Advancing AOTA's Strategic Priorities: My Answer on CommunOT

Candidates for AOTA office were asked to answer questions on CommunOT, AOTA's social media platform. I'll be sharing the questions and my answers. First up, a question on AOTA's strategic priorities:

Question: What recommendations do you offer for advancing AOTA's strategic priorities to ensure viability of the profession in a rapidly changing environment?

My answer:
 
Thank you for this question related to AOTA's strategic priorities!

First and foremost, if issues truly are strategic AND a priority, we need to put them front and center; they must be visible! To advance our strategic priorities they need to be part of our everyday language and our everyday work. During our pursuit of the Centennial Vision, we did an amazing job putting the vision statement in front of AOTA members and non-members. I saw it and repeated it so often I knew it from memory! The core concepts of occupational therapy being a powerful, widely recognized, science-driven and evidenced based profession, with a globally connected and diverse workforce serving society's occupational needs was on the tips of tongues!

Today it is difficult to locate information on our strategic priorities and strategic plan on the AOTA website. After some exploration, of if you know to search for just the right phrase, you might be lucky enough to come across the AOTA Strategic Framework that includes our mission, Vision 2025, three strategic principles and goals/strategies and our core values (https://www.aota.org/-/media/Corporate/Files/AboutAOTA/BOD/AOTA-Strategic-Framework-2020.pdf). We must do better at making our strategic priorities highly visible and easily found and accessible.

Advancing the strategic priorities (principles) requires a set of strategies to excite and interest internal and external audiences about the distinct value of occupational therapy. These audiences include occupational therapy practitioners and students, but they also include consumers, payers, federal and state agencies, health related professional associations and other healthcare providers. We need separate strategies to reach and engage each stakeholder group.

We can advance our strategic priorities by translating the strategic principles into language and specific examples that full-time practitioners, educators and students will understand and will connect to their daily lives. We must make the priorities sing loudly and clearly to those with their boots on the ground. I am especially excited to see the strategic principle of "Lead the profession by becoming inclusive, agile, proactive, responsive and approachable." Getting occupational therapy practitioners and students involved and helping them to gain a sense of ownership of our shared future will amplify our grassroots message and together we can be a force to be reckoned with!

Ten specific recommendations for advancing AOTA's strategic priorities to ensure visibility of the profession in a rapidly changing environment:

1. Make our strategic framework more visible by connecting it to Vision 2025 in a dedicated section of the AOTA website easily found by searching for several key words that are intuitive to members.
2. Engage with members, non-members and other key stakeholders in actualizing the priorities through systems thinking strategies and measure and report on outcomes frequently through the development of logic models.
3. Create an "Actualizing the Vision" initiative that highlights examples of how occupational therapy clinicians, educators and researchers are successfully operationalizing the strategic principles in their work. Feature this prominently on the AOTA Website and in AOTA publications.
4. Highlight strategic principle activities and accomplishments in OT Practice and on social media platforms including CommunOT, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
5. Collaborate with the American Occupational Therapy Political Action Committee (AOTPAC) to coordinate advocacy efforts and develop a laser focus of advocacy messaging to promote, protect and advance the distinct value of occupational therapy.
6. Promote the visibility of the AOTA Board of Directors and bodies of the Association and the Representative Assembly who are addressing strategic priorities through ongoing opportunities for AOTA members and non-members to engage in dialogue such as listening sessions, continuing education and Town Halls.
7. Present at conferences including State Association Conferences on Vision 2025 and the strategic priorities.
8. Share widely the frequent AOTA "wins" in promoting the profession and increasing our visibility in the media including print and the news (our AOTA staff do a great job and successes need to be celebrated more!).
9. Continue and expand the nomination of occupational therapy practitioners to serve on external task forces and committees with strategic partners and organizations such as the National Quality Forum (NQF) that provide an opportunity to increase the awareness of occupational therapy and our influence on health promotion, wellness and prevention.
10. Provide presentation opportunities at the AOTA Annual Conference & Exhibition by connecting presentations on activities related to strategic priorities to existing conference tracks and focus areas.

I have many years of experience and success with strategic planning in educational and clinical settings and on the Boards of Directors for AOTA, a community non-profit organization serving people living with HIV/AIDS and a LGBTQ oriented professional and philanthropic organization. One responsibility of the Vice-President is to be a steward of efforts to achieve our Vision. I was honored to have participated in leadership retreats and visioning activities for both the Centennial Vision and Vision 2025 and I have worked hard to help achieve both. If elected as Vice-President, I am well suited to guide our efforts to achieve Vision 2025. Nothing gets me more excited than collaborating with other OT practitioners to imagine and create our future!