Volume
8, No. 2: Section 11
Volume
8, No. 2: Section 11
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Annual Meeting was held November 4-9, 2005, in Washington DC. The Society for Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (SELAM International) and AAMC Women in Medicine (WIM) co-sponsored the workshop, Changing the Culture – Gen-X’ers and the New Leadership Paradigm. It was standing room only. Presenters Janet Bickel, MA, and Ann Brown, MD, are co-authors of Generation X: Implications for Faculty Recruitment and Development in Academic Health Centers (Acad Med 2005; 80:205-10).
Brown, Associate Dean for Women in Medicine and Science at Duke University Medical Center, began the workshop by describing the characteristics and profile of recent generations – veterans, baby boomers, Gen-X’ers and Nexter’s. Brown’s insights addressed the tensions between the four generations in our work force and the implications for academic health centers. She suggested that awareness of generational differences would help academic health centers understand some of the challenges in faculty development. Differences manifest as gaps in expectations of mentoring and faculty careers and what the “ideal worker” looks like. Consciousness of generational differences helps form strategies for generations to work together more effectively. It also enhances recruitment and movement of Generation X’ers into faculty and leadership roles. Academic health centers should be cross-generationally friendly to create high-performing work teams and attract the best faculty.
Bickel, President of Janet Bickel and Associates and previously AAMC ‘s Director of the Office of Women in Medicine and Vice President for Medical School Affairs, offered ideas to improve faculty recruitment and development. She discussed improving mentoring, adding flexibility to integrate personal and professional lives, and enhancing proactive leadership development. Bickel emphasized the importance of developing competencies in mentoring “across differences”. She offered some common mentor pitfalls: pretending differences don’t exist, undervaluing other points of view, automatically communicating biased versions of “reality”, and unskilled or rushed feedback. Advice on mentoring Generation X’ers included: create a clear picture of what is to be accomplished and divide this into goals; focus on outcomes but learn how to do them; give timely and specific feedback; identify options for building skills; connect with other role models; and encourage the protégé to mentor others.
Bickel believes proactive leadership development relies on effective mentoring. She suggested incorporation of career and leadership development earlier in undergraduate and medical education, as well as holding leaders accountable for behavioral competencies. She cited examples from the Veterans Affairs’ high performance development model – effectively involve team members in building consensus; use negotiation skills in work groups to resolve conflicts; share information readily; encourage employees to express opinions, ideas and concerns; listen empathetically; invite contact; and be easy to approach.
Workshop participants were divided into small groups to create a “history of the future.” Their charge was to describe what they would like to see in 2015, and what steps academic health centers should take to achieve improvement in the following four areas:
Participants enthusiastically shared their ideas. At the end of the workshop, comments on the flip charts were shared with the entire audience. This successful professional development program was organized by the SELAM Board of Directors, led by President Roberta E. Sonnino, MD, together with Rosalyn Richman, MA, Co-Director of ELAM, and Victoria C. Odhner, SELAM Administrator, in conjunction with Valarie Clark, MPA, Director of Faculty Development, and Diane Magrane, MD, Associate Vice President of Faculty Development and Leadership Programs of the AAMC WIM Group.
Helen
K. Li, MD
Secretary, SELAM International
ELAM Class of 1999-2000
© SELAM International