The gap between strategy formulation and implementation is a persistent problem in educational organizations: many possess strategic documents yet fail to achieve intended outcomes. This study aims to explain the mechanisms through which educational leadership affects the effectiveness of strategic planning. Using a qualitative meta-synthesis based on Sandelowski and Barroso’s framework, selected domestic and international studies were systematically gathered, quality-appraised, and coded. Findings indicate that educational leadership exerts a largely indirect effect, transmitted through two complementary behavioral paths—transformational and innovative leadership—reinforced by two parallel mediators, organizational culture and organizational learning, and culminating in employee participation, commitment, and organizational cohesion. Unlike prevailing linear models, the proposed framework treats these mediators as parallel and mutually reinforcing, with environmental complexity moderating the entire path: the greater the complexity, the larger the contribution of innovative leadership and organizational learning. The model’s strongest effect lies in the implementation phase rather than formulation, addressing the absence of an integrated framework in the domestic literature and providing a testable basis for empirical research.