Paving the Way for the ABC Professional Institute
Last week, members of the ABC Professional Institute (API) Curriculum Development Committee, and invited guests, gathered in the ABC office for a retreat to scope out and prioritize the services and products offered to members through the API, which is currently under development. Led by committee chair and facilitator, Michelle Johnson, from Carter BloodCare, the group spent a day sorting through the results of a recent membership survey about the API, and worked to identify the content of potential subjects and certificate programs that would be of value to ABC members.
Nearly 300 individuals responded to the survey, 67 of whom hold C-suite level positions at member centers. The most revealing results came from the expressed need for leadership development. Ninety-six percent of responding blood center executives and 87 percent of all respondents indicated that a certificate program in "blood banking leadership" would be of interest to them. Similarly, 88 percent of C-suite level respondents and 70 percent of all respondents indicated that they would like a certificate for blood banking professionals in non-managerial positions.
These results are not too surprising. Last year, I wrote about the need to focus on succession planning and grooming the next generation of blood banking leaders (at the time, ABC calculations estimated the average ABC CEO age to be in the early 60s). The data in the survey confirm that CEOs and other senior leaders feel the same need, and are looking at ABC to aid in this area.
Now that the committee has analyzed the data and identified the core API content programs and objectives, we've begun working on the details. These include setting up the API structure and developing education modules from scratch in some cases, and, in other cases, sorting through existing training and educational materials to incorporate. In the next few weeks, you will receive a call for experts to help develop the content of each module. We hope that you will roll up your sleeves with us and lend us your skills and existing materials.
Providing leadership development fits well with ABC's strategic goal of "Education Excellence," and one that will prove a worthwhile investment of the efforts and resources of ABC and our members for the betterment of blood banking.
Posted: 11/14/2014 | By: Matt Granato; Chief Operating Officer | Permalink
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