Develop a Strategic Thinking State Chapter

2007 is here and resolutions abound. Is it reasonable to extend your New Year's resolutions to your state chapter? The answer is absolutely, yes, why not?

The process of developing a strategic plan may offer an initial organizational platform for achieving goals. Goals need to be developed with care, so that they don’t set the chapter up for failure. Vision, mission, objectives, and values are all terms thrown around in the subject of strategic planning. In reality, a strategic plan should be short, concise, visionary, conceptual, and directional. As the strategic plan develops, the next step is the operational plan. This plan is more detailed and focused. The operational plan is shorter term, tactical, focused, "implementable," and measurable. The operational plan should incorporate the goals from the strategic plan and define the work necessary to accomplish the goals. The operational plan should identify the goals, assign the work, set a schedule and incorporate a measurement for assessing success.

There are a variety of examples of strategic plan goals for an AMDA state chapter. These may be similar in every chapter and include membership, finances, education, and promotion of quality patient care. Education may extend to the medical directors, LTC attending physicians, nurses, and other staff in LTC. Some goals are issues designed more for the national organization’s strategic plan such as regulatory, physician reimbursement, and physician liability. Nonetheless, state chapters can define their goals and implement strategies to become involved in nearly all of these examples. A small state chapter may prioritize membership while a more mature chapter may prioritize legislative issues at the state government level.

The important point is to start the year off with the energy necessary to organize your AMDA state chapter, set reasonable goals, initiate the work, delegate the work to involve the membership and monitor your success throughout the year.

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