Abstract
ABM will develop and disseminate the standard for physician education around breastfeeding and human lactation. ABM will be recognized as the premier international authority on breastfeeding medicine. ABM will increase membership. ABM will be self-sustaining and accountable to our mission and mandates. ABM will be financially sound.
Since the inauguration of the strategic plan, significant progress has been made with respect to each of these goals, although much remains to be done. New opportunities have been identified and developed, thanks to the dedication and resourcefulness of our members, our management, and our board of directors. We have also encountered numerous obstacles to further progress and development, which will continue to challenge us in the years ahead. Such obstacles are not insurmountable and in fact can be for us a source of renewed energy and creativity, as they have been in the past.
As the current strategic plan draws to its conclusion, it is fitting for us to ask ourselves what lies in store, and should lie in store, for ABM over the following 5 years. To this end, the board of directors is creating a Strategic Pre-planning Task Force. This Task Force, to be headed by Dr. Julie Taylor, will seek to identify the most appropriate approach to develop a new strategic plan. It will start with the basics: What is the rationale behind a strategic plan? Why does ABM need one? When should the plan take effect? On what resources should ABM rely in proceeding with the development of the plan? Will outside professional assistance be required, and, if so, what form will such assistance assume? What costs will be involved? Can we simply update and modify the current strategic plan, or will an entirely new plan be necessary?
The consideration of a new strategic plan provides all of us with an opportunity to reflect upon the future of ABM and what that future should be. Our starting point must be our mission statement:
The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is a worldwide organization of physicians dedicated to the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding and human lactation. Our mission is to unite members of the various medical specialties with this common purpose.
Keeping our mission in mind, how can we best identify our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? Are our goals and objectives the same as they were in 2006, and, if so, in what ways will we have to alter the means by which to achieve them and to measure our success, or lack thereof?
For my part, I envision three major priorities by which to fulfill the mission of the Academy in the years to come:
Ensure the continued financial strength, growth, and stability of the Academy. Although attaching such a high priority to our financial well-being may seem somewhat pedestrian, it is only by building a sound financial foundation that the Academy can successfully pursue the ambitious and lofty objectives implicit in its mission. Other health professional organizations can safely rely on the generous support of industry; the ethical standards we have established for ourselves largely preclude such opportunities for us. As an old television advertisement once declared, we must get our money the hard way; we must earn it. It is incumbent upon us to think long and hard as to how we are to accomplish this. Much is at stake. Without adequate savings and a strong, reliable, and diversified revenue stream, all of the rest of our plans will remain nothing more than a mere pipe dream. Promote the establishment of breastfeeding medicine as a valid, widely regarded, and highly valued separate branch of medicine. Such a goal will involve a process of board certification within the United States and a comparable process elsewhere. Without such credentialing, physicians who specialize in breastfeeding medicine will never win the kind of acknowledgement of their expertise to which they are entitled from their fellow physicians, and there will continue to be a marginalization of this nascent discipline within the medical profession. As well, the continued expansion of ABM membership, and an increasing access to funding opportunities, will be largely dependent upon the establishment of breastfeeding medicine as a separate branch of medicine in its own right. Effect a transformation of ABM into an authentically international organization of physicians. Although all of us want the Academy to be an international body, we are still very far from achieving this goal. The creation of a new strategic plan will provide us with an ideal opportunity to systematically plan how the Academy can truly and realistically “go global.”
So, what are your thoughts? The board of directors is eager to receive your input about the future of ABM before it embarks on the daunting task of launching a new strategic plan. Your thoughts are always appreciated.