recent years, and borrowers from
disadvantaged backgrounds account for a great part of loan defaults (Scott & Bloom, 2018).
High student debt can have considerable societal impacts, such as people delaying the
acquisition of homes, marriage, having children, negatively affecting mental health and
decreasing the likelihood of donating to one’s alma mater (Hillman, 2015). Those
circumstances concern policy makers and the public, leading to increased calls for
accountability and scrutiny of higher education. Christensen, Horn, Caldera and Suarez
(2011) argued that higher education is so expensive because three different business models
operate simultaneously: teaching, research and students’ social growth. Through strategic
planning institutions can conclude on systematically decreasing cost of attendance. Strategic
planning can help institutions to consolidate their brand and purpose and thus provide greater
value to students at less cost.
Higher Education Institution Closures and Outlook
Since the great recession of 2009, the higher education sector has encountered new
challenges and faces and an uncertain future. Despite continuously rising tuition, average net
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revenue for institutions has been flat for 13 years after adjusting for inflation. This is due the
increase of tuition discounting, a practice where higher education institutions provide
scholarships and financial aid for recruitment and retention purposes. Universities that
practice tuition discounting at greater scale, are found to be more financially leveraged, have
lower liquidity and asset turn overs (Jalal & Khaksari, 2019). Moody’s outlook for the
education sector for 2019 states that the difficult financial position that some universities are
in, can lead to the deferral of capital and programmatic investments, which might have
negative implications in the future (Shaffer & Smith, 2018). Due to economic difficulties
several private institutions have closed their doors in recent years, and more, particularly
smaller colleges with revenues of less than 100 million, are projected to do so (Seltzer, 2018).
Countrywide public institutions are battling with decreasing enrollment and budget cuts
(Vedder, 2018). Projected demographic changes, such as the drop in high school graduate
numbers and issues of affordability and debt are contributing to a negative outlook (McGee,
2015; National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.-a).
Institutions that fail to remain relevant and financially sustainable are at risk of
closing. Closures can come as a consequence of institutions failing to engage in a process of
questioning whether the institution is going in the right direction and whether the current
model will still be adequate in the future. It is not unique to higher education that often the
warning signs have been long visible, but organizations are too invested in their culture and
tradition that they only see them too late. Higher education institutions have strong cultures
and norms, which can be in the way of changing the status quo. Effective strategic planning,
however, breaks barriers of change (Shapiro & Nunez, 2001). Alternatively, strategic
planning can identify future threats, such as a decreasing local population and result in a plan
to create a branch campus, focus on online education or enter in partnerships with business to
offset expected future enrolment decline. The potential strategic priorities that can result from
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a strategic planning process are endless and solely dependent on an institution’s unique
context. What matters is that institutions engage in effective strategic planning.
Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences
This promising practice study presumed that CC’s strategic planning committees
possess a wide variety of knowledge, motivational and organizational assets which allowed
the institution to create and implement a successful strategic plan. Ideally, organizational
stakeholders possess the right combination of knowledge, motivation and organizational
factors to succeed. This study explored the KMO assets of the strategic planning committees.
Knowledge and Skills
Appropriate knowledge, specifically the “what, how, when, where and why” of
knowledge application, is crucial to achieving performance goals (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Knowledge, according to Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) and Rueda (2011), can be
categorized as factual, conceptual, procedural and metacognitive. Part of this study’s aim was
to identify and confirm CC’s strategic planning committees’ presumed conceptual,
procedural and metacognitive knowledge assets that have contributed to its achievements.
Conceptual Knowledge of Institution’s History, External and Internal Environment
This study explored the knowledge, motivation and organizational influences of
members of Colorado College’s strategic planning committees which helped them
successfully develop the new strategic plan.
Conceptual Knowledge of Organizational Willingness to Change
Conceptual knowledge includes the “categories, classifications, principles,
generalizations, theories” and models which are pertinent to a particular area (Rueda, 2011, p.
28). Conceptual knowledge influence assumptions focus on the knowledge of institutional
willingness to change. Most individuals do not willingly embrace change (Armstrong, 2014),
and resistance to change is common, especially if the desired change is perceived as abrupt
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rather than gradual (Ansoff et al., 2019). An organization’s willingness to change is
comprised of its stakeholders’ willingness and ability to change. The strategic planning
committees need to have an understanding of the institution’s willingness and adaptiveness to
change in order to outline an aspirational but yet achievable strategic plan.
Procedural Knowledge of How to Identify Important Issues in the External and Internal
Environment
Procedural knowledge refers to the “how” of doing something, such as knowledge of
techniques and methods as well as criteria for using a specific procedure (Anderson &
Krathwohl, 2001). Pisapia and Robinson (2010) found that successful strategy is built on a
deep understanding of the institution’s external and internal environmental context, such as
the history of the organization and the external and internal context within which the
institution operates, such as the regulatory and economic environment, the informal and
formal internal power structures as well as values of the employees. This study explored how
the stakeholders identified environmental influences of positive, negative and neutral kind
and how they decided on which ones matter the most. Such choice is important and necessary
in the context of limited resources allocated to strategic initiatives (Society for College and
University Planning, 2015).
Implementing the Strategic Planning Process
Two assumed procedural knowledge assets of the strategic planning committees are
knowledge of the process of strategic planning and implementation and knowledge of how to
engage stakeholders in the strategic planning process. Hinton (2012) stated that
“understanding contemporary strategic planning is essential to a successful planning process”
(p. 17). Those in charge of planning need to know the process of strategic planning with its
shortcomings as well as strengths to successfully create and implement a plan (Hinton, 2012).
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They need to know how to create a customized and context-relevant strategic plan that
reflects what research determined aids success.
Knowledge of How to Engage Stakeholders in the Strategic Planning Process
In a collaborative environment such as academia, strategic planners need to make
people part of the process and win their commitment (Goldman & Salem, 2015; Rose & Kirk,
2001; Shapiro & Nunez, 2001). If stakeholders do not feel ownership over the final plan as an
outcome of a participatory process, they might sabotage or not implement it, leading to
failure (Hinton, 2012). Stakeholder engagement and buy-in is essential to a successful
strategic plan. Therefore, organizations should be deliberate about the inclusiveness of their
strategic planning process and ensure that it results in a feeling of ownership among its
stakeholders.
Self-Reflective Practice as Strategic Planners
Metacognitive knowledge is characterized as self-awareness and self-regulation of
one’s own cognitive process in relation to problem solving and learning. It is one’s
knowledge of “when and why to do something” (Rueda, 2011, p. 28). Often, the primary
function, of most strategic planning committee members within the institution is not strategic
planning (Hinton, 2012). Their role as strategic planners is in addition to their responsibilities
as faculty, staff or administrators. Institutional strategic planning is concerned with the
overarching strategy of the institution as a whole, rather than its individual units (Goldman &
Salem, 2015). This study presumed strategic planning committee members possess the ability
to distinguish between their unit needs and wants and the larger issues impacting the
institution as a whole. Another key metacognitive assumption is the knowledge of how to
reflect on the strategic work to recognize a need for iteration, change and flexibility. While
the strategic planning process is mostly linear, its components are not, requiring iteration and
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flexibility (Chance, 2010; Hinton, 2012). Table 2 presents the assumed knowledge influences
and the category of knowledge to which they pertain.
Table 2
Assumed Knowledge Influences
Assumed Knowledge Influence Knowledge Type
Understanding of organization’s
capacity and willingness to change
Declarative Knowledge

Identification and determination of
important external and internal
environmental factors
Procedural Knowledge

Ability to create customized strategic
planning process and evidence
supported
Procedural Knowledge

Knowledge of how to engage
stakeholders in the strategic planning
process

Procedural Knowledge

Ability to distinguish between unit-
level needs versus institution-wide
needs

Metacognitive Knowledge

Motivation- Related Influences
Choices people make, such as to actively engage in an activity, persist at something
despite hardship, and the amount of effort someone puts into an activity are all outward
manifestations of one’s motivation. As defined by Clark and Estes (2008), motivation is
related to perceived self-efficacy, values and mood. Perceived self-efficacy is defined as
people’s beliefs in their ability to accomplish desired outcomes (Bandura, 2010) whereas
values refer to the perceived worth of engaging in an activity or task (Clark & Estes, 2008).
How a person feels about something represents mood. In combination, these components,
among others, build motivation, which in turn determines goal achievement.
Perceived Value of Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is sometimes perceived as bureaucratic and inefficient (SCUP,
2015). This can be due to experiences with previous plans that were not achieved or failed to
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be fully implemented. If strategic planning were to be perceived in this manner by the
strategic planning committee, it would likely lead to a perception of low value. Expectancy
value theory relates to the belief that a task can be accomplished and to the desire to do a
task. Valuing a task is important as it predicts an individual’s persistence and effort. Table 3
presents a summary of the assumed motivation influences.
Table 3
Assumed Motivation Influences
Motivation Construct Assumed Motivation Influence
Utility Value The strategic planning committee members need to
believe that strategic planning has positive and lasting
impact on the institution’s future and that their
individual engagement in the strategic planning
process will positively impact planning outcomes.

Organizational Influences
In addition to knowledge and motivational influences, organizational culture can
hinder or promote performance. Organizations function based on the resources available,
policies, processes and procedures, which, in turn, build its culture. Culture can be seen as a
model of shared learning and experience (Schein, 2010). Gallimore and Goldberg (2001)
distinguish between cultural models and cultural settings. The cultural model is generally
invisible and automated, consisting of implicit values, beliefs and attitudes of which members
often are not consciously aware. The cultural setting is visible through concrete
manifestations such as the organization’s policies and resources. Hinton (2012) noted that the
same strategic plan would be interpreted and implemented differently among institutions due
to the institutions’ individual cultures. Therefore, for the plan to succeed, it is important that
it be created with the cultural context in mind (Hinton, 2012). This study assumed that the
strategic planning committee members perceive that the organization’s cultural model
recognizes the value of effective strategic planning and that resources, time, people and
money are allocated to the planning and implementation process. This manifests as a cultural
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setting in that the strategic planning process and final plan are operationalized and well
communicated to stakeholders.
Organizational Recognition of the Value of an Effective Strategic Planning Process
This study assumed that one of the organizational values is the importance of strategic
planning. This underlying value contributes to a culture that is defined by underlying mental
schemas, values and beliefs and understandings of the effects and importance of strategic
planning.
Organizational Provision of Resources, Time, People and Finances to the Strategic
Planning Process and Implementation
The strategic planning process is resource intensive, requiring a considerable time
commitment from the people involved and often accompanied by costly outside consultants
(Hinton, 2012). Strategy happens continuously and in an iterative manner (Ansoff et al.,
2019; Chance, 2010). Therefore, it was assumed that resources are provided continuously,
and additional resources can be dedicated to implementation, plan-revision and -adjustment
when needed. Implementation of strategy requires the allocation of resources to areas deemed
as strategic to be effective (Goldman & Salem, 2015). This study will explore the degree to
which the strategic planning committee members perceived that the organization provides
financial, time and human resources to strategic planning.
Organizational Operationalization and Communication of the Strategic Planning Process
and the Final Plan
For plans to be successfully implemented, it is important to define how individuals
are expected to contribute to its operationalization, and they should be held accountable to
ensure commitment (Hinton, 2012). Furthermore, to succeed with the implementation, plans
need to be communicated and known by the organization’s stakeholders. Table 4 summarizes
the presumed organizational influences.
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Table 4
Assumed Organizational Influences
Organizational Influence
Category
Assumed Organizational Influences

Cultural Model Influence 1 The organization recognizes the value of an effective
strategic planning process.
Cultural Model Influence 2 The organization provides resources, time, people and
finances to the strategic planning process and
implementation.
Cultural Setting Influence 1 The organization clearly defines expectations and how
individuals will be held accountable to those
expectations.
Cultural Setting Influence 2 The organization clearly communicates to stakeholders
throughout all stages of the strategic planning process
and into implementation.

