How Canadian School Divisions Can Build Leadership Teams Aligned to Strategic Education Plans

May. 20 2025

In school divisions across Canada the challenges of leading K–12 systems are growing more complex. From the rise in student mental health needs to fluctuating funding models and rural teacher shortages, superintendents and secretary-treasurers are facing an increasingly strategic mandate.

But here’s the critical insight: The #1 reason strategic plans stall in Canadian school divisions isn’t poor design—it’s misalignment within the leadership team.

Even the most visionary multi-year education plan can falter if leaders aren’t pulling in the same direction—not just in goals, but in how they make decisions, share responsibility, and translate strategy into daily practice.

This article explores what real leadership alignment looks like, why it matters more than ever, and how divisions—urban or rural, large or small—can build teams that actually move strategy forward.

Why Leadership Team Alignment Is Key to School Division Strategic Plan Success in Canada

Nearly every Canadian school division now develops a multi-year education plan, often aligned to provincial priorities such as student learning, equity, and Indigenous education. These documents are intended to provide a roadmap—not just for compliance—but for genuine impact.

Yet, research shows that implementation often falls short:

• A 2022 study by the Canadian Association of School System Administrators (CASSA) found that 41% of school divisions struggle to link day-to-day operations to strategic priorities.
• In a 2023 Alberta Education survey, 63% of trustees cited “lack of capacity at the leadership level” as a key barrier to delivering on board goals.

In both cases, the issue wasn’t a flawed strategy—it was the misalignment of the leadership team responsible for executing it.

What Leadership Alignment Looks Like in Canadian School Divisions

Alignment isn’t just agreeing on the wording of goals.

It means that key executives interpret and act on those goals in the same way, using a common language and decision-making framework across departments. It also means shared ownership—where leaders are collectively responsible for results, not just their individual portfolios.

Key markers of an aligned leadership team:

• Consistent messaging from superintendent to school principals
• Budget decisions that directly reinforce board priorities
• Coordinated performance measurement and reporting
• Clear delegation of leadership based on trust, not silos

Without this alignment, even high-performing individuals can work at cross-purposes, leading to fragmented implementation, confusion among staff, and friction at the board level.

Leadership Alignment in Action: Case Studies from Urban and Rural Canadian School Divisions

Let’s look at two anonymized examples from Western Canada that illustrate how leadership alignment (or lack thereof) shapes outcomes.

Division A (Urban, 40,000+ students)

• Strategic plan included a major shift toward Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
• Curriculum and instruction departments moved quickly to pilot inclusive tools.
• Finance and operations, however, continued using outdated procurement processes and hiring models, causing delays in classroom access.

Outcome: After two years, only 30% of schools had begun implementation.
Lesson: A strategic plan isn’t effective unless all departments—not just learning—are mobilized around it.

Division B (Rural, <5,000 students)

• Strategic plan focused on “equity of opportunity” for remote learners.
• Small leadership team of 3: Superintendent, Secretary-Treasurer, and one Associate Superintendent.
• Because of size, these leaders met weekly, shared planning documents, and rotated lead responsibility on division-wide initiatives.

Outcome: Despite limited resources, the division rolled out high-speed connectivity to 100% of its rural schools within 18 months.
Lesson: Smaller teams, when tightly aligned, can act faster and more effectively than larger, siloed ones.

Top Causes of Leadership Misalignment in Canadian K–12 School Divisions

From our research and field interviews across Western and national contexts, misalignment typically shows up in these areas:

Finance vs. Pedagogy

When educational goals are set without input from finance or operations, execution gaps emerge.
Secretary-Treasurers should be embedded early in strategic planning—not called in later to “make it work.”

Succession Planning

In a 2023 Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) review, 38% of boards lacked a clear succession plan for their executive team.
Leadership drift often begins when interim or new hires aren’t onboarded into the division’s strategic direction.

Shifts in Governance or Leadership

Trustee elections or superintendent retirements can reset priorities overnight.
If the executive team doesn’t recalibrate quickly, strategy and operations begin to drift out of sync.

4 Ways School Boards Can Strengthen Leadership Team Alignment to Strategic Goals

Here are practical ways school divisions can build and maintain alignment across their leadership teams:

1. Joint Strategic Planning Sessions

Include the full executive team—superintendents, secretary-treasurers, HR leads, and others—in developing strategic plans from the beginning.

2. Shared Performance Indicators

Use a small, strategic set of KPIs that all departments are responsible for, such as:

• Graduation rates by demographic
• Budget alignment to key priorities
• Staff wellness or retention metrics

3. Cross-Functional Leadership Projects

Assign senior leaders to co-lead initiatives that cross departmental boundaries (e.g., finance co-leading a digital learning rollout with curriculum).

4. Annual “Alignment Audits”

Regularly assess how current budgeting, hiring, communication, and reporting practices support (or block) the strategic plan—and adjust accordingly.

Hiring for Alignment: Choosing Leaders Who Support School Division Strategy

As school divisions face growing pressure from retirements, new mandates, and community demands, every leadership hire becomes a strategic lever.

Boards and hiring committees should ask:

• Does this candidate reinforce our values and priorities?
• Can they collaborate across departments and silos?
• Do they have experience aligning complex teams to system-wide goals?

When these criteria guide hiring, alignment becomes an embedded strength—not an ongoing battle.

Final Thoughts on Strategic Leadership Alignment in Canadian School Divisions

Canadian school divisions—regardless of size or geography—are being asked to do more with less, and to lead with greater clarity, equity, and resilience.

Leadership alignment isn’t a bonus—it’s a precondition for success.

As both research and lived examples make clear: strategy without alignment is like a compass without a map. It may point the way—but it won’t get you there.

By investing not just in individual leadership capacity, but in collective leadership cohesion, school boards position themselves to navigate the demands of today—and whatever comes next.