Shaping the Future of Surgery Together: 2025 — 2028 Strategic Plan

Shaping the Future of Surgery Together

2025 – 2028 Strategic Plan

1. Education

Goal: Transform educational offerings to meet diverse learner needs, expand reach, and enhance content delivery while continuing to deliver high-quality, personalized, and innovative content for lifelong learning.

Projects & Initiatives:

Learner Needs and Curated Content: Conduct needs assessments to identify specific learner gaps and curate content accordingly. Develop a clear educational roadmap for each clinical division, initiative, and unit.
Transformation of Delivery & Design: Align educational delivery with current industry standards and best practices to facilitate learning and surgical expertise through personalized pathways and content recommendations.
Increase Reach to Residents and Fellows: Grow resident and fellow participation in AO NA educational offerings.
Develop an Academic Calendar: Plan and publish a forward-looking academic calendar to give learners, faculty, and institutions time to plan their involvement. Strive for a two-year calendar.
Create Faculty Engagement Opportunities: Create a faculty engagement pathway that allows for faculty professional development and offers recognition and growth within AO NA as a volunteer.
Engage Early Learners: Develop programs for medical students to build interest in orthopaedics.
Digital Asset Management: Develop a framework that defines, tags, and indexes AO NA learning assets for packaging, repurposing, searching, and retrieving by learners.
Fulfill Education Commitment: Implement education offerings agreed upon through AO F’s Annual Needs Assessment Program.
Joint Providership Program: Develop a program for joint providership.

2025 Milestones:

Conduct educational content needs assessment by 30 June 2025.
Create and market the resident learning pathway by 1 August 2025.

Education ~ 2025 Milestones continued:

Build upon AO NA LINK’s success and surpass 2023-2024 participation and YouTube views by 5%.
Create a faculty engagement plan by 30 June 2025 and achieve the milestones within the plan.
Develop an education transformation plan by 31 December 2025.
Develop a digital asset management plan by 31 October 2025.
Implement course and online seminar plans and meet fill rate goals according to the ANA Process by 31 December 2025.
Finalize the Joint Providership Program and market it to organizations by 30 April 2025.

2026 & 2027 Milestones:

Publish the first draft of the academic calendar by 1 June 2026.
Develop education delivery models for implementation by 31 January 2026 and implement by 30 August 2026.
Increase the number of residents and fellows at AO NA courses by 12% and the number of represented AMCs by 10% each year by 31 December 2027.
Update programs based on the needs assessments by 31 July 2026.
Implement the digital asset management plan, framework, and workflows defined for asset management for existing and new learning assets by 30 June 2026.
Implement course and online seminar plans and meet fill rate goals according to the ANA Process 2026 and 2027.
Implement the education transformation plan and meet its milestones.
Apply for and gain ACCME commendation status in 2026.

2. Research

Goal: Foster innovation, support, and improve research capabilities through mentorship and targeted research education.

Projects & Initiatives:

Mentorship: Establish structured mentorship programs to guide early-career researchers through their academic journeys.
Research Education (PEER Workshops): Offer regular workshops focusing on essential research skills, including project design, data analysis, and publishing.

Research ~ Projects & initiatives continued:

Innovation / Incubation: Create an incubation platform for research ideas, providing resources for development from conception to implementation.
Grant Writing Workshops: Offer workshops to train researchers in writing successful grant applications, with follow-up sessions for funded projects as a part of the Get AHEAD program.
Research Sessions at Courses: Include dedicated sessions for research discussion and education in resident and fellow courses.
Tracking Publishing: Establish a system to track and highlight publications and presentations originating from AO NA research projects.

2025 Milestones:

Offer grant writing workshop at OneAO 2025.
Launch research mentorship programs for each clinical division by 30 November 2025.
Develop and implement a tracking mechanism to identify AO NA-supported research projects and initiate a communications strategy by 31 December 2025.

2026 & 2027 Milestones:

Develop and implement research curriculum for incorporation into resident and fellow courses by 31 January 2026.
Offer a grant writing workshop at OneAO 2026 and increase participation by 20%.
Develop and implement a cross-divisional grant writing workshop by OneAO 2027.

3. Membership & Engagement

Goal: Establish AO NA as the premier professional home for members by providing lifelong support in education, research, and community, fostering continuous professional growth and collaboration at every career stage.

Projects & Initiatives:

New Recruits and Diversity: Strengthen recruitment efforts, focusing on diversity in gender, race, and geography.
Get AHEAD: Develop the Get AHEAD program and its five paths.
Market Research: Conduct research to better understand member needs and preferences.

