From Delivery to Strategy: How Leadership Expectations Evolve Across Grades

The question that trips up many promotion interviews: "How do you align your work with institutional strategy?" It seems straightforward until you realise the interviewer wants to understand not just what you know about strategy, but how you think strategically.

This shift from operational delivery to strategic thinking is perhaps the most significant element of The Hidden Curriculum of Progression in HE Professional Services. Yet it's also the most poorly understood, with many capable professionals thinking that reading the strategic plan counts as strategic awareness.

It doesn't. Strategic readiness at senior levels means thinking like an institutional leader, not just understanding what institutional leaders have decided.

Why Strategic Thinking Matters

Universities/HEIs operate in increasingly complex environments. Funding pressures, regulatory changes, student expectations, and technological disruption create challenges that require sophisticated strategic responses. At senior levels, you're not just implementing strategy. You're contributing to it, refining it, and sometimes reshaping it based on emerging opportunities and threats.

This evolution happens gradually as you progress through the grades, but understanding the trajectory helps you develop the strategic mindset that panels look for long before you apply for senior roles.

How Strategic Expectations Shift as You Progress

From Grade 6 to Grade 7: Understanding Context

Grade 6/individual contributor: You contribute to local planning and improvement activities. You consider how your team's work connects to broader institutional goals.

Grade 7/manager: You contribute to strategic initiatives in your service. You shape local strategy and ensure operational plans are aligned to institutional goals.

The key shift: From awareness to contribution. Grade 7 managers don't just understand strategy; they help shape how it's implemented in their area. They can translate high-level goals into practical plans whilst identifying gaps or conflicts that need addressing.

From Grade 7 to Grade 8: Strategic Alignment

Grade 7/manager: You contribute to strategic initiatives in your service. You shape local strategy and ensure operational plans are aligned to institutional goals.

Grade 8/senior manager: You develop and deliver strategy for your area. You contribute to institution-wide planning and adapt your approach in response to emerging risks or opportunities.

The key shift: Owning strategic thinking within your portfolio. Grade 8s are trusted to develop strategic plans for their areas, not just implement institutional strategy. They understand the external environment, anticipate future needs, and position their services strategically.

From Grade 8 to Grade 9: Setting Direction

Grade 8/senior manager: You develop and deliver strategy for your area. You contribute to institution-wide planning and adapt your approach in response to emerging risks or opportunities.

Grade 9/Head of Service/Deputy Director: You set strategic direction and frame long-term plans. You work with executive leaders to deliver institutional outcomes and ensure sustainability.

The key shift: Co-creating institutional strategy. Grade 9s aren't just strategic within their domains; they help shape institutional direction. Their expertise influences university-wide decisions and their strategic thinking helps set the framework for others.

Common Strategic Thinking Challenges

The Implementation Focus

Many professionals excel at implementing strategy but struggle to think strategically themselves. They can execute plans brilliantly but haven't developed the analytical and creative thinking needed to develop strategic options.

The Operational Trap

Getting so focused on day-to-day delivery that you lose sight of the bigger picture. Strategic thinking requires stepping back from immediate pressures to consider longer-term trends and opportunities.

The Silo Limitation

Thinking strategically only about your immediate area without understanding how it connects to broader institutional priorities or external trends affecting the sector.

The Analysis Paralysis

Some professionals can analyse strategic issues effectively but struggle to move from analysis to action. Strategic leadership requires making decisions with incomplete information and adapting as circumstances change.

How to Prepare Yourself

1. Develop Environmental Scanning Habits

Start reading beyond your immediate professional area. Follow higher education policy, funding announcements, sector reports, and technology trends. Understanding the external environment is essential for strategic thinking.

2. Practice Strategic Analysis

When your institution announces new initiatives or changes, analyse them critically (to learn, not just to complain). What external pressures drove this decision? What are the implications for different stakeholders? What risks and opportunities does this create? This analysis builds strategic thinking muscles.

3. Contribute to Planning Processes

Volunteer for strategic planning committees, horizon scanning groups, or policy development teams. These experiences expose you to strategic thinking processes whilst demonstrating your readiness to contribute at this level.

4. Think Like a Senior Leader

Before meetings or decisions, ask yourself: If I were the Director/Vice-Chancellor, how would I be thinking about this issue? What would keep me awake at night? What opportunities would I be excited about? This perspective-taking develops institutional thinking.

Building Your Strategic Readiness

Start by understanding strategy at three levels: your immediate area, your institution, and the broader HE sector. How do developments at each level affect the others? What trends are creating opportunities or threats? Where are the gaps between aspiration and capability?

Then practice strategic contribution in your current role. Propose improvements that connect to institutional priorities. Identify risks before they become problems. Suggest ways to position your area more strategically within the university's evolving priorities.

Remember that strategic thinking is a skill that develops through practice. The more you engage with strategic questions, the more natural this thinking becomes. Start where you are, with the strategic challenges you can see in your current role, and build from there.

Ready to develop the strategic thinking that senior roles require? Join Getting Ready for Senior Management or Getting Ready for Grade 9/Head of Service where we work systematically through all elements of strategic readiness.

Strategic thinking is just one element of progression readiness. Read The Hidden Curriculum of Progression: Unspoken Rules for Career Growth in HE Professional Services to understand the complete picture.

Also in this series:

Decision-Making in Professional Services: What Panels Look for at Each Grade

Communication in Higher Education: How Expectations Shift from Grade 6 to 9

Influence Without Authority: Hidden Skills for Progression in HE