ASAIO Strategic Plan

Strategic Assumptions

The following are ASAIO's assumptions concerning the key external trends, challenges, or issues that will impact the specialty and ASAIO in the future. They may represent future opportunities or threats to the Society.

External Assumptions:

• The trend is towards biological, tissue, and genetic engineering and other biomimetric substitutes. The human genome and its exploitation will provide new knowledge of the interaction of the host with medical devices, including artificial organs, and will also compete for funding.
• There is a proliferation of other competing societies and organizations that can provide knowledge to members. The Institute for Imaging and Bioengineering of NIH will become a positive force in the development of new knowledge and devices.
• Volunteers have less time, energy, and funding to contribute to not-for-profit organizations.
• The future challenge will be for funding and human resources for experimental devices and their development and enhancement.
• The professional bioengineering work force is growing and maturing.
• Funding may seriously restrict future travel, the exchange of information, and make face-to-face meetings less appealing.
• Regulatory burdens and reimbursement challenges and burdens will continue.
• Applications of artificial organ technologies will increase.
• Technology will continue to change the way we communicate and learn.
• There will be increased interface with regulatory/clinical trials and human studies, the biology/medicine/engineering interface, and academic/industrial interface.

Mega issues are overriding issues of strategic importance that cut across multiple goal or outcome areas. They address key strategic questions that the Society must answer, illuminating choices the Society must make and the challenges that need to be overcome to better serve its members. fulfill its purpose, cause, or mission, and to successfully move into the future. The planning group identified the following mega issues.

• What will be the future, new sources of non-dues revenue and funding for the Society?
• What is ASAIO's niche or purpose, and whom should it serve in the future? What is the right size of membership?
• What will be required to better promote the value of belonging to ASAIO?
• How does ASAIO improve the quality of its annual conference?
• In the future, how will the Society more effectively attract students in training?
• What strategic partnerships, collaborative programs, meetings, and coalitions should ASAIO establish with other organizations?
• Can ASAIO recruit, nurture, and retain young investigators by better marketing the value of biomedical and artificial organs research? (recruit into the field)
• How do we more appropriately work with and educate the public, and who are the publics?
• How does the Society recognize the internationalization of the field? What is our geographical scope?
• How can ASAIO position itself as a leader in the effort to facilitate the cooperation of various artificial organ societies?
• What changes need to be made to the infrastructure to better implement the strategic direction and plans?

Identity of Excellence - ASAIO's Branding:

An identify of excellence describes how ASAIO will sustain a position of relevance and earn a reputation for value and excellence for current and future members. An organization with a true customer or client focus must start with the knowledge of what the client considers to be of value and then building comfortable relationships with them in order to be seen as the provider of choice. Value can be defined as the customer's definition of quality relative to price, product, and service delivery -- the right product at the right price and in the right format and delivery.

Brand is composed of two essential elements that form a value equation the value proposition and the value discipline.

ASAIO's brand, image, reputation, and identity of excellence must be a dynamic bionic technology educational programs and knowledge exchange forums and be supported by operational effectiveness and strong membership services and relationships, that are valued by members.

Value Proposition: What ASAIO must offer

• Excellent leading edge programs, products, and services - programs that expand existing performance boundaries.
• Knowing what members will need before they know they need it.
• A vision of what will be required for future success in the specialty.
• A useful new application of existing programs and services.
• A variety of delivery forums - both space and face.
• Executing with excellence - being very effective and efficient.
• Having a commitment to members to provide leading edge programs, products, and services.

Value Discipline: What ASAIO must do

• Develop an entrepreneurial culture that supports inventiveness, innovation, and risk taking in program development.
• Accept mistakes and move on.
• Develop scanning mechanisms to understand where the environmental industry is heading in order to identify potential new programs before they become apparent to others.
• Create a program development (business and management) process that will support new program development and an introduction that is far faster than it is today. Develop rapid and responsive program delivery capabilities that keep pace with members quickly evolving needs.
• Be willing to leapfrog its latest program with something new.
• Operate with financial stability and security.
• Provide high quality customer service.

To successfully achieve this identify of excellence, ASAIO's strategic direction must support and be linked to this branding.

