Strategies for Growth

All organizations, regardless of their size and complexity, engage in some form of strategic planning. However, many non-profit organizations fail to place sufficient emphasis on external elements, directing the majority of their effort toward member related services. Important though the customer is to business and industry, corporations would undoubtedly fall quickly into receivership if they were to follow such practices. Other factors play important roles, advertising, marketing, and promotion strategies, to name a few. What is often given insufficient attention when setting professional association priorities at both national and provincial levels are four important factors: population demographics, economic trends, health policy development, and social values. Government policy papers and reports can provide valuable information for priority setting in allied health organizations. In small associations the desire to have an impact upon the health and welfare of the community certainly exists, but often creating the mechanism to meet that objective appears to be somewhat overwhelming. The recently published report of the Ontario Review Panel (Evans, 1987) identified seven fundamental values ■