What a new face courage puts on everything. - -Ralph Waldo Emerson
As this will be my final President's message for Plastic Surgical Nursing, I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect back over the past 2 years as President of American Society of Plastic Surgical Nurses (ASPSN). I hope that my reflection will assist both current and all future leaders who will undoubtedly follow. Without a doubt, I have learned, grown, collaborated, matured, and become much more flexible and tolerant.
First, I want to thank the community of ASPSN for this wonderful opportunity to serve as your President. What a fulfilling endeavor, and for this, I will be forever grateful. It does mark the highlight of my professional career. I gave it my all, or it seems, and received so much more in return. Thus, the purpose of this personal reflection is answering these simple questions. Have I given enough? Have I done a good job? Did I contribute as much as I possibly could? Did I practice due diligence as the President of ASPSN? Did I honor my mentors and colleagues? All of these hallmarks of a good leader are important to me. So, it is time that I critically appraise my activities and contributions as President.
Why did I use the word "courage"? Courage is the ability to do something that you know is difficult (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/courage). Doing different things is scary and often difficult. Becoming President of ASPSN was scary, and I willingly admit that. I had been a board member for 4 years before becoming President-Elect. I had developed many close relationships with past presidents who have and continue to mentor me. They were my role models, and I watched each of their presidencies in awe and took joy and pride in their accomplishments. I always wondered whether I would measure up to theirs as well as my own expectations. I was able to harbor my courage and complete my presidency. Now I must harbor the courage to critically appraise the job I accomplished. Yes, it does take courage.
The theme of our annual conference during my first year as President was Strong Voices: Impacting Lives and Making a Difference. I know each of us make differences every day in the lives of our patients, families, friends, and even strangers. The community of ASPSN has impacted my life and made a difference in me as a person, professional, and leader as I have strived to make positive differences within ASPSN. I only hope I leave behind some impact on future leaders and colleagues. With growing concerns of strategies to grow our membership, maintain financial stability, and offer more educational opportunities, the board recognized the importance of critically assessing our future plans. During that first year, the Board of Directors held a spring board meeting with the focus of developing a comprehensive strategic plan that would solidify our future. We met an entire day in Chicago, and the ideas flowed. The enthusiasm was contagious, as there was so much conversation, energy, and collaborating with each other. During the course of the day, the strategic plan was condensed and included objectives, interventions, as well as timelines of completion. It was a short-term as well as a long-term plan. A new mission and vision emerged, with formalized core values as follows:
Vision: The definite voice for Plastic Surgical Nursing
Mission: Promoting the competency and education of the plastic surgical nurse
Values: As nursing leaders and members of the ASPSN, we are committed to promoting the following values:
Nurture: We believe in advancing professional development.
Unite: We believe in unity and teamwork.
Respect: We believe respect is the cornerstone of our profession.
Support: We believe in mentoring and encouragement.
Educate: We believe in lifelong learning.
Going forward, the strategic plan was part of our board materials for our monthly conference calls. Board members always discussed issues, projects, and collaboration with the purpose of carrying out the strategic plan. Referring to the plan during these board meetings helped direct discussions and decisions. This process helped solidify our commitment to constantly evaluating our strategic plan in carrying out the vision and mission of ASPSN. For this piece of work, I am very proud and gleaned much for my own growth and development as a participant in the process. I commend the board for its work, dedication, focus, and just plain "getting the job done."
The board knew there was going to take the collaboration of numerous members to fulfill the objectives of the strategic plan. As tactics and actions to fulfill our strategic plan, committees became very active again. Our membership, marketing and social media, and clinical practice committees have all been very much energized as you can see from their fruits of labor. The clinical practice committee has completed and made available position statements and I hope as a member you contributed to the final document. The membership committee has focused on chapters and minimizing the chapter process for the formation of new ones. The marketing and social media committee really blossomed during the 2016 national convention. Each and every member has contributed so much. For this I am grateful. ASPSN leadership is a team approach and never only the contributions of one. As President, I have grown a new appreciation of this ideology. It is a team effort in every sense of the word, and a leader is not effective without worthy talented professionals.
At the 2015 national convention, we introduced the Plastic Surgical Nursing Foundation. The Foundation was a long-time goal of ASPSN and past leaders, and it is with great pride that this has come to fruition. The Foundation was created to oversee research and education in plastic surgical nursing. A Board of Trustees comprising LuAnn Buchholz, Barby Weber, and Sue Kunz, past presidents, was appointed by the board in early 2016 and charged with overseeing the activities and carrying out the mission of the Foundation. What a great milestone for ASPSN and one we can all be very proud of. I learned much from this process and was truly a labor of love.
I am a baby boomer. I have a daughter who is a millennial. I still struggle today with the differences between us and our views. As a leader, I recognize and continue to struggle with these differences. The millennials like things simple and straightforward. They embrace social media and many other technologies there were not even a thought during my earlier years. As a result, the energized Board of Directors underwent a process to revitalize ASPSN with the updated strategic plan and new mission and vision. With this came a new logo. The board discussed a new branding of ASPSN, and the design of a new logo ensued, a more modern, simple logo. This was a laborious process but, again, was embraced with such enthusiasm and commitment that it was contagious.
The purpose of our society still remains continuing education as it was in the beginning, and leadership has never wavered from this direction. This endless quest of knowledge to provide the ultimate care to our patients remains a driving force for our membership. I am committed to an endless quest for knowledge personally and have used this commitment in my duties and responsibilities to ASPSN. The goal of a revised logo was to provide a clean, simple, fresh, and modern, yet a timeless, symbol reflective of a changing landscape of plastic surgical nursing. We have to capture the millennials. They are our future. The concept of the Mobius strip is a surface that, because of the twist, has one continuous side. It can symbolize a patient in transition-restoring or changing his or her look-and the twists are a smooth transition within our care. It can also symbolize the cycle of life, and the three-twist version of this symbol calling to the three influences (doctor, nurse, and patient). It is also symbolic to our endless quest for continuing education and knowledge. The Mobius strip is representative of our society today. After much work, the logos were placed before the membership for the final choice. Member engagement and voter response were so positive. Thank you for voting. Our new logo was formally introduced at the 2016 Annual Conference. The theme was "New Vision, New Mission, New Face," which was our new logo. I hope each of us can view this logo with pride and embrace this symbolic logo for years to come.
So, as I reflect on my presidency, it did take courage. Like most things that you strive to do well they are difficult. You have to have the courage to persevere and remain committed to ASPSN first, foremost, and always. I was not successful alone in my presidency. I had strong, committed board members who shared a common vision and mission. We did do a good job. But yes, I could have done more as always but the leaders after me will undoubtedly continue with all the many wonderful activities that continue to unfold. I have no doubt. Together we were successful. Thank you for sharing this memorable journey with me.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcia Spear, DNP, ACNP-BC, CWS, CPSN, CANS
President, ASPSN