Making a New House a Home — Strategic Planning for the Future

Dawn Morton-Rias, EdD, PA-C
Past President

The last box has been opened and the last piece of furniture put together in our new home. By all accounts the much-discussed PAEA transition is now complete. The PAEA Board of Directors, committees, and staff have now embarked on a process to critically analyze our core principles, priorities, and initiatives, so that PAEA may continue to move forward with purpose and direction.

As Anita Glicken reported in the last issue of the Networker, associations everywhere are moving toward a more business-like approach to decision making and planning. Dynamic changes in the health care and health education environments continue to create abundant opportunities for associations such as ours to revisit and renew their core objectives and to formulate strategic plans to help guide decision making. PAEA has recently begun to undertake a formal process to seize these opportunities and plan for the long term.

Our strategic planning process began informally last year with a series of meetings involving members of the board, committee chairs, PA deans, past presidents, and partner organizations. Committee chairs were also invited to share their annual committee objectives as well as new initiatives and priorities for the upcoming year.

The formal part of the process was begun at a board of directors’ retreat in Tucson last month. The retreat was at the Loews Ventana Canyon resort, site of the 2007 PAEA Annual Education Forum. Paul Meyer, a partner with Tecker Consultants in Alexandria, served as the facilitator of the two-day session. Under his leadership, the board of directors and PAEA staff engaged in an interactive process to review our mission, core purpose, and organizational values and to begin to envision our short- and long-term goals.

We were reminded of three important steps in sustaining association success: (1) provide excellent member products and services, (2) nurture a culture and community of trust, collegiality, and open communication, and (3) create what Mr. Meyer called a “nimble infrastructure that allows associations to quickly seize opportunities to create value.”

We began by identifying current conditions and trends in PA education and the profession. From the outset, this process amplified the need for PAEA to expand its data and research capabilities. We will increasingly rely on the PAEA Data and Research Workgroup to help guide our strategic planning in this regard.

Participants were also encouraged to consider relationships, opportunities, and threats related to PA student demographics and social values, the current economic climate, the globalization of the PA profession, legislative and regulatory factors, the influence of science and technology, and competition within the health care industry. Not surprisingly, many of the issues that emerged through this process were in concert with those identified during our conversations with PAEA constituencies.

We were also asked to consider what the Association would or should look like in years to come — what we would want the world to envision when they see the words PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. With this vision in mind, we identified specific goals, objectives, and strategies through which to fulfill the vision.

Over the next several weeks, the board of directors and staff will review and refine the draft strategic plan developed by the consultant. Before the plan is finalized, we will solicit feedback from our members, committees, and other PAEA constituencies. We will be sure to keep you updated as the plan takes shape, so please watch this space over the next few months.

To me, developing a solid strategic plan that will guide us forward together over the next 5 or 10 years will mark a vital step in making our new house a home and ensuring that we are well positioned to build our future.

As an aside, our meeting in Tucson also gave us the opportunity to get oriented to the Loews Ventana Canyon resort, where the 2007 PAEA Annual Education Forum will take place. Although our work schedule did not provide an opportunity to fully utilize the facility, it is a beautiful conference location and we look forward to our return visit in October. It’s not too soon to start making plans and to mark your calendars for October 24-28.