Long-Range Strategic Planning Horizon

10 to 30 Year Envisioned Future

ASAIO also continued the development of its 10 to 30-year planning horizon, consisting of core ideology and 10 to 30-year envisioned future.Core ideology clarifies what must be preserved in an environment of rapid and unpredictable change. Core ideology consists of ASAIO's core values and core purpose.

CORE PURPOSE

The core purpose describes ASAIO's very reason for being or existing - why the Society will or should exist for a long, long time. What would be lost if the Society ceased to exist? What sense of purpose will motivate members to dedicate their creative energies to ASAIO's efforts over a long period of time?

CORE VALUES

Core values are a small set of timeless, guiding principles that do not require external justification. They only have intrinsic value and importance to ASAIO's members, staff, and key stakeholders. Core values are so fundamental that they seldom change - if at all. They define the behavior required in order for the organization to achieve its core purpose. Core values are so deep-seated and valid that the Society would preserve the core values even if it were admonished for having these values.

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    • Integrity
    • Dedication to health and well being
    • Openness to new ideas
    • Collaboration
    • Commitment to science
    • Innovation
    • Persistence

Three to Five Year Planning Horizon

The following is ASAIO's three-to-five year strategic plan which consists of an envisioned future, key, short-term infrastructure actions that are required to better link the infrastructure to the new strategic plan, three-to-five year goal statements, strategies, and milestones for each goal, and a three-to-five year envisioned future.

Three to Five-Year Envisioned Future

An envisioned future is a simple and concise picture of an ideal, desired future for the organization out 36 to 60 months. The envisioning process is the leadership team coming to consensus concerning what future success will look like. By engaging in an envisioning process, the Society is already beginning to create its own future. It sets direction and helps to focus the Society's strategic planning efforts. The process of developing an envisioned future is as important as the direction itself. The envisioned future does not supplant the 3 to 5 year strategic plan, it comes before it. The envisioned future sets the tone and direction for the strategic planning process.

ASAIO will:

• be financially secure and stable.
• engage in a variety of strategic alliances and partnerships with other organizations that will help to bring increased value and benefits to members (win/win relationships and increased financial viability).
• utilize technology to better communicate with members and to create a variety of forums for knowledge exchange and member services (e.g., on-line publications, list server, surveys on line, virtual meeting, distance learning, E-commerce, etc.).
• experience membership growth and diversity.
• be more in touch with its membership through better communications, website, and email.
• implement its CEO position.
• consolidate its monthly Journal with another Journal.
• provide a world class and highly active website to members, non-members.
• have added other disciplines to its membership.
• possess increased global influence.
• have hired a professional fundraiser.
• possess an enhanced image and reputation as a resource to the public.
• offer year round education opportunities and additional interface with other organizations.
• become the Society of other societies - an umbrella organization of common interest.

Infrastructure Issues

The strategic planning group also identified areas in ASAIO's infrastructure that will need to be reviewed and possibly reshaped to better align the infrastructure with its new strategic direction and to more effectively support ASAIO's move into the next century. These issues need to be addressed in the next 12 to 18 months in ASAIO's operational plans to enable the implementation of the strategic plan over the next 48 to 60 months.

Action Areas:

• Membership - ASAIO will:
  • increase membership growth and membership diversity (clinical educators).
  • increase international membership.
  • improve membership retention.
  • create more value for membership.
  • better market to members the value of membership.
  • increase the number of young members and researchers.
  • better communicate its core ideology to members.
  • offer an enjoyable community and culture to its members (have fun, celebrate).
• Review and reshape ASAIO's governance to:
  • clarify roles and responsibilities (knowledge-based strategic governance).
  • improve leadership development and succession planning.
  • not have board members as committee chairs with two exceptions.
  • offer more electronic meetings vs. face to face.
• Review and reshape ASAIO'sstaff structure to:
  • plan for the new Executive Director's transition.
  • align staff structure with the new strategic direction (individual departments).
  • increase overall staff expertise via self-development and training.
  • insure that staff has access to the most appropriate new technology and marketing.
  • review and reshape where appropriate staff's current structures and processes.
  • offer a membership relational database.
• Develop a long range financial plan to insure continued financial stability and security that includes:
  • ten year revenue and expense projections.
  • a formalized dues plan with shorter time intervals and smaller incremental raises that are tied to a nationally recognized index.
  • a plan to create more diversified and new sources of non-dues and non-member revenue streams.
  • a Board budget policy to:
  • create positive retained earnings each year.
  • determine the correct size continued growth and use of the contingency fund.
  • utilize the notion of zero based budgeting in preparing the annual operational budget.
  • build a strong endowment fund.
  • develop additional revenue (sponsorship, grants, non-member revenue) - a future cash cow.
  • seek a professional fundraiser.
  • pay speaker expenses.

