Here’s to wishing you a decade of successful strategic planning

There has been no shortage of press on how to plan long-term in 2020, the start of the new decade. There are even 10-year planning calendars available. Regardless of how you feel about scheduling out an entire decade, it’s easy to understand why long-term planning is so attractive to organizations: “Companies that operate with a true long-term mindset have consistently outperformed their industry peers since 2001,” reported the Harvard Business Review in 2017.

This issue of Optometric Management covers topics that benefit from this long-term approach. For example, in “O.D. to O.D.” (p.2), Chief Optometric Editor April Jasper, O.D., lays the groundwork for a new “connected” approach to marketing that reaches the increasing number of consumers who share information through online social networks.

THE CONTACT LENS ISSUE

OM’s authors present a number of tips for success over the long term in this, our “Annual Contact Lens Issue.” In “Drive Practice Growth With Multifocals,” (p.16), Timothy W. Earley, O.D., describes the steps, such as creating team messaging, his practice took to meet the needs of his patients, which ultimately drove growth in his practice.

Drs. Andrew Fischer and David Kading discuss tools for fitting contact lenses in “Get the Perfect Fit” (p.18). Not only do these devices, such as topographers and anterior segment cameras, expedite the fitting process, they also aid in the monitoring of ocular disease.

Through interviews with several optometrists, Senior Editor Jen Kirby provides the “why” and “how” for getting started in prescribing cosmetic contact lenses (“Prescribe Cosmetic Contact Lenses,” p.24). Those interviewed share their passion for these lenses, which can transform a patient’s self-esteem and quality of life.

Additionally, Jason R. Miller, O.D., M.B.A., our contact lens columnist, describes the three steps needed to “create a positive contact lens culture” (p.40). Dr. Miller notes that developing this culture is an ongoing effort, one “that creates an office personality of innovation.”

With the start of a new decade, I invite you to share with us those long-term plans that have brought your practice success (email me at james.thomas@pentavisionmedia.com). It would be our privilege to share these wins with our readers in an upcoming issue. OM