Stop Checking Boxes — Start Creating Strategic Value That Lasts

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” – Peter Drucker

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In academic pharmacy, we talk a lot about strategy—strategic plans, strategic priorities, strategic goals. Yet too often, those words end up as elegant slides or mission statements that feel distant from the day-to-day work of faculty and leaders.

Real strategy isn’t about saying yes to everything that sounds good. It’s about making disciplined choices that align resources, people, and energy around what creates the most value—for students, patients, and the profession.

Key Idea: Strategy provides direction. Value ensures relevance. When we connect the two, we move from “the to-do list” to impact— from “doing more” to “doing what matters most.”

Here are four tips to help pharmacy faculty and academic leaders drive next-level results through strategic value.

1. Define the Issue to Be Solved.

Key Idea: Strategy starts with clarity— knowing the result you’re trying to an achieve and how success will be measured. Without a clear definition of “winning”, even the most dedicated teams can drift. Faculty and departments often chase multiple initiatives without knowing which direction truly moves the needle.

Try This:

• Ask: “What problem are we uniquely positioned to solve?”

• Define your desired impact in measurable terms.

• Revisit progress regularly: Are our efforts advancing that definition of winning?

Example:
A college sets a goal to “enhance research visibility.” The faculty narrows this to a measurable target: “increase interdisciplinary grant submissions by 20% in the next two years.” The focus turns abstract ambition into actionable progress— and every decision flows from that clarity.

2. Make the Tough Choices

Key Idea: Strategy is much about what you don’t do as what you do. Big-S strategy (institutional) and little-s strategy (personal or departmental) both require trade-offs. Trying to do everything dilutes impact. Choosing focus strengthens it.

Try This:

• Identify initiatives that no longer add strategic value or align with priorities.

• Ask: “If we had to start over today, would we still invest in this?”

• Use this clarity to reallocate effort and funding toward high-value goals.

Example:
A department realizes its faculty are stretched thin across six community service projects. After reflection, they consolidate efforts into two partnerships that directly support student learning outcomes and community health priorities—fewer projects, greater impact.

3. Align People and Resources to Purpose

Key Idea: Even the best strategies fail without alignment to culture. Strategy dies in the gap between intent and execution. Effective leaders connect daily work to the bigger “why.” When people understand how their roles create value, engagement and accountability rise.

Try This:

• Translate strategic goals into team-level actions with owners and timelines.

• Communicate “line of sight”: how each faculty or staff member contributes to mission outcomes.

• Celebrate progress publicly to reinforce shared purpose.

Example:
During curriculum redesign, a dean links the effort to the college’s larger strategy of advancing team-based care. Faculty begin seeing their course revisions not as compliance tasks but as contributions to a bold educational vision. Alignment transforms effort into energy.

4. Measure Value, Not Just Volume

Key Idea: What gets measured defines what gets valued. Counting outputs (publication, committees, events) is easy—but outcomes reveal impact. Moving from activity metrics to value metrics creates visibility around what truly matters to students, patients, and partners. It makes it easier and more compelling to “pitch” your project, program, or college when your anchored to value that matters.

Try This:

• Ask: “How does this effort create measurable benefit or relevance?”

• Use value indicators-student outcomes, partnerships, innovation adoption, clinical research.

• Regularly assess whether your efforts still deliver those results.

Example: Instead of tracking how many events the college hosts, leaders measure how many results in student placements or interprofessional collaborations are created. Faculty gain clarity that impact— not volume— is the real win.

Final Thoughts:

Strategy without value is motion without meaning. Value without strategy is luck without leverage. When academic pharmacy leaders connect the two, they create focus, alignment, and momentum toward results that matter. Because success isn’t about doing more— it’s about doing what delivers the greatest contribution to people, purpose, and progress.

Next Steps to Strengthen Strategic Focus:

Looking to sharpen your strategic approach or align your team around a shared definition of value? EduLead offers coaching and facilitation for faculty and leadership teams to clarify priorities, strengthen decision frameworks, and build next level alignment.

👉 Let’s Talk About Coaching 

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