Learning Resources

Abstract: One of the major issues in strategic planning is moving the academic strategic plan from planning to implementation. This article suggests that there are several effective implementation methods: using the budget, using participation, using force, establishing goals and key performance indicators, working within the human resource management system, using the reward system, using faculty and staff development, working with institutional culture, working with or around tradition, developing and using change champions, and building on systems that are ready for or are easily adaptable to strategic change.

Abstract: This essay discusses a process for taking an institutional vision and translating and transforming it into quantifiable performance indicators that provide a framework for the institution to implement, manage and measure change. The method consists of the construction of a system-wide metric, or comprehensive “scorecard,” containing institutional strategic themes and indicators of progress. Scorecards provide institutions with clear guidelines for planning and decision making and communicate strategic priorities that are easily viewed and understood by the university community. They allow for the identification of high priority programs leading to congruence between goals and objectives and provide the framework to address productivity issues within academic and support units and throughout the university. Scorecards facilitate institutional synergy by ensuring that the sum total of unit progress will lead to the achievement of university goals.