74 Strategic Leadership
Strategic Management
At this position along the spectrum, strategic planning has become institution-
alized by forging connections with the organization’s operational systems of deci-
sion making. The goals of strategy are made into administrative responsibilities
and combined with continuous methods of evaluation that are fed back into the
system of strategic management. As institutions have experienced the frustra-
tion of planning as a form of projection, the profile of strategic management has
sharpened in the last decade.^2
In many institutions there is an uneven and segmented pattern to the tasks of
strategic management. Some offices and programs ignore or sidestep the process
and fail to develop methods for ensuring that goals are satisfied. The full integra-
tion of the strategy into the management system occurs as key administrative
leaders develop control systems and protocols to integrate operational and stra-
tegic decision making.
Strategic Leadership
Among institutions that use strategy consistently and continuously, it often
functions as a vehicle of reciprocal leadership—as an interactive direction-
setting process, not just as a system of control. In this position on the spec-
trum, the strategy process focuses clearly and authentically on a vision for the
future. Strategic leadership is often relatively centralized and dependent on the
commitment of the president, other top officers, and the effectiveness of a central
committee or council. Strategic leadership occurs as a continuous process that
drives the institution’s systems of evaluation, decision making, and communica-
tion at all levels, including the work of the governing board.
In a few institutions, strategic leadership appears to be embedded in parts or all
of the organization as a cultural and organizational disposition, not only as a set of
formal procedures of deliberation. When this occurs, a position has been reached
that shows itself in the distribution of leadership throughout the organization.
New ideas surface in many places, initiatives are taken by a large range of groups
and individuals, and the differences between leaders and followers becomes hard
to define, since they are always changing places. Those with authority follow
those with the most compelling ideas and lead by mobilizing people and resources
around the best possibilities. The story and the vision have been widely internal-
ized, and leadership is a transparent process and presence in the ways decisions
are made and executed.
Even as hypotheses, these positions offer a set of reference points for charting
an institution’s experience and its goals for the tasks of strategy. As a college or
university decides to inaugurate or to refashion a strategy program, it benefits
significantly from situating its approach and defining its intentions. It should
ask itself two basic questions: How have we used the strategy process in the past?
How should we use it now? Those who lead the process need to know what they