The ‘Not So Magic’ Magic of Strategic Planning
Since my earliest days as an academic at Saint Louis University (SLU), I’ve been a student, a user, and a proponent of strategic planning. I had two early mentors for strategic planning - Drs. Rick Kurz and Barbara Arrington - that I credit with giving me deep appreciation of, respect for, and belief in robust strategic planning. I took that passion for academic strategic planning with me from SLU to Rush, and then Memphis, and Iowa. At all four places, I am certain we were more successful with solid strategic plans than we would have been without them.
While most organizations and teams will eventually make some progress in terms of incremental, short-term success without a concrete plan, strategic planning aligns efforts to mission, vision, and values; makes it more aspirational and longer term; aligns well with continuous quality improvement and better outcomes; and allows formal evaluation and adjustments. Rosabeth Moss Kanter described what drives passion for strategic planning eloquently….
A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.
When I joined AUPHA as President and CEO in March 2020, the timing was perfect from my perspective. The Board had been engaged in a strategic planning process for almost a year and were within six months of finalizing a new Plan for 2020-2024. I had the opportunity to have input into the Board’s plan (which I thought was excellent) and work with the staff to prepare for implementation. Following best practices for governance versus management, the Board decides “the what,” while management focuses on “the how.”
The 2020-2024 AUPHA Strategic Plan has been perhaps the most ambitious in AUPHA’s history, with 11 total initiatives and a Board investment of close to $500,000. The 2020-2024 Strategic Plan and Dashboard are available to AUPHA members and the public on the AUPHA website.
As the Association moves into a new planning cycle, the Board and staff will be thinking about both how we’ve done in terms of the new and continuing member benefits and resources and what needs to happen next to come even closer to reaching AUPHA’s vision, mission, and values. There is no shortage of ideas about what AUPHA should be doing and should do next. I hear from members weekly with ideas. But there is a need to be more proactive, more intentional than that. The Board will be asking you, all of our AUPHA members, for your opinions, ideas, perspectives, and feedback during 2024 as we work toward adoption of a new 2025-202x Strategic Plan.
In the end the Board must prioritize what’s most important; what most adds value to AUPHA membership; and what existing and perhaps new initiatives will further drive our quest for excellence in healthcare management education. Many ideas will get cast aside, but that’s okay; it’s the way robust strategic planning works. As Michael Porter has said….
The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.
Since I joined AUPHA as faculty at a member program in 1994, I’ve been impressed with how responsive the Association’s Board, leadership, and staff have been to the needs of its members. I believe that one of the positive things that has come out of the COVID pandemic is even greater intentional listening and observing, and then responding to the needs of our AUPHA members. That, too, is part of the intentionality of strategic planning. And it’s an advantage we have as a nonprofit association, as the big-tent healthcare management academy. We can stay focused like a laser beam on you, our members; what you need to be successful as a faculty or staff member, and academic leader; and what your program needs to ensure student and alumni success. We can focus on you versus any competitors. Jeff Bezos approached building Amazon this way, expressing it as….
If you're competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.
Through the coming year and beyond, I hope you will take every opportunity to participate in both the planning process and the eventual implementation of AUPHA’s next strategic plan. Stay tuned!
Dan