SMCMA Physician

Roadmap for the Future

As we continue to modernize and reinvent your SMCMA into a fluid and dynamic modern medical society, the concept of “Vision 2020 | Relevance 2025” was adopted as a slogan that symbolized the need to clearly define who we are as an association while keeping an eye on future sustainability. From this concept, the SMCMA Board of Directors committed to engaging in a formal Strategic Planning Process.

Strategic Planning is a methodology designed to provide a sense of direction by setting measurable goals and objectives for an organization. The result of the planning process is the Strategic Plan, which is a tool that focuses the energy, resources, and time of the organization towards activities designed to meet the goals and objectives set forth in the plan.

The SMCMA Strategic Planning Session took place from July 20-21, 2018. Following the session, concepts were compiled by the facilitator and subsequently reviewed and amended by SMCMA Staff and the Executive Committee, before ultimately being adopted by the Board of Directors on August 14, 2018. The SMCMA Strategic Plan for 2018-2021+ highlighted the following society goals:

I. Engaged Membership

II. Influential Physician Voice

III. Promoting Health

IV. Organizational Strength

Each goal is supported by several strategies, which serve as guiding pillars for future activities pursued by the SMCMA. In addition, a new Organizational Chart detailing the SMCMA volunteer committee structure was created to align with the goals and strategies set forth by the approved plan. A synopsis of the goals, strategies, and the new committee structure can be found on the following two pages.

In a membership organization, the success of any Strategic Plan lies not only in planning, but also in the execution of the planned objectives by volunteer committees. Committees are intended to supplement board and staff work, and robust tactical planning was performed by SMCMA staff to create tactics to “operationalize” the strategic plan. Although many of the tactics are staff driven, those tasks assigned to committees should be guided by their respective committee chairs and their committee members, utilizing SMCMA staff to support those initiatives. 

It also is important to note that the vitality of an association is directly related to the vitality of active members engaged in the cause of the association, and it is critical for volunteers to actively engage in a “member as owner” capacity. As such, a range of volunteer opportunities have been created through this new committee structure with the intent to enhance member engagement and involvement in the SMCMA.

I urge every member to contribute to your SMCMA at some level. Volunteer capital is one of the most important assets a society can amass, and the success of the SMCMA and what we can accomplish together is directly tied to the efforts of our volunteers. 

To get involved, please visit:

www.smcma.org/membership/volunteer.