Strategic Planning Resource Center for Community Colleges

Key Insights

The creation of a three- to five-year strategic plan is an important, yet complex activity for community college leaders. A strong strategic plan sets college priorities and aligns stakeholders, faculty, and staff to institutional goals.

While strategic planning is critically important, it is too often a drawn-out process that loses impact and energy over time. Institutions that miss the mark on strategic planning run the risk of wasting time, stalling institutional momentum, and yielding faculty distrust.

Rather than engaging in a periodic “check the box” update for external stakeholders, we recommend colleges follow this step by step process to take the guesswork out and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. Use these resources to simplify the pre-work and streamline implementation of your strategic plan.