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODS
This chapter presents the research design and methods for data collection and
analysis, with the goal of answering the research question of identifying assets in terms of
knowledge, motivation and organizational influences that lead to a strategic plan to help the
institution achieve national recognition. The chapter includes a justification for the choice of
stakeholders, an explanation of the data collection instrument, a section on limitations,
analysis, and how credibility as well as ethics are considered.
Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholder population of this study were all the members of the strategic
planning committees. The strategic planning committees are composed of 66 members
divided among the five committees with the following thematic focuses: engaged teaching
and learning, a distinct place of learning, extending our reach, steering committee and
institutional effectiveness. Committees are comprised of a wide variety of the institution’s
stakeholders, including students, alumni, trustees, faculty, administrative staff and institution
level leadership. The committees met frequently throughout the strategic planning process
and kept up to date with other committees’ progress.
Interview Sampling Strategy and Rationale
The director of institutional research at CC, served as the liaison to this study, and
helped set up the interviews and provided documents. The stakeholder population of the
study were the members of the strategic planning committees. Being in charge of the strategic
plan creation within the institution, their knowledge and experience provided insight valuable
to answer the research questions. To obtain a deep understanding of the strategic planning
process, six of the 12 members of the steering committee were interviewed. Furthermore, a
selection of nine members from the other strategic planning committees were interviewed,
depending on the availability of members and the level of saturation obtained from the
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strategic planning steering committee. The choice to prioritize the strategic planning steering
committee was informed by the fact that the steering committee oversees the entire planning
process and therefore has a greater understanding of the process than other individuals and
committees. The sample that was ultimately interviewed was dependent on availability and
recommendations by the institutional liaison. Table 5 provides an overview of the steering
committee members.
Access to this site was approved by the president of CC. Interviews and document
analysis occurred simultaneously.
Table 5
Members of the Steering Committee
Steering Committee Members Details

President Chairs the committee and is staffed by two
support adjuncts
Trustee 1 Alumna
Trustee 2 Alumnus
VP for student life
Student President of CCSGA
VP for finance and
administration
Alumnus
Faculty 1 Environmental program, FEC priorities
Faculty 2 Economics, FEC priorities
Faculty 3 Francophone and Mediterranean studies, FEC
priorities
Staff IM, chair of staff council
Director of communications
Dean of college Also dean of faculty

Interview Sampling Criterion and Rationale
The sole criterion for interview participants was that they were active members of the
strategic planning or closely related committees. Interviewing all strategic planning steering
committee members was not possible as some were not located in Colorado Springs.
Furthermore, some members were no longer in a working relationship with CC at the time of
the interviews and were therefore not available or willing to participate. My choice of
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members from the remaining committees aimed to ensure diversity. The group of people
interviewed was proposed by the institutional liaison and reflected a diverse variety of
institutional stakeholders.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
Interviews allowed the researcher to gain deep understanding of the participants’
experiences, perceptions, and judgements related to the strategic planning process. Those
insights provided the researcher with information to validate the presumed KMO influences
guided by the conceptual framework. Interviews were conducted at the participants’
organization. For the purpose of interviewing the researcher spent a week in Colorado
Springs during November 2019. Each participant was interviewed once in person. Interviews
were semi-structured, with predetermined, open-ended questions that were asked in any
order, and lasted between 30 minutes to an hour. The aim was to achieve saturation of
themes. From the 12
th
interview onwards themes became repetitive and after the 15
th

interview the researcher decided that additional interviews would likely not provide further
insights and two pending interviews were cancelled. The sample size fell within the range of
what is considered appropriate for in-depth interviews (Charmaz, 2006; Creswell & Creswell,
2017). During the interview, the researcher took notes and the interview were audio recorded
and later professionally transcribed.
Documents
Publicly available documents were obtained from the institution’s website. CC has a
website section dedicated to its strategic planning process. In an effort to conduct a
transparent and inclusive strategic planning process, CC published most documents related to
its strategic planning process on the website. For instance, the content of most committee
meetings is summarized and available for download. Documents for analysis include
summaries of strategic planning meetings, videos, audio recordings and the president’s blog,
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the strategic plan itself as well as publications by the institutional research office. Documents
provided evidence of presumed knowledge, motivation and organizational influences and
aided in triangulating data from interviews (Bowen, 2009). Appendix D is a document
analysis protocol that served the researcher to analyze the document in a systematic way with
focus on the presumed KMO influences.
Data Analysis
Analysis of interview data started during the collection phase. Analytical memos were
written after each interview, documenting thoughts, concerns, and initial conclusions about
the data in relation to my conceptual framework and research questions. Interviews were
transcribed and coded in atlas.ti, a data analysis software. In the first part of analysis, open
codes were used in the search of empirical codes while applying a priori codes guided by the
conceptual framework. During the second stage of the analysis, empirical and a priori codes
were combined into analytic/axial codes. This process was aided by analytical tools such as
comparison, looking for indicators of time and drawing on one’s own experience, among
others (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). During the third part of data analysis, pattern codes and
themes emerging in relation to the research question as well as the conceptual framework
were identified.
Documents complemented the study in that they provided guidance on the presence of
some of the presumed KMO influences and nurtured the semi-structured interviews. The
strategic plan itself, past blog posts about the strategic planning process and documents
related to it as well as information available on the institution’s website were used to
triangulate data obtained through the interviews.
Document analysis was done prior to the interviewing process and documents
continued to be analyzed in an iterative fashion with the analysis of interview data. Just like
the interview participants were asked questions, the researcher “asked” related questions to
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the document. This method is called interview technique (Triad 3, 2016). Furthermore,
content analysis was conducted, and codes, themes and patterns were developed jointly with
the interview analysis. Certain a-priori codes and concepts were derived from the literature
review and the presumed KMO influences. For instance, hope, identified as an important
component of the institutional narrative in strategic planning (Holstein et al., 2018), was a
concept that the researcher looked and coded for.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
During the research I was aware of several biases and opinions that I hold and aimed
to continuously reflect on how they might influence the study. I believe that educational
organizations often lag behind business in their approaches to management, leadership and
organizational structure. I find universities to often be bureaucratic and inflexible, and that, in
the United States, faculty generally hold too much power, making it difficult for institutions
to change. It was important for me to be aware of these and other beliefs and reflect on how
they could have influenced the study to minimize the effects they could have had on its
trustworthiness. I explicitly wrote down my beliefs in a document and had it at hand when
working on the dissertation to keep it in the forefront of my thinking.
To ensure the trustworthiness of the data, the interviews and document data were
triangulated (Merriam, 1998). Consistency in the different interview participants’ assertions
regarding conceptual and procedural knowledge as well as organizational factors made the
data more trustworthy. The interview protocol was guided by literature related to strategic
planning and strategy. Having derived presumed KMO influences from the literature limits
the bias and opinions that a researcher may introduce. Participants were made aware of the
confidentiality of the interviews, further increasing trustworthiness of the data as participants
were more likely to be honest in their comments if they trusted that information would be
kept confidential. Data was analyzed through coding with certain pre-determined codes and
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emergent codes that materialize during the collection process. Coding forces a researcher to
look systematically at the data rather than conclude on superficially observable patterns.
Ethics
I chose interviews, a qualitative form of data collection, as the source of data of my
study. A great part of these interviews consisted of personal conversations with participants.
Human interaction bears inherent risks and ethical challenges, and as a researcher, I had to
ensure a data collection format that adheres to the highest moral standards. Therefore,
participants received an information sheet that detailed the purpose of the research and my
motivation in conducting the research, assured them that information provided would be kept
confidential and specifically stated that the participant had the right to withdraw from the
study at any time without repercussions. To ensure accuracy, the conversation was recorded,
for which the participant was asked to provide consent. In interviews, the researcher serves as
the instrument, so being adaptive and able to pick up verbal and non-verbal information is
necessary. However, the researcher needs to be aware of their own goals, background and
biases that make the research partially subjective (Maxwell, 2013). Such subjectivity can
impact the credibility of a study and also influence how a researcher might deal with an
ethically challenging situation.
I serve on the committee for strategic planning at an Ecuadorian university, and my
previous experience might have led to certain biases of which I am not aware and which
might influence my research in terms of credibility. I cannot think of a way that it might have
negatively impact my interaction with participants in ethical terms.
There was the possibility that participants might share information that could have
negative repercussions if it were to be disclosed (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). During my study, I
prioritized participants’ confidentiality and, it it was not possible to anonymize
compromising information, I did not use it in the study.
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As the researcher, I underwent CITI training, submitted my study to the University of
Southern California’s review board and adhered to the institution’s guidelines and regulations
to promote maximum safety and confidentiality of research subjects. Upon completing the
interviews, I provided small gifts of appreciation to the participants (worth not more than $7
per person); however, participants had no prior knowledge of the gift to ensure they did not
feel coerced to participate. I have no affiliation with Colorado College, and my only purpose
in contacting and working with the organization was to gain a better understanding of their
practices in strategic planning.
Limitations and Delimitations
One cannot control subjects’ truthfulness, which limits any study relying on people’s
testimony. Strategic planning committee members potentially omitted or misrepresented the
strategic planning process due to confidentiality, social desirability bias or other reasons. The
study was designed to reach thematic saturation by choosing an appropriate number of
interviewees. Nevertheless, despite the researcher having concluded that saturation had been
met, there is no guarantee that additional interviews might not have brought important
insights (Mason, 2010).
This study focused on the knowledge, motivation and organizational assets of the
strategic planning committee to provide a greater understanding of factors leading to strategic
planning success. Strategic planning involves many more stakeholders than just the strategic
planning committee. Due to time and resource constraints, this study was delimited to
investigating the strategic planning committees, which might provide an incomplete picture
of the process as only a small, albeit important, group involved in the process was
interviewed. The perspective of the strategic planning committee members might not have
captured the full picture of strategic planning at the institution. Furthermore, a strategic
planning process is complex and goes on over an extended period of time in an iterative
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fashion (Ansoff et al., 2019). The interview questions did not intend to capture the entire
realm of the strategic planning process, to provide depth in the aspects that have been
determined important in order to better understand the KMO assets of the committee
members.
The documents that were analyzed were mostly produced by the strategic planning
committees and its members. Therefore, the documents were expected to reflect a similar
perspective as the individual members. This may have limited the study from capturing
views, opinions and perceptions from beyond the stakeholder group.

