Steering Through Change: Why Your Strategy Needs Both Data and a Story

Last week, I spent a powerful day with our Enrollment Services Directors for our annual summer retreat. While our focus areas shift every year, I always ground us in a fundamental truth: to know where we are going, we must clearly see where we currently stand. This is the bedrock of strategic planning.

Traditionally, we rely heavily on a SWOT analysis to evaluate our internal strengths and weaknesses alongside external opportunities and threats. However, I’ve noticed that looking outward at opportunities and threats is often the hardest part for leaders. When you are buried in the day-to-day operations of a rural community college, lifting your head to scan the horizon takes intentional effort.

To help our team zoom out this year, we introduced a PEST scan into our situational analysis. This framework forces us to break down the external macro-environment into four critical pillars:

• P – Political: This goes beyond state and national politics. It includes internal politics—like understanding what is most important to your boss and your local college president.

• E – Economic: Analyzing our local, state, and national economic trends, and forecasting how they will impact our enrollment numbers.

• S – Social: Looking at shifting demographics and social trends that change how students view higher education.

• T – Technological: Keeping pace with rapid technological developments and how they will reshape our workflows and student experiences.

  
  

The Power of the "P": Navigating Leadership Transitions

This year, we spent extra time digging into the Political aspect. Our college is currently in the middle of a presidential transition; our current president is retiring in July, and the search for new leadership is underway.

Prior to my current role, I spent most of my career reporting directly to the college president. That experience gave me a front-row seat to how a chief executive thinks and how their vision directly dictates the institution's trajectory. I wanted our Enrollment Services Directors to realize a vital truth: a new president brings new initiatives, and we are the ones who will be responsible for implementing them.

When a new leader steps in, they are desperately trying to diagnose the situation. They do this by diving into data and holding conversations with key stakeholders. For our departments, this transition is a massive opportunity—but only if we are prepared.

We often like to assume that leaders can look at raw data completely objectively and make the perfect decision. But the reality is that there is never enough data to tell the whole story, and as humans, we are fundamentally wired to respond to stories.

Moving Beyond the "Do Your Job" Mentality

When I was a new Director, I honestly thought I could just do my job well, keep my head down, and everything would take care of itself.

After 15 years in higher education, I’ve realized it doesn't work that way. Doing excellent work and having the data to prove it is only half the battle. To truly advocate for your department and your students, you must:

1. Build deep relationships outside of your own department.

2. Use your data to tell a compelling story about the real challenges and opportunities your team faces.

   
   

As you look ahead to the next academic year, I challenge you to take a step back. Evaluate your current situation. What connections do you need to forge over the next twelve months? What story does your data need to tell to build the internal partnerships you need to succeed?

Need a Tool to Get Started?

If you want a structured way to evaluate your own department's landscape, I've developed a worksheet to help. Go here to the Open Educational Resources at the bottom of the page and download our free Situational Analysis Worksheet.