Institutional Context: From Campus Reality to Planning Strategy

Strategic planning doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it happens inside a living institution with traditions, power dynamics, constraints, and rhythms. This institutional context can either accelerate planning progress or quietly derail it. This workshop will help you build “institutional savvy” by making context visible and usable: organizational culture, governance and decision-making realities, planning history and trust, and the ongoing processes that shape what’s possible (especially budgeting and assessment).

You’ll learn how to anticipate the impact your institution’s context has on the planning process, demystifying past failures and empowering you with the knowledge to guide planning successfully, from its initial launch through implementation. Grounded in SCUP’s Integrated Planning model, the session strengthens your ability to anticipate friction, design a planning approach that fits your campus, and create the conditions for alignment, credible participation, and follow-through.

Who This Is For

• Strategic planning leads, institutional planners, and planning office staff.
• Institutional effectiveness, assessment, accreditation, and analytics leaders.
• Budget/finance and resource planning partners supporting implementation.
• Cabinet sponsors, division leaders, and cross-functional planning team members.
• Anyone coordinating or leading a planning process or change initiative within a college or university.
• Those who’ve taken Planning Institute: Foundations and are looking for a deep-dive on the topic.

Learning Outcomes

• Explain why institutional context matters and how it influences planning and decision-making.
• Classify institutional characteristics and predict how they may affect a planning process.
• Identify how governance structures, policies, and norms shape planning roles, milestones, and approvals.
• Analyze how formal and informal power operate on campus and infer implications for engagement and decision-making.
• Evaluate prior planning performance to anticipate risks, trust dynamics, and readiness for change.
• Map key institutional processes (especially budgeting and assessment) and determine dependencies, timing, and stakeholder touchpoints.

Registration

Join now to take advantage of the member savings for this event and access a library full of vital resources!

Deadlines

**Cancellations must be made in writing and may be submitted by email to your registration team registration@scup.org by 5/22/2026. Refunds are subject to a processing fee – 10% of the total purchase. No-shows are not eligible for a refund, and funds committed by purchase order must be paid in full by the first day of the event. Refunds will be issued within 30 days of received written notification.