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CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
This study’s guiding questions sought to explore what led to successful strategic
planning at Colorado College. Specifically, the study aimed to identify the knowledge,
motivation and organizational influences that facilitated the ability of the strategic planning
committee members to create and implement a strategic plan. Presumed assets are structured
developed within the domains of knowledge, motivation and organization, using Clark and
Estes’ (2008) gap analysis model as the conceptual framework. These questions guided the
study:
1. What were the planning committees’ knowledge, motivation, and organizational
assets related to developing, executing and implementing a strategic plan?
2. What recommendations in the areas of knowledge, motivation, and organizational
resources may be applicable for strategic planning and implementation in other
universities?
Overview of Participants
Table 6 indicates the name of people interviewed, their job or area within the college
and what role they played in the SP process.
Table 6
Interview Participants
Job Title/ Area Additional Details Committee/ Role
President Steering Committee
IT Service Administrator Steering Committee
VP for Student Life SP Chair
Faculty 1 German Language
Department
Campus Budget Committee
Sustainability Administrator Campus Budget Committee
Student Life Administrator Campus Budget Committee
Faculty 2 Environmental Studies Steering Committee
Faculty 3 Psychology SP Chair
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Dean of Students/ VP
student life
Steering Committee
Faculty 4 Economic and Business Campus Budget Committee
Faculty 5 Economics and Business Steering Committee
Provost na
Faculty 6 French and Italian
Department
Steering Committee
Faculty 7 Comparative Literature SP Chair
Faculty 8 History SP Chair

Knowledge Assets
The majority of knowledge assets were validated through interview and document
analysis. Validation of an asset means that at least 75% of participants indicated knowledge
in a specific area and the domain’s presence was confirmed through the collected data. At
CC, the success at strategic planning and implementation results from the leadership and
planning committee members’ comprehension of the institution’s capacity and willingness to
change. Committee members thoroughly considered external and internal environmental
factors and demonstrated knowledge of how to engage a wide variety of stakeholders in the
planning process. Furthermore, committee members reflected the ability to create an evidence
supported and customized strategic plan. The only asset that was not validated was the
metacognitive knowledge needed to distinguish between unit-level needs versus institution
wide needs. Table 7 summarizes the validated and not validated assets.
Table 7.
Knowledge Influences Validated and Not Validated
Type Assumed Influences Validated
Not
Validated
Conceptual Understanding of organization’s capacity
and willingness to change

Ö
Procedural
Identification and determination of
important external and internal
environmental factors
Ö
Procedural
Ability to create customized strategic
planning process and evidence supported
Ö
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Procedural

Knowledge of how to engage stakeholders
in the strategic planning process

Ö

Metacognitive
Ability to distinguish between unit-level
needs versus institution-wide needs

Ö

Understanding the Organization’s Capacity and Willingness to Change
Understanding of an organization’s capacity and willingness to change refers to the
strategic planning committee members’ understanding of the college’s change ability,
considering aspects such as resources required for change and potential change enablers or
barriers. This presumed asset was validated. Several cultural characteristics of the college and
their implications on change management were found. Interview participants described that
there is a strong culture of consensual decision making and that efforts need to be made to
achieve consensus and buy-in for change to succeed. Faculty 6 noted “Something that may be
unique to CC though is a habit or a tradition, a culture where if there's not unanimous
support, an idea dies” and Faculty 8 observed:
…we operate much more in a consensus model … it's not officially, but you can have
spent four years in committees having focus groups, discussions, whatever, and then
after four years they presented on the faculty floor and then three people stand up and
say, ‘I don't like this,’ because of whatever and it can fail.
Further, some mentioned that CC was driven by relationships and a high degree of agreement
on the mission, as described by the Provost “the level of love for this institution and
commitment to the mission at that individual level, and really for the whole place, is also
strikingly pretty high.” The strategic planning committee and those in charge of designing the
process created it in a way that would account for the cultural specifics of the college.
Interviews and documents revealed that there were efforts to conduct a process that allowed a
variety of voices to express ideas and concerns, with drafts of plans repeatedly being passed
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through different constituencies to get feedback. In addition to the five main strategic
planning committees, there were several sub-committees to involve stakeholders from
throughout the institution. In addition to broad input, the number of those involved in the
strategic planning process led to what faculty 3 described as ambassadorship. “There are
enough individuals in committees from all pockets of the campus that you also have created
informal ambassadors, that colleagues ask you ‘Where' you going?’ ‘Oh, I'm going to the
strategic planning lunch.’ It creates a social presence because it's on everybody's calendar.”
Several interview participants discussed the block plan as a unique distinguisher of
the school, but also as very time consuming and therefore limiting as faculty are absorbed in
the block plan with little time to dedicate to other strategic activities. The block plan was
described by some as a barrier to change, while others stated that it did not in fact prevent
change, but rather some people use it as an excuse to not change. Resource availability was
stated by some interview participants as a potential hindrance to change. the strategic
planning required financial and human resources to fund strategic initiatives, such as the
building of a new library in CC’s case. The president had worked on a strategy to fund
changes based on a tuition increase and strategic budgeting:
… the college was underpriced in my opinion when I got here, because they had this
view that it was great to keep tuition low, which is my job as I do economics of higher
ed and I knew that was wrong. I knew we had a couple of years of price increases to
take advantage of that we could use to implement some of the initial strategies from
the plan. I also knew we could do some more. They had been doing sort of across the
board increases, every department gets 2% increase or whatever. I also knew we had
some room to do strategic budgeting that would allow us to make people apply for the
increases for specific initiatives in the plan. And then I knew if we could get through
the first couple of years with the additional money from those two to get things going,
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which would give us some pilot programs and some momentum to build up to the
campaign.
Identification and Determination of Important External and Internal Environmental
Factors
This procedural knowledge asset describes the ability to identify wide ranging
external and internal factors of significance, such as macro-economic or geo-political
developments and factors more specific to the college such as staff turnover and academic
programming, to name a few. In the process factors’ relative importance was also assessed.
The asset was validated. The interview participants confirmed that there was a structured
process in place to identify issues that were important for the college. During the year of
listening, which president Tiefenthaler initiated upon her arrival, formal and informal
meetings with diverse stakeholders were held to understand what factors could influence the
college in the future. The process was not publicly called a SWOT analysis, but some internal
documents did refer to the year of listening as a SWOT analysis (Colorado College, 2012a).
The president said, “We did a very intentional year of listening, which is I would say sort of
an environmental scan, but without that sort of corporate terminology, and it was very, very
disciplined internal process.” Some of the most commonly cited factors were the Great
Recession of 2008, which was still an important topic in 2010 – 2011, a clear trend towards
online education, the college’s block plan, and the institution’s role in a local and national
context and its demographics.
The year of listening included not only a SWOT analysis, but also served as a way for
stakeholder groups to form ideas and proposals for strategies. Additionally, the president
stated that it helped the committees and leadership get a sense of the likelihood of
stakeholders’ support for certain initiatives. She said, “…the year of listening also gives you
a lot of ability to hear and to form a vision that you think people are going to buy into…”
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Data played an important role during the process; as the VP for student life put it “I
think another principle that we operated through the forming of the plan, and now as we
continue to work towards executing or living out the plan, has been to be more data informed,
not necessarily data-driven, but data informed, and make sure we were paying attention to the
data that we were gathering.” Meetings were transcribed for analysis and surveys were
conducted on many topics. The data helped the committee members to decide on the relative
importance of factors that emerged during the year of listening. That decision was further
informed by looking at the scale or size of a certain factor, giving priority to those factors that
would have greater mission relevance and a wider impact. For instance, since environmental
sustainability is an important value at Colorado College, ideas that would help to achieve the
stated carbon neutrality goal were prioritized. Also, rather than looking at factors in isolation,
they were considered in conjunction with one another, as explained by Dean: “I don't think
it's as clear as one, two, three [the prioritization]. I think you look at them and see where
(there) are central themes and repeated concepts or repeated thoughts that come up and then
you begin to respond to the themes or to the broader implications instead of a particular
suggestion.” In the interviews, the committee members proved to be knowledgeable on
important external and internal factors as well as exhibiting the procedural knowledge for
factor analysis and prioritization. Therefore, this asset was validated.
Ability to Create Customized Strategic Planning Process and Evidence Supported
This procedural knowledge asset refers to the committee members’ ability to build a
customized and context relevant strategic plan. The presence of this asset was validated. CC’s
ability to create a customized and evidence-driven strategic plan was reflective of a
thoroughly structured and well-funded process. Furthermore, interviews showed that the
planning process was guided by the college’s mission. Initiatives and strategies had to be
relevant to the mission to be considered. The dean of students stated, “mission, mission,
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mission. Whatever we do has to be mission-driven.” The twofold process of listening for one
year and planning for the next had been approved by the board unanimously, as the president
made the case for the need of an extensive process. Before its initiation a detailed timeline
laid out the structure and responsible parties of the planning. Interview participants pointed
out that efforts were made to systematically ask the same questions of all stakeholders to
provide for a democratic process, but also to have comparable data.
The ideation phase was not restricted by resource considerations. Stakeholders were
invited to participate openly and creatively. Several retreats off-campus were meant to
enhance free - thinking and ideation. Faculty 2 detailed “we weren't constrained in the
planning process to say, "Okay, you can only do this, this and this. " It was very much like,
‘Go crazy. Imagine something radical and then see what we could afford.’ Right? There were
occasionally some games where a group of 10 to 12 of us would sit down and say like, ‘If
you had $10 million to allocate brand new money on something that would affect the
pedagogical quality of instruction or that would improve the college in any way, what would
that be?’ And we'd be forced to kind of vet out ideas about what would make the biggest
improvement.”
The year of planning built up on the information and ideas developed during the year
of listening. Documents showed that to ensure a smooth implementation process, the
committees and sub-committees were tasked to develop strategies with accompanying goals,
initiatives and tactics (Colorado College, 2012b). Committee members and those involved in
planning received training and access to online resources useful for successful planning as
well as relevant literature on strategic planning best practices. Additionally, the planning
process had dedicated full time staff to support the process.
Descriptions of the strategic planning process by interview participants provided
evidence that process and the plan itself were customized and deliberate in order to ensure
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relevancy and implementation success. Documents reviewed for data analysis that related to
strategic planning frequently expressed the college’s “uniqueness” in terms of history,
location and academic approach. The written strategic plan headlines with “building on the
block” in reference to the college’s three to four week-long “block” approach, where students
only take one course at a time. This asset was validated.
Knowledge of How to Engage Stakeholders in the Strategic Planning Process
Since stakeholder participation and buy-in are critical for successful strategic
planning, this procedural knowledge asset was examined and found to be present at Colorado
College. All interview participants discussed a deep engagement among all stakeholder
groups in the strategic planning process. “It [the strategic planning process] really was the
number one thing on people's mind that year,” according to Faculty 8. The strategic planning
committees and leadership made deliberate efforts to engage the college community in the
process.
Build on People’s Desire to be Heard
Rather than call it environmental or SWOT analysis, the first year was framed as the
“year of listening,” which implied that the leadership wanted stakeholders to speak and that
their voice would be critical to shape the college’s future. When the president announced the
year of listening, she stated that she would spend a year listening to stakeholders and offered
five guiding questions to the community (Tiefenthaler, 2011). The webpage, which was part
of the document analysis process, provided a form for anyone who could not attend meetings
due to distance, so they could submit answers to the guiding question. Throughout the year of
listening the page was updated with video recordings of the president’s “tour of listening”
throughout the U.S., meeting with alumni, parents and “friends of the college.” Upon
completion of the year of listening the president’s bio on the website showed that she met
with and “heard from thousands” of stakeholders to shape the strategic plan. A word cloud on
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the website graphically showed what was heard during the year of listening. The theme of
listening and hearing can be repeatedly found in documents relating to strategic planning.
To reach a wide range of stakeholders, the committees were many, large in size and
diverse, as described by an IT service administrator: “You're giving a chance for people to be
heard, because I think everybody likes to feel important and everybody likes to be heard. And
so by involving more people and putting people on committees, and having a large number of
committees and large committees, you're giving the people that opportunity.”
Make the Planning Process feel Legitimate
At Colorado College, deliberate efforts were made to build trust in the planning
process’ legitimacy. Faculty were clear about the importance of a genuine planning process
without pre-determined outcomes. “…it's all about buy-in. If the rest of the campus thinks
that no one's listening to them and this is a top-down kind of procedure, they won't care, they
won't participate and you've lost them.” As the president’s webpage read in April 2012, “It is
important to me that I listen and hear from our community before developing our strategy for
the future because it must be OUR strategy, not mine” (Colorado College, 2012c). Three
participants who had taken part in the college’s previous strategic planning process said that
in the previous planning effort there was a disconnect between stakeholder input and ultimate
planning outcomes, and that the strategic plan was not taken seriously. Therefore, it seemed
important that the new strategic planning process would be marketed as truly democratic. The
sustainability administrator said. “…it's making sure that you have input and voices and that
they're all heard. That it's [the strategic planning process] not a show game, that it's not just
taking input and that there's already predetermined outcomes to this.”
Transparency about the process helped to create trust in it. The website played an
important role in keeping university stakeholders updated and provide opportunities to review
summaries of meetings to understand how decisions were made and who had given input.
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Faculty 3 reported. “It's not formatted, all in one place. It's not pre-digested. It's very often
the raw notes from that meeting. So, it's very honest.” The multi-layered strategic planning
section on the website, which was among the documents analyzed in this study, was
accessible to the public and contains meeting minutes, video recordings as well as continuous
updates. All the committees had separate website sections with details about the committee’s
work. The Engaged Teaching and Learning Committee’s website section, for example, listed
a total of 63 meetings between August 2012 and March 2013, out of which 48 contain links
to minutes (Colorado College, n.d.-a).
Additional Incentives to Engage in Strategic Planning
Interview participants indicated that the strategic planning process was time
consuming and added work on top of faculties’ and administrators’ day-to-day
responsibilities. Additionally, the strategic planning process built on voluntary input from
campus stakeholders. Therefore, the college dedicated resources to small initiatives to
incentivize participation, such as providing food for meetings. An IT service administrator
recalled the following: “I think there was always food involved, which always helps people
come to things.” Planning workshops were conducted in engaging ways with ice-breaking
activities, games and cognitive challenges “It was engaging. So it was intellectually
interesting. There was a lot to learn. There were puzzles to solve,” in the words of Faculty 3.
Some of the committees and chairs received extra staffing to take care of errands such as
setting up drinks and food, invite participants and reserve meeting rooms for the planning
exercise, and some committee members received stipends or extra pay for their strategic
planning work.
Communication-Related Asset
Strategic planning committee members and leadership frequently provided updates
about the strategic planning process and opportunities to get involved. An IT Service
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Administrator recalled his experience: “Many invitations were sent out to individuals and
groups and departments. If there was somebody on campus who didn't know about the
strategic planning process, I would have been very surprised.” Invitations were sent out via
email, and the website in addition to on-campus posters. Communications were timely and
succinct, and were thoughtfully adapted to individual audiences and blended into the greater
institutional narrative of the significance of SP.
Knowledge on how to engage stakeholders in the strategic planning process was
present at a great degree among strategic planning committee members and manifested itself
through numerous initiatives and approaches.
Ability to Distinguish Between Unit-Level Needs Versus Institution-Wide Needs
This metacognitive knowledge asset focused on how committee members would
engage in self-reflective practices relating to potentially conflicting departmental and college-
wide interests. Interview participants who spoke of departmental interests, said that their
department was supporting the overall college’s mission. Further, they recognized that the
strategic plan was there to advance the college as a whole. Therefore, they saw no need for
self-reflection. There were not enough responses from participants to validate this asset,
which could have been due to unclear or unspecific questions. This asset was not validated.
Summary of Knowledge Findings
All knowledge assets except for one, were validated through triangulation of
interview and document data. This study found that the strategic planning committee
members had a good understanding of colleges’ change capacities. Interview participants are
both aware of barriers as well as change agents and incorporated strategies into the planning
process accordingly. The extensive “listening” period allowed strategic planners to gain an
even better understanding of what options for change existed and how change should be
approached. Interview participants were able to identify and prioritize internal and external
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factors for the strategic planning process and strategy formation. The process of identification
was accompanied by a SWOT analysis as part of the “year of listening.” The committee
members were methodological about analyzing all the gathered information and prioritizing
emerging themes and ideas according to mission relevance and likelihood of achieving broad
buy-in among other factors, and the strategic planning committee succeeded at designing a
customized strategic planning process and plan. Throughout the process, the college’s
mission remained at the center against which proposals and ideas were judged. The process
was designed to encouraged people to think creatively and big, rather thinking of budgetary
constraints from the beginning on. Knowledge of how to engage a wide range of stakeholders
was strongly present. The college capitalized on a culture of people being used to be heard
and their desire to express themselves to achieve wide engagement in the process. Efforts
were made for the process to seem legitimate and to be transparent, and the senior leadership
played an important role at communicating advancements in the process and publishing
summaries and meeting minutes so people could understand how decisions were made.
Furthermore, financial incentives were provided to some with key roles in the strategic
planning process to ensure their commitment and additional staff was hired to cope with the
workload. All the aforementioned efforts at the college have contributed to a successful
strategic plan and implementation. The only asset that could not be validated was the ability
distinguish between unit-level needs versus institution wide needs, since there was not
enough data to draw conclusions.
Motivation Assets
This section focused on the presumed motivation asset, the belief among strategic
planning committee members that strategic planning is a valuable tool for institutions.
Interviews and documents were analyzed to assess the presence of this asset. Interview data
showed that this believe was indeed present. Documents did not validate that assumption
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specifically, but also provided no proof of the contrary. Given that this asset is related to the
members’ personal beliefs and values related to strategic planning, the researcher did not
expect to find much expression of personal motivation in written documents. Therefore,
interviews alone served to validate the presence of this asset.
Perceived Value of Strategic Planning among Strategic Planning Committee Members
Among the interview participants, few spoke neutrally about the value of strategic
planning, and the majority was positive about it. The participants expressed the importance of
strategic planning in aligning the institution towards a common goal. Strategic planning
allowed the institution to be cohesive in its message and efforts. The Sustainability
Administrator expressed his belief that the strategic plan plays an existential role for the
institution:
I don't know how an institution would exist without some level of strategic plan
because that really sets the priority for your operation. Without that, you're just
floundering. You may be throwing money at various things, but none of them have
any coherence. You probably would cease to exist within a relatively short amount of
time.
Interview participants said that strategic planning can serve as a change tool. The IT Service
Administrator specified that without the strategic plan, the institution might lose its ability to
change and react to new opportunities. Furthermore, interview participants talked about the
importance they believed a good strategic plan had for fundraising activities. A well-
articulated strategic plan allows donors to relate to the institution’s vision and understand
what it will prioritize for the future. Potential donors can then see how their gift could
contribute towards reaching the institution’s goal. One interview participant said that to work
best as a fundraising tool it needed to be “visionary,” “culturally fitting” and have some
“propaganda” to it.
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The IT Service Administrator said that an additional value of strategic planning is that
it brings people together and fosters collaboration on campus. Furthermore, interview
participants described some personal motivation to engage in strategic planning. As an
exercise Faculty 3 described the planning itself as “fun”, “engaging” and intellectually
challenging. She went on saying that the process was a “great learning opportunity” and that
it felt rewarding to serve other people by thinking of how to best engage all kind of
stakeholders in the process and ensuring that their voice is being heard. Faculty 8 echoed that,
saying that what he learned about bringing people together and managing projects like the
strategic planning exercise was very helpful in his future career.
Summary of Motivation Findings
Overall, interview participants at Colorado College had positive associations with
strategic planning and believed in its importance and effectiveness. They saw it as a valuable
tool to unite an organization behind a shared vision and goals. They believe strategic
planning serves to manage change and to connect people, fostering collaboration.
Additionally, they found some personal benefits of participating in strategic planning, saying
it is a cognitive challenge and enriching on a professional level. The only assumed motivation
asset was validated.
Organization Assets
All four of the assumed Organization assets were validated through interview and
document analysis. Organizational factors played an important role at CC’s success at
strategic planning. For example, the organization recognized the value of an effective
strategic planning process and provided resources to the process and implementation.
Furthermore, expectations and accountability were clearly defined and the organization
developed a culture of continuous communication about the strategic planning process and
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implementation. Overall CC has made strategic planning part of the institution’s culture.
Table 8 summarizes the validated assets.
Table 8

