Strategic Advisory Services
Senior-level guidance for higher education leaders
Higher education leaders are expected to make consequential decisions quickly, often while managing competing priorities, limited capacity, organizational complexity and constant change.
Solve provides direct access to experienced higher education leaders who can help you clarify priorities, evaluate tradeoffs, work through difficult decisions and determine what needs to happen next.
Think of us as an extension of your leadership capacity: senior-level counsel that can be brought in when you need perspective, additional strategic horsepower or a trusted thought partner outside the institution.
This is not traditional executive coaching, and it is not an agency account model. You work directly with senior practitioners who understand higher education and can move quickly from discussion to practical recommendations
Why Solve?
Solve is a senior-led consultancy. Clients work directly with experienced higher education leaders rather than a traditional agency structure in which senior leaders sell the work and junior teams deliver it.
That means we can get to the substance quickly.
We understand the realities of higher education leadership, including shared governance, complex stakeholder environments, enrollment pressure, constrained resources and the challenge of advancing institutional priorities across organizational boundaries. We know it because we have lived it.
And because advisory relationships build context over time, the value compounds. The more we understand your institution, priorities and leadership environment, the more useful and connected our counsel becomes.
Where we focus
Strategic decision-making
Some decisions benefit from an experienced perspective outside the institution.
We help leaders work through competing priorities, organizational questions, resource decisions, enrollment and marketing strategy, stakeholder dynamics and other complex issues where the path forward may not be obvious.
Leadership transitions
A new role, new president, new organizational structure or expanded portfolio can quickly change what leaders need from their teams.
We can help assess the landscape, establish priorities, anticipate challenges and determine where attention is most needed, whether you are personally new to the role or simply leading through significant institutional change.
Cabinet-level leadership
At the Cabinet level, functional expertise is only part of the job.
Leaders must connect their work to institutional priorities, navigate cross-functional relationships, communicate effectively with presidents and peers and make decisions with implications well beyond their own division.
Solve provides a confidential sounding board for working through those challenges.
Organizational strategy
When structure, staffing or responsibilities are no longer aligned with institutional priorities, we can help diagnose what is getting in the way and evaluate practical options for moving forward.
That can include questions about organizational design, roles and decision rights, internal capacity, agency relationships, workflows and where work should live.
Marketing and enrollment strategy
For leaders responsible for marketing, communications or enrollment, Solve brings deep subject-matter expertise alongside the broader strategic perspective.
We can help pressure-test strategies, establish priorities, evaluate investments, strengthen alignment across functions and translate institutional goals into focused marketing and enrollment action.
Leadership capacity during periods of change
Sometimes the issue is simply bandwidth.
A vacancy, reorganization, major initiative or unusually demanding period can create a temporary need for additional senior-level capacity. Solve can step in as a strategic partner without replacing internal leadership or creating another layer of agency infrastructure.
What strategic advisory can look like
Engagements are intentionally flexible and can include:
Regular strategic advisory sessions
Counsel around emerging decisions and challenges
Review and feedback on plans, strategies or organizational recommendations
Preparation for significant meetings or conversations
Support evaluating priorities, tradeoffs and resource decisions
Guidance on marketing, enrollment and communications strategy
Organizational and team structure counsel
A confidential sounding board for issues that are difficult to work through internally
The work can be focused around a specific transition or challenge, or structured as an ongoing advisory relationship.
Ready to get started?
Sometimes you need experienced counsel to help you see the problem clearly, make a better decision and equip your team to move forward.
That is where Solve’s strategic advisory work fits.