Abstract
For a full year, the leadership of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has been working on a new 5-year strategic plan. It has recruited the services of a consultant, Mr. Tony Proscio, whose skill and expertise were critical in developing a plan in which all Academy members may take great pride. The plan establishes six priorities that will govern Academy activities and operations in the years ahead. The overarching goal is “to ensure that the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is recognized as the premier physicians' organization in breastfeeding and human lactation worldwide.”
The first priority is to make the Academy more truly global in the reach of its mission. Appropriate strategies would include expanded membership recruitment and sponsorship of events outside the United States (including the annual conference), an increase and strengthening of relationships with other international organizations and institutions, and cultivation of a more geographically diversified leadership for the Academy.
The second priority is to promote and support protocol development. The protocols have always held a central position in the Academy's efforts to educate physicians in the medical aspects of breastfeeding management. Indeed, many professionals around the world, physicians and non-physicians alike, have gotten to know and value the work of the Academy primarily through the protocols. The strategic plan recognizes that the protocols will continue to play an essential role in physician education in the years ahead. It is critical that strategies be developed to support protocol development, dissemination, and translation into many languages, so as to position the Academy to become “the premier physicians' organization in breastfeeding and human lactation worldwide.”
The third priority is to develop a method of certifying physicians as experts in the field of breastfeeding medicine. Such a process will help to establish breastfeeding medicine as a discipline in its own right. How the certification process will unfold is a matter of considerable controversy, but at the present time the consensus appears to be that some type of specialty examination will be a prerequisite. The two challenges facing us are to make certification relevant and meaningful to members outside of the United States and to procure the considerable funding necessary to finance board examination development.
The fourth priority is to become financially stronger and more secure. The Academy can accomplish nothing if it does not operate upon a strong financial foundation, especially in these perilous times. Clearly membership dues alone will not meet our growing needs and the requirements of the ambitious projects growing out of our global mission. It is imperative that we increase our fundraising capabilities and identify on an ongoing basis a substantial number of fundraising opportunities, in order to remain competitive in the world of non-profit organizations.
The fifth priority is to increase, diversify, and enhance the value of membership. The strength of the Academy, the very wellspring of its vitality and its strength, flows from the talents and dedication of its members. Strategies must be put in place to recruit physicians worldwide from a wide variety of cultural, racial, and professional backgrounds. Obviously, such strategies will not be successful unless prospective members can be convinced of the value of joining the Academy. This will require a special effort to find new and better ways of directly engaging members in initiatives that will have a positive and substantial impact on advancing the Academy's mission.
The sixth and final priority is to perfect the means by which the Academy is governed and managed. No organization can function without an efficient and harmonious interplay between its governing body and its management. The dialectical tension deriving from this interplay can be the source of considerable strife, but it can also give rise to an abundance of creative energy. In which direction the Academy will move depends primarily on how well each arm of its leadership is prepared to assume its respective responsibilities. To be candid, there is ample room for improvement, without which further progress will not be made. Greater clarity is required regarding the proper duties of the staff, the board, and the board committees. Such clarity can only be realized through development of operational guidelines, effective methods of communication, and leadership education and self-evaluation.
A strategic plan is only as good as the resolve to adhere to it. It is to be hoped that the members of the Academy will acquaint themselves thoroughly with this document, so that they may hold their leadership accountable for its performance in the 5 years to come.