President’s Letter: Strategic Planning and Sausage

Deanna Kelly, PharmD, BCPP

There is an old saying “Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.” As I was reflecting on this article focused on CPNP’s strategic planning efforts, a similar thought came to my mind related to the exercise of strategic planning and specifically forecasting a future for the profession.

This past fall the CPNP Board met in person with the intent to shift our focus out of the business of the organization and take a deliberate look around and envision what the profession might look like 5 years or even 10 years down the road. This environmental scanning focus provides an opportunity to momentarily put our association's strategy aside, examine and discuss the external forces that are shaping our industry and our world, and then use the insight gained to return to and, if necessary, reshape our strategy.

Much like making sausage, it isn’t necessarily a pretty process. It’s hard. It requires a shift in thinking where we have to stop thinking about steering the ship and instead think about the winds of change swirling around us. Prior to coming to the meeting, all Board members responded to a few short questions about the organization's internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats. We then combed through the results to identify areas of commonality. During the retreat, we spent time going through those common responses and discussing how our current strategy might need to change to work toward our envisioned 5 year future for the profession.

After reviewing lots of data and sharing lots of opinions, it was refreshing to come to consensus around the table that the future for our profession is bright and that CPNP is doing many of the right things to help the profession reach its destination.

With an eye on this envisioned future, the board agreed that CPNP should continue its focus on the following core objectives:

1. Our Profession: We will actively shape and promote the role of psychiatric pharmacists as an essential component of the healthcare team in improving outcomes for those living with mental illness. We will be a primary resource for those seeking input on mental health issues.
2. Our Expertise: We will share our expertise as psychiatric pharmacists with the healthcare community. We will advance our various educational products and resources to remain innovative and to provide the best value to our members.
3. Our Members: We will engage with members as practitioners to connect them with peers and resources. We will engage with members as volunteers to cultivate new leaders, to amplify their impact on patient care, and to enable future support of psychiatric pharmacotherapy.

You can read more about the roadmap the Board and staff have established to work toward these core objectives in our 2020 strategic plan document. Additionally, you can join us at the CPNP 2018 Forum on our Future in Indy on Sunday, April 22 at 4:55 PM where we will report on recent and current activity intended to position CPNP and the specialty for success in the dynamic future of healthcare. While the Forum will provide time for an open discussion with the membership, know that you are welcome to outreach to me and Executive Director Brenda Schimenti at any time by emailing board@cpnp.org with your questions and opinions. Hope to see you in Indy in a few weeks!