Long-Range Goals

The following represents ASAIO's long-range goals that encompass its three to five year direction. These goals are outcome-oriented statements that will lead ASAIO towards its envisioned future. These goals are not in any order of priority. All of the goals will need to be accomplished, if ASAIO's is to fully achieve its three to five year quest.

• ASAIO will re-engineer its infrastructure to improve financial viability and position the Society to implement its strategic goals and strategies.
• ASAIO will be the primary resource for bionic technologies education and knowledge exchange forums for its members and other societies.
• ASAIO will be the recognized leading resource for advancing the development and medical application of bionic technologies worldwide.

Long-Range Goals & Strategies

Strategies indicate how ASAIO will organize, focus, and expend its resources and actions to maximize its effectiveness and efficiency in achieving these goals. The strategies will need to be reviewed and updated on an annual basis.

Milestones are used to determine the overall progress toward a goal. They indicate how close ASAIO is to achieving a goal as it executes the individual strategies for each goal. The milestones measure goal achievement, not strategy achievement.

Goal A: ASAIO will re-engineer its infrastructure to improve financial viability and position the Society to implement its strategic goals and strategies.

Strategies:

Hire a part-time CEO, who will be a non-voting Board member (an interim director of strategic development and operations who will be an experienced senior member). Develop eventually into a full time position.

1. Develop a succession plan for the Executive Director.
2. Develop succession plan for the Editor position.
3. Develop strategies to increase fund raising
4. Review and energize the current standing committee structure and its accountability, and create task forces as required.
5. Increase the number of staff to match the workload.
6. Develop a long-range financial plan that will support the strategic direction.
7. Create a process for conducting electronic board meetings on a regular schedule.
8. Review the current Board size and representation.
9. Review reducing the expenses associated with Board meetings.

Milestones: (Examples Only)

• An increase in:
  • funding and net, non-dues revenue.
  • operational capabilities.
  • the use of ad hoc groups and task forces.
  • expediency of delivering new programs, conferences, and knowledge to members and key stakeholders.
• The existence of a/an:
  • part-time CEO position and identified individuals.
  • succession plan for the Editor position.
  • succession plan for the Executive Director position.
  • revised standing committee structure.
  • long-range financial plan.
  • electronic Board meetings.
  • a reshaped Board.
• A decrease in the cost of Board meetings.

Goal B: ASAIO will be the primary resource for bionic technologies education and knowledge exchange forums for its members and other societies.

Strategies:

1. Develop actions to incorporate more clinician involvement.
2. Develop new meetings and programs to create additional value to better attract companies (electronic delivery ñ highly referenced Journal articles).
3. Develop actions that will increase the Society's collaborative efforts to work and partner with other professional societies.

Milestones: (Examples Only)

• An increase in:
  • membership diversity worldwide.
  • membership retention.
  • net, non-dues revenue.
  • new programs and services.
  • strategic partnerships and collaborative relationships to increase members knowledge resources.
  • interactive hits on the membership section of the website.
• The existence of a/an:
  • multi-electronic forums for the delivery of programs and services.
  • expanded Journal.

Goal C: ASAIO will be the recognized leading resource for advancing the development and medical application of bionic technologies worldwide.

Strategies:

1. Identify areas where the Society can better support research.
2. Identify problems in progressing to clinical applications of devices.
3. Incorporate Biomimetric and tissue engineering and other evolving technologies into the Society.
4. Broaden the Society's relationships with practitioners with established organ replacement specialties.
5. Develop strategies and benefits to better involve nurses (transplant coordinators) in the Society.

Milestones: (Examples Only)

1. An increase in:
   1. membership worldwide.
   2. research activity.
   3. research funding.
   4. strategic partnerships.
   5. ASAIO's recognition as a leading resource.
   6. interactive hits on the public section of the website.
2. The existence of a/an:
   1. credible data on evolving technologies.
   2. vision for bionic technologies.
   3. world class public section of the website.