A Leadership Framework for Implementation of an Organization's Strategic Plan

Many schools of nursing have employed strategic planning as resources have become limited and demands for organizational efficiency have increased. Although the process of developing a strategic plan has been described in the literature, there is little information about how to implement and evaluate a plan. In this paper, we provide an overview of one nursing school's strategic plan development and the implementation and evaluation processes. Our paper provides a detailed description of the leadership framework used to shape, implement and evaluate the plan and makes recommendations for their application to other schools engaging in strategic planning. •Strategic plan implementation requires organization, resource allocation, and ongoing evaluation.•Utilizing Bolman & Deal's leadership framework will help organize, plan, and evaluate implementation activities.•Implementation success requires leadership vigilance and an inclusive process to promote faculty and staff engagement.•Recognizing the hard work and accomplishments of the organization's people must be a priority to ensure sustainability of ongoing work.