President's Message
December 2011 Newsletter Article
The Creativity Cycle and the Fallow Season: Strategic Planning for the APA's future.
The fallow season is upon us. In those [olden] times when most folks were farmers, they would rest after the harvest and during the cold, dark winter, storing up their energies for the thaw and warmth of the next spring. Alas, for better or for worse, the fallow season no longer means a rest for the weary. Perhaps this is just as it should be since this is the season during which we sow the seeds, and till the soil for the spring PAS meeting. And it is at PAS that we reap the benefits of our work. Nevertheless, it would be nice to plan a "fallow season" for our creativity cycle, during which we sit back and appreciate the fruits of our creative labors, if only for a short time. Just like the soil needs to rest, lest it get depleted of nutrients and energy to produce rich crops, our creativity needs rest to regenerate and reflect on what has been accomplished. There was a time in my professional life, years ago, when I looked forward to January as my own personal fallow season–dark, cold and less hectic, a time with a somewhat slower rhythm when I would be able to focus myself and attend to parts of my personal and professional life that needed loving attention, a time when I would reflect and begin to plan creating anew. No longer… Each day there are 100+ emails to read and answer, research projects and educational developments to attend to, patients requiring focused thought and action, and many wonderful new and exciting APA projects to work on. This new 365–day–a–year creativity cycle is exhilarating and productive. Every now and then, though, I mourn the loss of that fallow season, and long to sit back and ponder and appreciate. Here's hoping some of you, my colleagues, have kept at least a little of that fallow season for yourselves.
I am "dating" myself (I am a proud baby boomer after all) when I say that one of my favorite songs is a Judy Collins song from the 1970s called "Fallow Way". She wrote the music and lyrics herself and here is a sample–beautiful–in appreciation of the fallow season:
I'll learn to love the fallow way
When winter draws the valley down
And stills the rivers in their storm
And freezes all the little brooks
Time when our steps slow to the song
Of falling flakes and crackling flames
When silver stars are high and still
Deep in the velvet of the night sky
Well, the fall and winter has not and will not be a fallow season for the APA. In addition to planning actively for the spring regional meetings, and PAS activities in Boston (APA SIG meetings, APA Committee meetings, invited science presentations, workshops, research presentations, etc), as well as the ongoing work of our core activities, we brought together present Board members, past Board members, SIG chairs, Region chairs, NCS and Educational scholars, YIA recipients, young members, and others for a two-day strategic planning session in late October. Our guiding principles were based on your ideas from the Value of the APA Survey that you filled out this past year (see Janet Serwint’s article in this issue of Focus). It was an extraordinarily productive two days. You may recall that our last strategic planning session was five years ago and led to many important changes, improvements, and new programs in the APA. The result of this year's strategic planning session was the following four goals and four associated taskforces to transform the ideas from the strategic planning meeting into an action plan for the APA:
- Advancing the career and professional development of our members. Possible areas of activity include:
- Providing and enhancing mentoring programs.
- Creating "ESP" (Educational Scholars)-like programs in research, health care services, and policy and advocacy. We have already planned a Research Scholars Program that will be rolled out this winter and spring. Stay tuned.
- Fostering networking and connectivity among our members and between our members and members of other like-minded organizations.
- Reaching out to our younger members.
- Reaching out to non-pediatrician colleagues.
- Creating a pipeline for the organization through outreach to medical students, and residents.
- Recognizing excellence of our members to support their career advancement, and seeking ways to enhance academic generalism.
- And of course, continuing to support our core programs that focus on career and professional development, such as the New Century Scholars, the Educational Scholars Program, the Young Investigator Award programs, existing awards, accreditation of Academic General Pediatric Fellowship Programs, Research Networks such as CORNET, PRIS and BORN, the Educational Guidelines Project, and our journal, Academic Pediatrics.
- Serving our members better and growing our membership. We want to make sure that we are meeting the needs of all of our members. We also want to continue to grow, since more members will give us the strength and depth to do more for more. See Chris Stille's and Dave Jaffe's discussion of our successful membership growth this year in this issue of Focus. Possible areas of activity include:
- Optimize our services to members through the use of data. We need good information about our members and from our members in order to serve them better.
- Identify and meet needs of the diverse member constituencies across the career lifespan, including diversity of discipline, subspecialty interest, age, gender, and race/ethnicity.
- Communicate what the APA is doing better to our members and to the pediatric community.
- Enhancing our policy and advocacy activities. We have a great Public Policy and Advocacy Committee that is active in advocating for children and for our professional pipeline. Click on "APA Advocacy in Action" on the front page of our website to see some of the important issues that we have been advocating for. However, we have not found a functional method of policy development in order to state what we believe in. This is an important task ahead. Possible areas of activity include:
- Stimulate policy development within SIGs, Committees, and Regions.
- Engage members in a dialog regarding organizational values. We want to encourage our members to shape the future of the APA and create a "grassroots" method for policy development. We want to consider different types of policies (external policies, white papers, resolutions, statements of principle) and involvement of members in the approval process.
- Improve the process to identify key issues to champion regarding equity for all children both nationally and globally and clarify our role in a global health agenda. We cannot focus enough on improving the lives and lifetime trajectories of children. That is both the underlying purpose and ultimate goal of our organization. Everything else we do must lead back to this agenda.
- Improve/change our organizational structure to better support our core programs and core activities. Possible areas of activity include:
- Strengthen SIGs and Regions. These are the lifeblood and sinew of our organization. Consider modification of the board to better support SIGs and Regions.
- Ensure adequate staff infrastructure to support the activities of the Board, membership and organization. Develop an overall strategy for communications and technologic support for the organization. Make asynchronous learning and communication available to our members.
- Re-evaluate the Health Care Delivery Committee and consider a change of focus, including a stronger focus on quality improvement scholarship, innovations in health care and health care reform, and the provision of health care in academic settings.
What is next? The taskforces will be working hard on producing action plans over the next several months. After that, we will be communicating with you, our members, about the plans for the future of the APA, involving you and getting your guidance. The PAS meeting will be an important opportunity for us to be discussing these action plans, and we will be meeting with Committees, SIGs and our members in as many venues as possible. If there are any necessary by-laws changes, we may be presenting them for a vote at the annual membership meeting at PAS.
A final thought…
In some ways, this strategic planning process is a wonderful example of a "fallow season." Yes, it is superficially full of activity, but the activity is really a stop in the road. Stop, and look at what we have accomplished. Stop, and consider where we need to go next. Stop, and listen to the blossoming of new ideas in our hearts. Stop, and share our thoughts and rejuvenate our purpose. Stop, and start the cycle of creativity once more.
Best wishes to you and your families for a joyous holiday season and a healthy and successful new year.
Benard Dreyer
President
Academic Pediatric Association
bpd1@nyumc.org