Organizational Influences Validated
Type Assumed Influences Validated
Cultural Model &
Cultural Setting
The organization recognizes the value of an
effective strategic planning process
Ö
Cultural Model
The organization provides resources, time,
people and finances to the strategic
planning process and implementation.
Ö
Cultural Setting
The organization clearly defines
expectations and how individuals will be
held accountable to those expectations.
Ö

Cultural Setting
The organization clearly communicates to
stakeholders throughout all stages of the
strategic planning process and into
implementation.

Ö

The Organization Recognizes the Value of an Effective Strategic Planning Process
This asset examined whether the organization has a culture of appreciation for
effective strategic planning, reflected both through cultural model and setting manifestations.
The asset was validated. Strategic planning, including the year of listening, was a central
undertaking at the institution from its onset: “it was the number one thing on everyone’s
mind” according to interview participant Faculty 8. The involvement of all stakeholder
groups through committees, formal and informal meetings as well as continuous
communication from constituencies involved in the strategic planning process further created
a culture around strategic planning. Senior leadership actively and continuously referenced
the strategic plan and its importance. One said that even seven years after the initial strategic
plan was published, he and other senior leadership references the plan constantly. Budget
requests had to be aligned with the strategic plan to ensure that the plan was adhered to and
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new initiatives were considered in light of strategic goals and mission. Furthermore, seven
out of the fifteen people interviewed at the college said that the strategic plan is not a static
document. The strategic plan has been updated and modified several times since its initial
publishing. Interview participants stated that keeping it flexible was important to making it
implementable and ensure it stays relevant as circumstances may change. According to the
dean of students:
One of the things I think that makes CC strategic planning different is that it's actually
one that we're willing to go back frequently and amend and check in and do different
versions of it … we don't allow for it to just stay static. It evolves as the college
evolves in as the environment evolves. … any successful strategic plan, only is
successful if it can live, if it can evolve or if it can breathe.
The term living digital document was used by two interview participants, alluding to the idea
that modern strategic plans not only had to be flexible, “living”, but also online. Documents
reviewed on the website also referenced planning activities as living and flexible. In addition,
faculty and administrative employees were handed a nicely designed folder that contained the
strategic plan and every time an update or iteration was made, and employees were given
updated documents to add to the folder, further reinforcing the idea that the strategic plan is
not a one-time event but an integral and ongoing element of the college.
Making strategic planning and implementation a central undertaking with continuous
reminders of its importance has led to it become part of the culture. The Sustainability
Administrator said that it started with strong push from leadership, but that over time
strategic planning, especially because of the updatability of the strategic plan, became part of
the college’s culture and so has implementing “living out the strategic plan has become part
of the culture.” This asset was validated.
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The Organization Provides Resources, Time, People and Finances to the Strategic
Planning Process and Implementation
Another assumed organizational asset was that at CC the strategic planning process
and implementation are well funded and backed by resources. This asset was validated, as
there was evidence of a well-resourced strategic planning undertaking in the interviews and
documents. The college has a dedicated person and office to the strategic planning process
which directly reports to the president. As illustrated by the organization chart in Figure 2,
the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness is comprised of three people.

