HIGHER EDUCATION · FOCUS AREA
Building
Strategic and Scenario Planning
You need a new plan. The last one wasn’t fully implemented and new challenges need to be addressed.
We assist you in building strategic and scenario plans to shape your future and address the uncertainty about enrollment, funding, and what the higher education market looks like in five years. Working with presidents, cabinets, and boards, we work with you and your team to set a direction, test it against futures that might actually arrive, and design for execution before the plan is written so the institution ends up with priorities it can act on and assess.
ON A CAMPUS
Why does the work need to happen?
A strategic plan expires in eighteen months, and the last one wasn’t fully implemented.
A president needs a direction the board will support, and the campus will get behind.
Three plausible enrollment futures and an executive team hesitant to land on the one to plan for.
ACROSS THE INSTITUTION
What this work looks like for the institution.
Sets the institution’s vision and direction, the commitments that will define the next five years, the budget and outcomes attached to each.
INSIDE A DIVISION OR UNIT
What it looks like for a single division.
A college, division, or department building a plan that connects to the institution’s rather than running in isolation.
HOW WE WORK
We listen, evaluate, and build.
01
Listen
We begin by understanding the institution's current position, the experience with previous planning efforts, and the challenges leadership sees ahead. We listen to presidents, cabinet members, board members, and other stakeholders to understand where there is alignment, where perspectives differ, and what has prevented progress in the past.
02
Evaluate
We examine the relationships among enrollment, finances, academic priorities, institutional capacity, and external conditions. Scenario planning helps leadership consider plausible futures, understand their implications, and make decisions without assuming that one forecast will prove correct.
03
Build
We work with institutional leaders and stakeholders to establish priorities, evaluate strategic choices, and develop a plan grounded in the institution's circumstances. The process builds shared understanding and ownership while connecting strategic commitments to resources, responsibilities, and measurable outcomes.
04
Support
Implementation is part of the planning process, not something addressed after the plan is approved. We help establish accountability, milestones, and methods for assessing progress so leaders can act on the plan, respond to changing conditions, and keep strategic priorities moving forward.
FROM THE RESOURCE HUB
Advancing Higher Education
Turning strategy into an integrated way of operating
University of Montana
Advancing Higher Education
From institutional strategy to execution
Montana State University + University of Montana
Advancing Higher Education
Building strategy through university-wide engagement and alignment
Montana State University + Northern Arizona University