The decision-making around resource allocation in universities is complex. It plays out through the structures of governance and bureaucracy, through interactions with colleagues, workplace cultures and through day-to-day individual work practices. To survive and succeed within this complex environment, teaching support staff need to be sensitive to the cues provided by their institution. This paper focuses on the cues available to teaching support staff within university strategic plans and considers the effects these cues may have on their day-to-day decision-making. The results provide a sample of the competing cues that have an impact on teaching support staff and provide a foundation for a reconsidered approach to university strategic planning.