Figure 2
Organizational graph
Aside from planning responsibilities, the office centralizes institutional data. The Associate
Vice President for Institutional Planning and Effectiveness, was identified as a key link and
force in the strategic planning process by several interview participants. She was a central
resource for strategic planning and held close contact with President Tiefenthaler who
illustrated her importance: “You need somebody who like [the Associate Vice President for
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Institutional Planning and Effectiveness] who can drive all the time. Here's what progress
we've made, here's where we're stalling. ... it takes project management … and somebody
dedicated to thinking about that [progress in the strategic plan] and the commitment of
leadership to work with that person.”
Committees and strategic planning chairs were provided with additional staff for
strategic planning activities. Staffers were in charge of organizing meetings, but also helped
committees and chairs to gather information. The strategic planning process was time
consuming and added responsibilities to the already high workload of faculty. Interview
participants described a culture where working hard and a lot is an expectation, so the
additional staff was perceived as essential for committees to concentrate on strategic work.
faculty said: “to devote resources to empower your co-chairs to be able to lead instead of
letting your co-chairs be mired in the administrative details of things … [is] a good practice
that made it effective.” Faculty 8 said that without the additional staff he “wouldn’t have
been able to teach at all”. The strategic planning committee member document listed the
staffers in addition to the active members.
There were further funds allocated to the committees and activities related to strategic
planning. Funding for food at meetings was provided and smaller meetings had coffee, tea
and snacks. Faculty 7 recalled how she was able to provide additional funds for the
committee she oversaw “I said, ‘There is money for you to take people out one-on-one for
coffee, either because someone approaches you or you think that person might have some
really good ideas.’” The college further spent on several events, including a Winter planning
conference with 400 participants and several other planning retreats. Some committee
members received additional compensation and “gifts.” The president frequently recognized
the efforts and work of the committees: “The committee members were recognized by Jill
regularly. I think that that matters. There was a ton of support, both financial and otherwise,
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and a sense that the work you were doing mattered.” Furthermore, resources were dedicated
to building and maintaining a webpage on strategic planning up to date. The strategic
planning website is rich in content with several levels of subpages. The depth and
detailedness of the website as a document itself is a manifestation of considerable resource
provision.
At CC, resources are linked to the plan at several levels. Macro-level projects that
derive from the strategic plan, such as infrastructure, have resources allocated for multi-year
periods. The creation of an Innovation Institute, for instance, resulted as one of the main
recommendations in the strategic plan. It required the college to shift resources to provide
physical space for the institute, build internal capacities to operate it and integrate innovation
into campus life and academics. Today, the Innovation Institute has temporary office space in
a residential building on campus, but the campus master plan contemplates a 34,000 sf
innovation institute, exemplifying the college’s long term commitment with strategic
planning goals. The strategic plan furthermore resulted in the creation of several new
positions, grants and funding for relevant initiatives. During the strategic planning process
the message was clear that being strategic in a deliberate way also meant that resources
committed to a strategy will not be available for alternative paths. “One thing that Jill made
clear during the strategic plan was that, by virtue of undergoing this process, we were in
effect making decisions about where our resources were going to go and what we would not
be able to do,” as Faculty 8 summarized. Dean said that in addition to multi-year resource
commitments, annual budget decisions are driven by the strategic plan implementation:
“Yesterday I spent time in our budget committee meeting and we talked about what are we
allocating in the budget to advance the strategic plan. We tried to allocate money that directly
says, ‘This is advancing the strategic plan.’” Budgetary considerations are guided by
questions like “how does this relate to the strategic plan” or if a certain way of allocating
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budget is “strategic”. New initiatives or additional budget requests have a low chance of
succeeding unless they are framed in the context of the strategic plan. Restricting funding to
initiatives that advance the college’s strategic goals, forces stakeholders to not only be aware
of strategic priorities, but also to actively think about how to integrate one’s own initiatives.
An IT Service Administrator said: “If one could make a convincing argument that one could
further the strategic plan with whatever initiative they were going for, they could get funding
for it.” Colorado College’s efforts to tie funding to the strategic plan aligns with findings
from literature that binding resources to the SP process is essential for success (Society for
College and University Planning, 2015).
Among the documents analyzed are fundraising documents, the president’s blog and
the webpage. Documents corroborate that the organization establishes a direct link between
fund allocation and the strategic plan goals. This asset has been validated.
The Organization Clearly Defines Expectations and Individual Accountability
This study also examined cultural setting that clearly outlined expectations and
accountability from the strategic planning to the implementation phase. Both phases had clear
deadlines that committees and task forces had to adhere to. Deadlines were enforced and
tracked by the office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness. The board held periodic
progress reviews with the steering committee, which in turn kept up to date with sub-
committees. The planning and implementation enjoyed momentum, which depended on
everyone’s collaboration. As Faculty 4 stated, it was not possible to “get lost in the machine”
as it would have become evident if someone or a committee was not doing their job. Among
the documents reviewed were the committee charges. The strategic planning process was
made official with a charge by the Board of Trustees to the steering committee, detailing the
responsibilities of the steering committee. Each of the other committees had their own
charge, detailing its expected contribution.
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The final strategic plan had clearly defined goals with success metrics. For each of the
goals, initiatives were designed and each had their own accompanying metrics. This is in
accordance with literature that identifies effective goals setting as essential to successful
planning (Mcfarlane et al., 2018). In comparison to the previous strategic plan which the
Dean of Student Services described as a “wish list.” The current strategic plan was concrete
and actionable. The Provost said: “The clear goal-setting from the beginning and coupling
that to staff it [sic], makes sure those goals are followed and delivered upon. That's just
essential.” The president reflected on the process describing “We had huge spreadsheets
where we talked about all the initiatives and set up timelines and accountability and get a cost
estimation of how much they were going to cost.” As it was important that stakeholders at all
levels would relate to the plan and could play their part in the implementation, efforts were
made to bring the high-level strategy to an actionable level. This was done by trickling down
goals and initiative to the departmental and individual level. faculty 3 described how:
During the implementation phase, there was strong emphasis from Jill's office to
make sure not the senior staff, but the next level of middle management, the director
level of people, [is familiar with the SP and has a role in implementing] …you diffuse
it down the institutional hierarchy. … people do appreciate knowing where they fit
and where they are going…. it put the strategic planning in the forefront of basically
all even mid-level leaders in their mind. So that is very helpful.
Openness and transparency of the process were noticeable themes during interview
and document analysis and created an environment of accountability towards the college’s
community. Because of the inclusiveness and width of the process many stakeholders had
contributed to the plan and felt they had a stake in it. That in turn gave those in charge of
implementation and planning an enhanced feeling of accountability and responsibility. Most
people at the college were familiar with the strategic priorities the plan had laid out and had
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expectations for the plan’s fulfillment. Those interested, could easily go on the strategic
planning website and look up in detail what the goals, sub-goals and initiatives are, how they
came about and, most importantly, how they would be implemented John recalls that
“[internal and external stakeholders] could access the plan, look at the plan, and ask questions
about whether or not we're achieving the plan. In the updates on the electronic version in
particular, you can find all the action items that were identified and then those that have been
completed, those that are still on process, so the ability for someone to hold us accountable
and ask questions is pretty tangible.” The openness also made it harder for someone to push
for “personal agendas” or otherwise deviate from the plan.
The documents analyzed validate the idea of accountability through openness and
transparency. Among the documents reviewed were the strategic planning website and its
subsections as well as meeting minutes and social media posts on the college’s official
Facebook page. “Progress stories” in each of the main strategic initiatives illustrated concrete
examples of staying accountable to the public in a news feed format. Additionally, each of
the initiatives has a section that lists all the completed action steps and those still in progress.
This asset was validated.
The Organization Clearly Communicates to Stakeholders Throughout all Stages of the
Strategic Planning Process and into Implementation
One of the presumed assets was that at CC there would be a cultural setting indicative
of continuous communication to stakeholders during strategic planning and implementation
phase. This asset was validated. Faculty 3 was explicit about the role of communication in
strategic planning success: “what made the strategic planning, effective is that emphasis on
communication.” As illustrated in the presidential leadership asset section, the president
herself was a driving force for constant communication of strategic planning process. Her
continues to send several emails per month related to the strategic plan. Social media and the
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institutional blog are other platforms frequently used to update about progress. The website
serves as a central anchor to the strategic plan, with the plan finding mention 7,040 times on
the college’s website. This asset was validated.
Summary of Organization Findings
All presumed organization assets were validated through triangulation of interview
and document data. This study evidenced that success at strategic planning at CC was aided
by four organizational factors. Firstly, the college’s culture recognizes the value of effective
strategic planning. Strategic planning committees actively reached out to internal and
external stakeholders. They ensured people would know of the importance of the strategic
plan and leadership constantly referenced the plan. The strategic plan is not kept static but is
treated as an updatable “living” document. Budget requests must show links to the strategic
plan. Secondly, the organization provided resources to both the planning and implementation
phase. Funds were provided for planning activities and to reach out to stakeholders.
Additional staff was hired for strategic planning, with an office in charge of centralizing the
effort. Also, budget is allocated to strategic initiatives from the plan. Thirdly, the organization
defined clear goals and expectations and assigned responsibilities related to the planning
process and implementation. The openness of the process, especially due to the detailed
record on the website, created a culture where people could stay up to date and hold the
organization accountable for progress in implementation. Lastly, the organization clearly and
constantly communicated around the strategic planning process and implementation.
Emergent Assets
A priori codes, derived from the literature analysis, were used to confirm the
previously mentioned assets. In addition, interviews and documents revealed an additional
asset that was not contemplated among the initially presumed assets -- strong presidential
leadership.
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Emergent Asset: Strong Presidential Leadership
Strong presidential leadership emerged as an asset. Jill Tiefenthaler joined Colorado
College in July 2011 as the college’s 13
th
and continues to serve at the point this dissertation
is being defended. Success in strategic planning at the college is attributed to her strong
leadership and a structured process she oversaw.
Formation and Previous Experience in Strategic Planning
President Tiefenthaler is a scholar in higher education economics with previous
experience in strategic planning at different institutions. From 2003- 2006, as the associate
dean of faculty, she was responsible for strategic plan initiatives in the arts and international
connections at Colgate university, a liberal arts college. In 2007 she became provost at Wake
Forest University, a private higher education research institution, where she was in charge of
developing and implementing the university’s strategic plan (Tiefenthaler, n.d.-a). John
attributed success in strategic planning to the president’s experience in the interviews:
She had been involved in a process at Wake Forest where she was provost … she also
was witness to processes at Colgate, … She's an economist by discipline … the notion
around strategic planning was one that she was very familiar with … [she was] trying
to think about how to do this [strategic planning] in a 21st century context. … she was
informed through some promising practices that she had been exposed to.
She attended Harvard university’s seminar for new presidents during her first year at
Colorado College, which among other topics explored the role of the president in strategic
planning and “the digital presidency”. Document analysis revealed that her experience in
strategic planning is repeatedly referenced in addition to her expertise in the fields of higher
education economics in online institutional documents.
Accessible and Present President
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Tiefenthaler created an image as an accessible president. She held almost monthly
office hours for students and online document that have been reviewed revealed that her
email address is publicly available on the website and the webpage hosts the president’s blog
where she posts several times a week in addition to her being linked to numerous initiatives
in documents. The name “Tiefenthaler” is indexed close to 3000 times on the Colorado
college website. She accompanied the strategic planning process very closely and kept in
touch with the committees “she was in constant dialogue, not only with the chairs of the four
committees, but the whole committees themselves and also well beyond … she was the
linchpin of the whole process” as an Faculty 8 described it. It was noteworthy that during the
interviews several participants referred to her by her first name “Jill”.
Strategic Planning Champion
As president she believed in the importance of strategic plans: “when you see more
and more schools actually going out of business now, I think strategic plans are even more
important than they've ever been.” She emphasized the importance of strategic planning
continuously by several means. One interview participant explained that she talked about it in
private meetings and she sent out frequent updates via email and the website “…she talked
about it at every faculty meeting … we also were bombarded with things from her office that
showed every step of the way what was going on [sic]”. The communications were ongoing
during the planning as well as several years into the implementation phase. Faculty 6
illustrates: “Even just today there was an email that came out with an update on where we
stand towards our goals that we set in strategic planning.” The president expressed that the
communication needs to be continuous, even to a point where it feels repetitive:
…discipline on the communication [is important] … I'm so sick of talking about the
strategic plan after nine years, but you have to. You have to keep doing it. You have
to say it over and over again and constantly remind people about it. And that's the
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only way it gets accomplished and that it becomes part of the culture. But it's not easy
to do, especially you get sort of sick of it hearing yourself to talk about the same
thing, but you have to.
The president shared the following statement in relation to budget and initiatives requiring
linkage to the strategic plan: “One of the big ones [ways the college shows strategic planning
is important] is budget requests have to be linked to the strategic plan.” Initiatives that do not
relate to goals in the strategic plan are unlikely to get funding. This forces budgetary units to
think of how their operation can advance the strategic plan and to align their strategies with
those set forth in the plan in order to receive financial support.
General Perception as a Strong and Popular Leader
Change at the college has been largely attributed to president Tiefenthaler’s
leadership. Faculty 6 described how she was able to create a momentum upon her arrival at
the college: “It was essential when the new president arrived to show that this is not just a
new president, but a new era. We're moving forward. We're going to do things … the campus
community was invigorated by that.” The tuition increase and strategic budgeting she
introduced helped to fund change initiatives and she capitalized on the strategic planning
momentum to engage in an extensive fundraising campaign. During her leadership she raised
$360M, significantly growing the college’s endowment and establishing a $100M scholarship
fund. Despite no questions related directly to the president, all interview participants
mentioned her and spoke of her leadership in either a neutral or positive way. Interview
participants referred to her as a “very strong” and “accessible” leader who is “energetic” and
knowledgeable in the fields of higher education. The Sustainability Administrator, a member
from the budget committee, who does not directly report to her, said he wished she stayed
forever.
Conclusion
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Chapter Four presented findings in the fields of knowledge, motivation and
organization. Out of a total of ten presumed assets nine were validated through interview and
document analysis. The only asset not validated was the assumption that strategic planning
committee members would have the need and ability to distinguish between their unit level
needs and the overall institutional good. The theme of strong presidential leadership emerged
as an asset. Some assets share commonalities and form part of a broader theme. The
following chapter will present themes composed of assets that can be transferred to other
institutions seeking to improve their strategic planning practices.