Membership & Engagement ~ Projects & Initiatives continued:

Key Opinion Leaders & Influencers: Identify and promote key opinion leaders and influencers within the community to drive social media engagement.
Mentorship (AO Access): Enhance participation in AO Access to connect members across career stages.
Manage Membership: Improve membership management processes, including onboarding, engagement, and retention.
Member Profile Update: Enhance and update AO NA’s member profile database, ensuring accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date information to enable better communication and personalized engagement.
Maintain AO Spirit and Community: Strengthen the orthopaedic professional community, encouraging more collaboration, networking, and sharing best practices among members.

2025 Milestones:

Develop a member profile update campaign by 15 June 2025 and achieve at least 60% of member profiles updated by 31 December 2025.
Complete an initial member research survey by 1 August 2025.
Launch the Ambassador Pilot Program for TNA by 1 August 2025, with at least 50% of the states having one ambassador.
Identify key opinion leaders and influencers by 15 August 2025 and initiate implementation of a communications strategy to promote by 1 November 2025.
Evaluate community-building activities by 30 September 2025 and provide report with recommendations to the respective clinical divisions by 1 November 2025 for action.
Create the curriculum for Get AHEAD and three of its five pathways by 31 December 2025.

2026 & 2027 Milestones:

Implement three of Get AHEAD’s pathways by OneAO 2026.
Create curriculum for GET AHEAD for remaining two pathways by 31 December 2026.
Develop a community-building strategy for AO NA by OneAO 2026, incorporating targeted engagement initiatives for each clinical division; achieve the milestones within the plan.
Design and execute a targeted public awareness campaign by OneAO 2027 to highlight AO’s value in North America, enhance member engagement, and foster deeper involvement within the AO NA community.

4. Organizational Excellence

Goal: Strengthen AO NA's operational transparency, communication, and partnership efforts to ensure its health, viability, and sustainability.

Projects & Initiatives:

Communications: Improve internal and external communication channels.
Financial sustainability: Diversify revenue streams, optimize operational efficiency, and build strategic reserves.
Governance: Reinforce governance processes to ensure transparency, efficiency, and accountability while expanding and diversifying volunteer opportunities to foster greater member participation and inclusivity.
Marketing: Strengthen AO NA’s brand presence and enhance member engagement through targeted marketing strategies, leveraging digital platforms, content creation, and strategic partnerships to increase visibility, recruitment, and retention.
Operational Efficiencies: Assess internal workflows and implement process improvements across departments.
Partnerships: Strengthen partnerships with key organizations and identify new opportunities.
Technology: Modernize AO NA’s technology platforms, reduce processes, and improve productivity and reporting.
AO Center: Assess the viability and strategic value of establishing a dedicated AO Center in North America.
Workforce Development and Succession Planning: Address upcoming workforce shifts and strengthen AO NA’s talent pipeline.

2025 Milestones:

Develop and implement an annual employee engagement survey by 30 June 2025 to continue enhancing engagement, performance, and employees’ voices, tracking progress year over year.
Develop a communications plan by 30 June 2025, to enhance engagement, increase transparency, and deliver value to members and prospective members while achieving the milestones outlined within the plan.
Assess AO NA’s governance and present recommendations to the AO NA Board of Directors by 31 December 2025.

Organizational Excellence ~ 2025 Milestones continued:

Develop a system to track social media follower growth, post engagement, and member-generated content by 31 August; grow by 10% year over year.
Complete a comprehensive feasibility study that evaluates the operational, financial, and strategic aspects of launching an AO Center by 1 November 2025.
Assess process workflows and ensure all routine projects and programs have standard operating procedures approved and filed by 30 September 2025.
Implement continuous learning and retention programs, including cross-training, stay interviews, and professional development opportunities, by 15 June 2025 to foster a motivated, adaptable, and skilled workforce.

· Conduct a comprehensive compensation and benefits review by 31 October 2025 to support talent retention and ensure competitive benefits for AO NA’s workforce.

· Assess partnerships and collaborations by 31 December 2025 and identify new opportunities.

2026 – 2027 Milestones:

Create a comprehensive implementation plan for adopting a new association management system by 30 January 2026 and achieve the milestones within the plan.
Develop a new member campaign by 15 January 2026 to augment AO F’s campaign and achieve milestones within the plan.

· Identify potential revenue streams by 31 January 2026; develop related plans and implement them to achieve milestones within the plans.

· Receive a management letter reflecting strong operational controls and no major concerns every year.

· Develop a structured and transparent volunteer evaluation system to assess volunteer leaders' performance, impact, and growth by 1 June 2026; roll it out with the 2026 – 2027 leadership year.

· Establish a comprehensive succession plan to prepare for anticipated retirements by identifying and developing high-performing employees for key roles by 31 January 2026.

The AO NA Board of Directors will receive a progress report at each board meeting on developing and implementing the overall strategic plan to ensure alignment, accountability, and timely advancement of strategic goals.

Text slide with strategic plan overview