In higher education, strategic planning serves as the compass guiding institutions toward continuous improvement to ensure the growth and progress of their initiatives. Through an understanding of the relationship between top-down and bottom-up strategic planning approaches, we are proposing a balanced synthesis that leverages the strengths of both models to foster institutional success. 

Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) produce inspiring vision and mission statements, strategic plans, academic master plans, strategic enrollment plans, campus master plans, and many others; but if these plans do not align with how resources are actually allocated, they are merely “plans on a shelf” and not the living documents that IHE’s need to satisfy regional accreditors and stakeholders.