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CHAPTER FIVE: TRANSFERABLE PRACTICES
This study sought to investigate highly effective practices used by the strategic
planning committee at Colorado College. To find and categorize assets and promising
practices within the realm of knowledge, motivation and organizational factors, Clark and
Estes’ Gap Analysis framework (2008) was used. This chapter serves to present identified
assets that are transferrable to other institutions.
For assets to be deemed transferrable, they need to be replicable at other institutions
of various sizes with reasonable effort, cost and within acceptable time frames. Some assets
might be replicable or transferable to a lesser degree at other institutions, but would still
contribute to improvement in SP. Colorado College, for instance, already had a collaborative
culture, making it easier to design a SP process that is highly collaborative. Institutions with a
less collaborative culture might not be able to replicate such a process, but some increase in
collaboration would still positively impact SP. Those assets that fulfill transferability criteria
were grouped in thematic categories. Each category is briefly explained, and a short
implementation recommendation is given. It is beyond the scope of this study to provide in-
depth implementation or evaluation plans, and those interested in more detail can refer to
sources like the Society for College and University Planning among others. At Colorado
College it was the presence and combination of all the identified assets that led to a
successful SP process and implementation. The absence of one or several of the assets would
have likely led to a less successful SP. Therefore, it is important for those interested in best
practices to be conscious that SP is a broad and complex institutional undertaking that
depends on many factors and stakeholders to be successful. Table 9 summarizes the
composition of the thematic categories identified.

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Table 9
Transferrable Practices by Thematic Category
Determined
Leadership Broad Participation
Customized and
Flexible Plan
Resource
Allocation and
Accountability
The organization
recognizes the
value of an
effective
strategic
planning process
The organization clearly
communicates to
stakeholders throughout
all stages of the strategic
planning process and into
implementation.

Understanding of
organization’s
capacity and
willingness to
change

The organization
provides resources,
time, people and
finances to the
strategic planning
process and
implementation.
The organization
clearly
communicates to
stakeholders
throughout all
stages of the
strategic
planning process
and into
implementation
Knowledge of how to
engage stakeholders in the
strategic planning process

Identification and
determination of
important external
and internal
environmental
factors
The organization
clearly defines
expectations and
how individuals
will be held
accountable to
those expectations.
Perceived Value
of Strategic
Planning among
Strategic
Planning
Committee
Members
Ability to create
customized strategic
planning process and
evidence supported

Presidential
Leadership

Transferrable Practice 1: Ensure Leadership is Committed to SP
At Colorado College institutional leadership, from the president to mid-level
management, was engaged and supportive of the strategic planning process. The College
built an environment that fostered leadership support for SP. Interview data confirmed that
the organization’s senior leadership played a crucial role in convincing stakeholders,
including mid-level leadership, of the importance of SP. Senior leadership believed in the
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importance the SP would have for the college, with the president being a driving force for
institutional buy in. As Faculty 3 recalled “consistency of leadership from our president, …
It's [the SP process] continually referenced from leadership, which is critical.” Constant
communication by leadership reinforced the message of commitment to the SP process and
subsequent implementation. Furthermore, the leadership adhered to the SP, following through
with implementation.
Implementation
The steps outlined do not follow a strict chronological order. Rather, some steps will
have some overlap or happen in parallel. As a first step, leadership support should be built.
This step will look different depending on the position within an organization of the persons
wanting to improve SP practices. An organizations’ president arguably has more power to
influence other leaders to support a comprehensive SP process. However, even mid- level
leadership can influence and win over high-level leadership through politics and grassroot
campaigns. The way this is done will be context dependent but, regardless, it is essential to
invest in building buy-in of as many influential leaders as possible before initiating the SP
process. Wolf and Floyd describe how middle management engagement can be a decisive
factor in SP success (2017). Leader’s should not be strictly seen in hierarchical terms. Some
faculty members for instance exert great influence often beyond what their job title would
suggest. Identifying and convincing those people will pave the way for a successful SP
process. There are technological tools that can help to identify informal leaders (Nielsen, Niu,
Meng, 2016) Alternatively, HR or employees who have been at an organization for long can
help to map influencers.
Communicate
For this step, leadership should develop a coherent and convincing narrative as to why a
SP is necessary at this point in time. The narrative and communication should be tailored to
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different stakeholder groups. It is advisable to create a communication plan for top-level
leadership to ensure relevant communications that keep the SP on people’s top of mind even
after the novelty of it fades off.
Commit to the Plan
Institutions often go through great lengths to develop strategic plans but lack the drive
and commitment to implement the plan as obstacles arise. Like step 1. SP champions will
have to remind other institutional leaders and stakeholders of the importance of the SP. Also,
the more people felt they had a stake in the SP’s creation, the more likely they are to commit
to it. The president and other high-level leadership play an important role in ensuring
institutional commitment to the SP. As will be addressed in more detail in the transferrable
recommendation about accountability, having a plan that has measurable, tangible goals and
an implementation timeline with assigned responsibilities increased the likelihood of a plan’s
success. The board of trustees can play a role in holding institutional leadership accountable
to the SP. This can be achieved by signing “commitment contracts” between the president
and other leaders and the board. Commitment of leadership is an important driver for
successful strategic planning. An initial diagnosis of the leadership structure, and specifically
gaining understanding where those in charge of operationalizing the strategic planning
process sit in the hierarchy, allows institutions to re-structure if necessary.
Transferrable Practice 2: Cultivate Broad Participation
Interview and document analysis showed that at Colorado College wide participation
in the SP process significantly contributed to stakeholder buy-in and successive commitment
to the SP implementation. The college dedicated a whole year to “listening” to stakeholders
providing many ways for individuals to contribute to the SP. Faculty 5 recalled that “ there
were a lot of meetings that people were invited to. Public meetings for everybody on campus
or for small groups of people on campus. Many invitations were sent out to individuals and
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groups and departments.” However, making a process participatory alone is not enough. The
SP process needs to feel genuine and legitimate for people to fully engage. For people to
commit to a plan’s executions there needs to be a clear link between the input and the final
plan. At Colorado College efforts were made to make the process transparent and ensure that
all voices were given the same importance while preventing dominant or preconceived
narratives to prevail.
Implementation
As a first step, institutions should map its stakeholders. In some institutions this might
even include the wider community such as neighbors, politicians or geographical areas.
Decide on the depth at which the institution would like each of these stakeholders to
collaborate in the SP process. Once the stakeholders are mapped, thinking of how to best
reach stakeholders is important preparation work for the SP process. As in the previous
recommendation institutions should identify “influencers” for the distinct stakeholder groups
who can help to reach out to constituencies effectively.
Step 2: Plan Environmental Scan and “Listening Activities”
Have a plan for environmental scan process. Institutions should establish a plan that
outlies on a timeline how and when different stakeholders will be involved. Thoughts should
be put into how the SP process can be made as engaging as possible. This can be done by
allocating funds for SP retreats and food or coffee during meetings. The meetings themselves
should be conducted in engaging ways. At Colorado College interviewees described how
they enjoyed the SP process as it was conducted in an intellectually challenging and fun
manner and allowed for creative thinking. Technology should be leveraged to reach
stakeholders that due to time or distance constraints would be difficult to engage with in
person.
Step 3: Document the Process
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The “listening” and planning phase should be documented in a systematic manner to
ease analysis. In the case of Colorado College, overarching guiding questions were asked to
all stakeholder groups which allowed for comparison. Documentation also serves to make the
process transparent and legitimate. By publishing as much and as detailed information about
meetings that were held and by making survey results public, institutions provide a mean for
individuals to comprehend how the strategic plan is being built. This helps to foster trust in
the process and the SP itself. Once the SP was concluded at Colorado College each full-time
employee was given a nicely looking physical folder that contained the SP. The folder
summarized how the SP came about and was meant to be amended periodically with new
sheets/pages being handed out by the college as the plan developed. Handing a physical copy
to every employee reinforces the idea that the SP is everyone’s.
Transferrable Practice 3: Create a Customized and Flexible Plan
The SP should be context specific and customized. It is a product of an institutions’
unique characteristics, its individuals and its current micro and macro circumstances. The
organization’s SWOTs will determine its strategy. Just like that the SP should not be so
generic that it could be any institution’s SP, it should also not be understood as a rigid
document that has to be enforced in the exact same way it was written, no matter what. As
circumstances change the plan should be adapted. This does not mean that it should be
abandoned as soon as difficulties arise, but rather that organizations might need to adapt their
tactics or even revise some of their strategies, keeping track of its implementation and
frequently reassessing the SP keeps the plan alive and relevant.
Implementation
As a first step the leadership needs to be aware of an institution’s change readiness.
Since the idea is to develop a SP that is implementable, it needs to be designed with a
college’s change abilities in mind. For instance, a SP that is overly ambitious or not feasible
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in a certain institution’s context will only be partially implemented if at all. To the contrary a
plan that has little vision or ambition will likely lack strategy and will not be able to create
momentum for change. Therefore, organizations should be aware of their change abilities and
create a plan that is ambitious and visionary, yet achievable. Change readiness can be
assessed around resource availability, commitment readiness and capacity readiness (Combe,
2014). Resources concern both human resources such as employee-time as well as financial
resources. Organizations can ask questions like “how much human time could we dedicate to
strategy formation and implementation and at what (opportunity) cost?” However, one should
be careful not to restrain the SP process due to apparent resource limitations, as part of SP is
creatively re-allocating resources to what is seen as strategically important. Commitment
readiness refers to the organization’s leaders at all levels to persevere and achieve goals even
in face of hardship. This is invariably linked to an organization’s and individuals’ values and
culture. Capacity readiness combines an institution’s knowledge and skills as well as the
ability to adapt processes to aid implementation. Describing in detail how each of these
factors is assessed would exceed the scope of this study but there are many valuable
resources about change management and specifically change readiness available for those
interested.
Furthermore, leadership should assess the status quo related to SP. Before engaging in
the strategic planning exercise, those in charge of designing and promoting it need to
understand the culture of the institution. Involving stakeholders who have been with the
organization for several years helps to map a place’s culture. Additionally, new leadership
can hire consultants to assess culture or use internal resources such as the institutional
research office to conduct an evaluation.
The strategic planning process will vary in length and design depending on an
organization’s size, culture and structure. For instance, an organization with very centralized
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decision-making power will likely have to involve fewer stakeholders and could form a
strategic plan in lesser time than an organization with high unit level autonomy and a more
democratic decision-making culture. In the case of Colorado College there was a strong
culture of participatory decision making and all voices being heard. Thus, the strategic
planning process was constructed in a way that would respond to cultural expectations.
If the institution has engaged in strategic planning in the past, it is important to
understand how the previous strategic planning process’ have been executed and
implemented, and what the perception of strategic planning is within the institution. If, for
example, the organization has gone through badly designed process which resulted in plans
that were only partially or not implemented, more groundwork will be necessary to create
trust in a new process and deliberate efforts need to be made to differentiate it from previous
exercises.
Step 2: Identify Key Stakeholders
Informed by the cultural mapping exercise, the leadership has to decide which key
stakeholders should be play important roles in the strategic planning process, such as chairing
committees. Careful efforts should be made to identify stakeholders who would best
represent a certain stakeholder group. They should have influence among their stakeholder
group and understand their concerns and needs. Depending on their workload it might be
necessary to free them from some day-to-day responsibilities, staff them with assistants and
provide extra incentives. Strategic planning chairs or others who have more extensive
responsibilities in the committees, should be given support staff. This can be student workers
or full-time hires. The hired staff should be skilled at organizing meetings, writing meeting
summaries and great communicators. Those chosen to serve on committees or other
important roles in the strategic planning process should have a positive attitude towards
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strategic planning and understand its benefits. They should receive training on strategic
planning and guidance towards helpful resources such as books and articles.
Step 3: Outline Strategic Planning
At this stage, responsibilities need to be clearly assigned to the key stakeholders
involved in the strategic planning process. The responsibilities of each of the created
committees should be written down, making clear what the differences of the committees are
to prevent overlap. The members composing the committees need to have clarity about their
individual roles as well. Control of the process itself, needs to be assigned to a person or
office, which will be in charge of ensuring deadlines are met and the crucial role of making
sure the individual committee work connects to a central narrative. In the case of Colorado
College, the process was centralized in the office of institutional research, which is part of the
president’s cabin.
The strategic planning process with all its activities needs to be mapped out and
follow a structured and methodological approach. “…One thing that went well with the
strategic planning process was that there was a plan put in place during the process to
actually do implementation” as a senior IT service administrator recalled. In the
environmental scanning phase, asking the same questions to different stakeholder groups
allows for better comparison. Meetings need to serve a deliberate purpose, with defined goals
as to what should come out of a meeting. Iteration in the process is important and it should be
outlined at which stages drafts will be handed out to different constituencies for feedback.
The process, like any project, needs clear goals and deadlines with clearly assigned
responsibilities. Also, some thought should be put into how the planning process will link to
the implementation of the plan. Considerations such as whether some of the committee
members will play a role in the implementation or if the office or person in charge of the
planning process will be the one overseeing the implementation as well. If these aspects are
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considered beforehand, it will allow for a fluent transition between planning and
implementation phases.
Step 4: Customize the SP
Customizing the SP is less of an action than a result of thorough SWOT analysis and
a participatory process that injects an institution’s culture, values and mission into the SP.
Conducting a SWOT analysis, better known as environmental scan in academia, provides the
basis for strategic planning. As each institution’s circumstances are different, the
environmental scan will require a customized and contextualized response. Strategic planning
can provide an opportunity to revisit and if necessary, adapt an institution’s vision and
mission. An institutions mission and vision should serve as the guiding principles for the SP
along with an institution’s values. Therefore, during the strategic planning process mission
and vision relevance should frequently be checked.
Step 5: Create a Communication Plan
Consistent and clear communication is paramount to successful strategic planning.
Therefore, it is important to plan the communications for the whole timeframe of the strategic
planning process in advance. There are useful online resources for project communication
plans. For instance the project management institute provides detailed guidance as to what a
project communication plan should include (Abramo & Onitiri, 2010). At minimum, the
communication plan should specify who should communicate what, how often, to which
audience and over which medium. Strategic planning is a time consuming and sometimes
overwhelming process and having a written communication plan with deadlines prevents
strategic planners from neglecting communication. While it might be the president or some
other high level leader who will communicate, they likely do not have the time to
continuously write communications. If the leadership does not yet have a dedicated
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communication team or person, it should be considered to hire additional communication
staff for the strategic planning process.
Step 6: Adapt the Strategic Plan as Needed
Leadership should frequently meet with those in charge of keeping track of the SP
implementation. At least every half year the progress made in the implementation should be
assessed and communicated to the organization’s community. Those meetings serve to
evaluate whether adequate progress has been made. They provide an opportunity to adapt the
SP not only in the case of slow progress, but also to incorporate new opportunities into the
SP. This recommendation aligns with research published by Chance (2010), which found that
adapting the strategic plan in an iterative fashion is important to ensure successful
implementation. Faculty 4 described the SP as “…a living document that is adapted and
amended when needed.” Changes in the SP need to be accompanied by effective
communications. Stakeholders need to be able to understand why changes are being made
and how it will impact them. As with recommendation 2 of creating a participatory process,
changes in the SP should be made in a transparent way and with input from stakeholders if
possible.
Transferrable Practice 4: Resource Allocation and Accountability
A solid strategic planning process is resource intensive as it consumes lot of time
from staff, and often there are other resources tied to the process, such as consultants and
additional hires. The planning process itself was well funded at CC: “There was significant
funding from my perspective for the strategic plan. Certainly, I had an assistant, a
paraprofessional, and each of the committees was assigned a staff person who was there to do
support work. That was very important,” in the words of Faculty 3. The implementation of
the SP can require considerable resource allocations to strategic initiatives. The planning and
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implementation should count with clearly assigned roles and responsibilities. People involved
in the processes need to be held accountable for their expected contributions.
Implementation
As a first step, the strategic planning process itself needs to be budgeted. Enough
funding should be allocated for the process to be concludable in a timely but extensive
fashion. If an institution requires additional staff for the process funds for hires should be
made available. Some staff directly involved in the planning process might not be able to
dedicate enough time to their usual job responsibilities and might require temporary adjunct
staff to help. Institutions can consider providing additional compensation for employees who
will have extra workload because of the strategic planning process.
Allocate Funds to SP
Once the plan is completed, its implementation will require funding. Likely funding is
limited; therefore, institutions might need to reduce funding from non-strategic areas in order
to allocate it to strategically important initiatives. This can in some cases mean completely
divesting from some fields as the SP provided clarity what really should matter. Working
with the finance and budgetary department, the leadership needs to find ways to properly
fund the SP.
New projects and budget requests should be evaluated in light of the SP. Projects that
do not directly contribute to the SP should be given less priority or should not be approved at
all. Institutions can create a dedicated fund for project proposals that further the SP. It is the
leader’s job to be adamant that the SP has priority.
Accountability in Planning and Implementation
For the planning process clear responsibilities should be assigned to the committees
and those involved in the planning process. To ensure timely completion, the process should
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be mapped out on a timeline indicating deadlines for each planning activity. Within the
committees it should be clear how the workload is distributed and who does what. Once the
planning process is concluded responsibilities for implementation should be assigned in a
similar fashion. Effective goal setting will aid both planning and implementation. Lending
from the field of project management, planners can use SMART goals. The advantage of
smart goals is that they are meant to be concise and achievable by nature and therefore force
strategic planners to avoid imprecise or vague goals (Holmes, 2011). Table 13 defines
SMART goals.
Table 13
Smart Goals explained

Responsibilities around planning and implementation should be diffused through the
institutional hierarchy. Unit level managers will have to consider how their units can
contribute in the planning and implementation phase. Depending on unit size, it can make
sense for them to develop their own strategic plan that outlies how to contribute to
achievement of the institutional SP. The same considerations that apply for creating an
effective and efficient institutional SP also apply for the unit level plans.
Ultimately openness and a participatory strategic planning process create a sense of
accountability towards stakeholders and the community. If the SP was built in a manner that
Letter Meaning
S Specific: Goals should be clearly stating what should be done or achieved

M

Measurable: goals should count with measurable metrics and targets

A Achievable: goals need to be attainable. They should be challenging, but
ultimately completable

R Relevant: Achieving the goals should have a relevant impact
T Timely: Goals should count with a timeframe and deadline
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involved many stakeholders and its importance was continuously communicated,
stakeholders will have expectations regarding its implementation. If people feel they played a
part in creating the plan, they are more likely to care about its success, which in turn
informally holds leadership accountable. Leadership should take its accountability towards
stakeholders seriously and spend time and effort to keep people updated about the plan’s
completion and implementation.
Considerations for Future Research
Research interest in the subject of SP has steadily declined over the recent decades as
the number of related publications shows. However, the example of Colorado College proves
that SP has unjustifiably fallen out of fashion. Well conducted SP can add values to
institutions. The field could benefit from a renaissance of research interest around SP.
Research concerning the application of alternative methods of strategy formation in higher
education, often lending from the business world, could help to potentialize strategic
planning efforts and innovate the field. Also, there is limited research about flexibility and
iterative approaches to SP in higher education. Especially in evermore changing times and in
light of the Covid 19 pandemic happening as this dissertation is being finished, there is a
need to better understand how strategic plans can remain flexible and quickly adapt without
losing their essence.
Conclusion
This study sought understand how presumed Knowledge, Motivation and
Organizational assets aided a successful strategic planning process. Through interviews and
document analysis assets were validated, confirming the idea that Colorado College can serve
as a positive example for contemporary institutional strategic planning. The outlook for
higher education sector was negative prior to the Covid- 19 crisis, and many of the factors
that put pressure on institutions will be exacerbated by the health crisis and its social and
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economic implications. For many decades, institutions were able to survive and thrive by
doing things the way they always have been done. However, given current developments,
institutions may be forced to undergo considerable structural changes. Effective strategic
planning forces institutions to evaluate their current situation and purpose to define deliberate
strategic changes that go beyond short term symptomatic fixes. Well used, strategic planning
can be the tool needed to prosper long term.

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APPENDIX A
Interview Protocol

RQ KMO Influences Components Interview Question
Q1 Understanding of organization’s
capacity and willingness to change.
Capacity: Resource capacity;
Legal/accreditation c.; timeliness of c
(reactive vs proactive); who can start
change
Willingness: risk taking; history of
change; incentives (O)
Can you describe an important change
in CC’s recent past and what brought
about the change?
What do you think of the
organizational structure of CC?
If any exist at all, what barriers exist
that would prevent CC from making
changes?
Q1 Identification and determination of
important external and internal
environmental factors
External: local/national community;
accreditation; international aspects;
Higher Ed;
Internal: Hard/Soft Power; Culture;
processes; values

When you were engaged in the year of
planning, which external factors
impacting higher education were the
most important?
Probe: How would you say was the
planning process influenced by it?
How did you go about assessing the
importance of internal and external
environmental factors in the strategic
planning process?
Q1 Ability to create customized strategic
planning process and evidence
supported
Customized: context-based; iterative;
Evidence supported: best practice;
reflection on why done this way
What makes CC’s strategic planning
process different to other institutions’?
Q1 Knowledge of how to engage
stakeholders in the strategic planning
process
Engage: when; how; why; to what
extend; reactive vs proactive; active
planning vs information source
Stakeholder: definition; who and how
much representation of each
How does the college ensure
accountability in the planning process,
if at all?
How does the college ensure
accountability in the implementation
process, if at all?
How do stakeholders learn of the
strategic planning process?
What makes CC’s strategic planning
process different to other institutions’?

Q1 Ability to distinguish between unit-level
needs versus institution-wide needs

bigger picture: difference btw own
needs; processes in place for that;
As a dean/faculty of XYZ, how do you
balance interests pertaining to XYZ,
with the overall institutional bigger
picture when serving on the
committee? Probe: how do you act
when interests diverge?
Q1

The strategic planning committee
members need to believe that strategic
planning has positive and lasting impact
on the institution’s future and that their
Believe: reason for believe; What would happen if the institution
stopped engaging in strategic
planning?
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individual engagement in the strategic
planning process will positively impact
planning outcomes.
Q1 The organization recognizes the value
of an effective strategic planning
process.
Trust: presidential leadership related
to str.plan.;
Can you give me examples of how CC
emphasizes the importance of strategic
planning throughout the institution, if
at all?
How can the strategic planning process
make or break the final product?”
Q1 The organization provides resources,
time, people and money, to the strategic
planning process and implementation.
Resources: flexibility, immediacy,
independency, key people’s time.

Explain the relationship between
strategic planning and resources.
Probe: what are the resource
considerations when engaging in
strategic planning?
Q1 The organization clearly defines
expectations and how individuals will
be held accountable to those
expectations.
Operationalization: accountability,
resource allocation; control,

How does the college ensure
accountability in the planning process,
if at all?
How does the college ensure
accountability in the implementation
process, if at all?
How is the plan operationalized?
Q1 The organization clearly communicates
to stakeholders throughout all stages of
the strategic planning process and into
implementation.
Communication: meetings; online;
messages; wider community informed;
known at all levels
How do stakeholders learn of the
strategic planning process?

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APPENDIX B
KMO Influences

Assumed Knowledge Influence Assumed Motivation Influence Assumed Organizational
Influences

K1 Understanding of organization’s
capacity and willingness to change.
M1 The strategic planning committee
members need to believe that strategic
planning has positive and lasting impact on
the institution’s future and that their
individual engagement in the strategic
planning process will positively impact
planning outcomes.
O1 The organization recognizes
the value of an effective strategic
planning process as well as trust
in the people in charge of it.
K2 Identification and determination
of important external and internal
environmental factors
O2 The organization provides
resources, time, people and
money, to the strategic planning
process and implementation
K3 Ability to create a customized
strategic planning process which is
context specific and evidence
supported
O3 The organization clearly
defines expectations and how
individuals will be held
accountable to those expectations.
K4 Knowledge of how to engage
stakeholders in the strategic planning
process
O4 The organization clearly
communicates to stakeholders
throughout all stages of the
strategic planning process and
into implementation.
K5 Ability to distinguish between
unit-level needs versus institution-
wide needs

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APPENDIX C

INTERVIEW PROTOCOL – STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

Respondent Name (or Pseudonym): ……………………………………………………..
Committee: ………………………………………………………………………………
Position within Committee: ……………………………………………………………...
Position at Organization: …………………………………………………………………
Years at Organization: ……………………………………………………………………
Previous Experience in Strategic Planning at other Organization: ………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Location of Interview: ……………………………………………………………………
Starting Time: …………………………………………………………………………….
Finishing Time: …………………………………………………………………………..
Introduction
I appreciate the time you took in meeting with me today. This interview is an important part
of my dissertation study at the USC Rossier school through which I aim to understand what
contributes to effective strategic planning processes. I estimate the interview to take between
30 to 50 minutes. The information you share with me will used in my study and if you may
wish so certain information that you share can be left out of the study or presented in a way
that it will associable with you. You are free to stop the interview at any time and your
SUCCESS THROUGH STRATEGIC PLANNING

119
participation is completely voluntary. For transcription purposes I would like to record our
conversation. Once transcribed, the recording will be destroyed. Is that OK with you?

1. What makes CC’s strategic planning process different from the process at other
institutions’?
2. Can you give me examples of how CC emphasizes the importance of strategic
planning throughout the institution, if at all?
3. Can you describe an important change in CC’s recent past and what brought about the
change?
4. If any exist at all, what barriers exist that would prevent CC from making changes?
5. What do you think of the organizational structure of CC?
6. As a dean/faculty of XYZ, how do you balance interests pertaining to XYZ, with the
overall institutional bigger picture when serving on the committee?
a. (Probe) How do you act when interests diverge?
7. How can the strategic planning process make or break the final product?
8. When you were engaged in the year of planning, which external factors impacting
higher education were the most important?
a. How would you say was the planning process influenced by it?
9. How were the importance of internal and external environmental factors in the
strategic planning process assessed?
10. Explain the relationship between strategic plans and resources.
a. Probe: what are the resource considerations when engaging in strategic
planning?
11. How does the university ensure accountability in the planning process, if at all?
12. How does the university ensure accountability in the implementation process, if at all?
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13. How do stakeholders learn of the strategic planning process?
14. How is the plan operationalized?
15. What would happen if the institution stopped engaging in strategic planning?

Is there anything you would like to add?

Thank you very much for your time. Please accept this small gift as a token of my
appreciation.

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APPENDIX D
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS PROTOCOL
This protocol serves as a guidance for the researcher in the document analysis process and
will not be shared with the institution.
Document author: ………………………………………………………………………..
Type of document: ……………………………………………………………………….
Is this a confidential document? Y/N
For what audience was the document written? ……………………….………..…………...
How did I obtain the document: ……………………………………………………………

1. Does the document contain information about change or need for change? (K1)
2. Is the document concerned with the external or internal institutional environment?
(K2)
3. Would this document look much different at another institution? (K2, K3)
4. What makes it unique? (K3)
5. Does the document contain inclusive language? (K4)
6. Does it foster or encourage collaboration? (K4)
7. Does the document highlight the importance and potential benefits of strategic
planning? (O1)
8. Does it encourage/ express trust in the strategic planning process and people
involved? (O1)
9. Is the document evidence that time, people and money are provided to the strategic
planning process? (O3)
10. Does the document define clear expectations for the strategic planning process/
implementation. (O3)
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a. Does it specify who is accountable for what?
11. Does the document serve to inform a wide variety of stakeholders about the strategic
planning process? (O4)
12. Is the document part of series of documents that serve to inform stakeholders about
the strategic planning process? (O4)

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APPENDIX E

INFORMATION/ FACTS SHEET FOR EXEMPT NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
3470 Trousdale Parkway, Waite Phillips Hall

INFORMATION/FACTS SHEET FOR EXEMPT NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH

USING STRATEGIC PLANNING TO EXCEL IN A CHANGING HIGHER
EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT: EXAMINING PROMISING PRACTICES AT A
SMALL U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION

You are invited to participate in a research study. Research studies include only people who
voluntarily choose to take part. This document explains information about this study. You
should ask questions about anything that is unclear to you.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This research study aims to understand how factors related to Knowledge and Motivation of
the Strategic Planning committee as well as Organizational factors influence the outcomes of
Strategic Planning.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to participate in a 30- 50 minute
audio-taped interview. You do not have to answer any questions you don’t want to; if you
don’t want to be taped, you cannot participate in this study.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will not be compensated for your participation; however you will be given a small gift as
a sign of appreciation.

CONFIDENTIALITY
The audio recordings of the interview will be deleted after transcription. The transcripts will
be kept as an encrypted file on the researcher’s computer until shortly after the dissertation
defense took place. Should you indicate that some part of the interview is confidential, if
possible that part will be used for the study in a way that does not make you identifiable as
the source. If that’s not possible, that part will not be used for the study.

The members of the research team and the University of Southern California’s Human
Subjects Protection Program (HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP reviews and monitors
research studies to protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no identifiable
information will be used.

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INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
Principal Investigator Nicolas Fernandez Schatzer via email at marcelof@usc.edu or phone at
(239) 719-1206 or faculty advisor Dr. Tracy Tambascia at tpoon@rossier.usc.edu or phone
213-740-9747.

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
University of Southern California Institutional Review Board, 1640 Marengo Street, Suite
700, Los Angeles, CA 90033-9269. Phone (323) 442-0114 or email irb@usc.edu.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Recent demographic, economic and societal changes have put pressure on higher education institutions (HEI) in the U.S. In the last decade, several institutions were forced to close their doors or merge with other universities. For decades, HEI were successfully operating a relatively unchanged business model. Current circumstances related to declining enrollments and economic uncertainty force HEI to take unprecedented steps and consider strategic and structural changes in order to remain viable. Strategic planning (SP) has a long history of application in HE, yet it is often ineffective at leading to true changes. For strategic planning to be effective it needs engagement from most important institutional stakeholders, leadership commitment and funding as well as be done in an unrestricted fashion, among other factors.
Through a case study approach, this study examined knowledge, motivation and organizational influences that helped a small liberal arts college successfully implement a multi-year strategic plan. At the examined college, several factors such as a well-structured, communicated and funded process, combined with goals and deadlines and a participatory process led to success in SP. Among the identified success factors, some are transferrable to other HEI. Organizations can improve their strategic change efforts by committing to SP through leadership, financially, broad participation and by ensuring accountability throughout the process.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Fernandez Schatzer, Marcelo Nicholas (author)

Core Title Using strategic planning to excel in a changing higher education environment: examining promising practices at an independent liberal arts college

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Global Executive

Degree Conferral Date 2023-05

Publication Date 01/27/2023

Defense Date 01/27/2023

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag change management,Higher education,OAI-PMH Harvest,strategic planning,strategy formation

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Tambascia, Tracy (committee chair), Crop, Cathy (committee member), Seli, Helena (committee member)

Creator Email marcelof@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC112723818

Unique identifier UC112723818

Identifier etd-FernandezS-11449.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-FernandezS-11449

Document Type Dissertation

Format theses (aat)

Rights Fernandez Schatzer, Marcelo Nicholas

Internet Media Type application/pdf

Type texts

Source 20230201-usctheses-batch-1005 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu