Volume 9, No. 1 , Spring 2007
Volume 9, No. 1 , Spring 2007
Event Reports
ELAM is definitely an experience like no other. Never had any of us had so much attention focused on us as individuals – personally and professionally – all with the intention of helping us stretch (including the yoga classes!). We began by interviewing each other in a free-floating group (3 interviews, 3 questions, and “don’t give the same answer twice”) and writing the results on the individual sheets kept on the walls. These brief bullets of self-disclosure were very revealing. They told of professional accomplishments, recent births of babies who were left at home for the first time, enjoyment of empty nesting, and hobbies as diverse as flying and ballroom dancing. We would return to these pages of “bullets” many times over the next few days.
We were inducted into the cult of Myers Briggs Indicator Type personality typing, which proved prophetic in some of the group exercises. For example, we all laughed when we were told that the ENTJs do a medley every single year when asked to write a single song about their group! We came to respect that talented, successful people see and process information differently, and that allowing each person space to exercise personal strengths results in a more creative, sturdier, and enduring product – witness the exercise of building a hospital with newspaper and string!
For most of us, this was the first time we had been in a forum where all the leaders were women, all of them accomplished women with leadership positions in academic health centers all over the US and Canada. What a unique and transformative experience! This pivotal event will stand in our professional lives, defining us as pre- and post-ELAMers. We learned the value of appreciative, positive inquiry in effecting institutional change and new concepts like “fanning positive deviance.” We vacillated between being annoyed that we were told to “dress up” for dinner (“Can you imagine them telling men to do that!”) to being wholeheartedly grateful for the professional coaches who guided us in identifying benchmarks of our strengths and weaknesses and strategizing plans to capitalize on both for professional and personal growth. We were also grateful for the personal advice and encouragement offered by the ELAM faculty, Page Morahan, Roz Richman, Nadine Kaslow, Judith Katz and others, to help us navigate the minefields of academic career advancement in medical, dental, and public health schools.
The exercise, Ann Preston School of Medicine, was a unique experience. This opportunity proved to us that we had the knowledge and skills to assess quickly the basis for financial failure, to create potential remedies for a hypothetical academic health center, and to present to a hostile board cogent recommendations for re-direction. In addition, this exercise revealed our own personal strengths and weaknesses in functioning within an ad hoc work group laboring under time pressure with inadequate information to complete a complex task.
There were so many highlights of that week at the Gregg Center:
After our first meeting we re-connected with our Learning Communities by conference call and WebCT discussion. We found in these connections a safe space to voice our insecurities, seek emotional support, validate our ideas, and receive sincere praise for our accomplishments. We returned as a group in conjunction with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) meeting in Seattle WA in October 2006. The ELAM sessions were intense and long, going well beyond the 20 minutes, attention-span rule. Still, an enormous amount of good information covered conflict management and other issues that can derail a career – practical examples for everyday real life were plentiful. We will all remember to say, “You said that with a smile, but it sounded like a dig. Did you mean it that way?” (Cathy Siders)
As the ELAM sessions segued into the AAMC meeting, Virginia Valian and Jim Collins were clearly the star attractions. Valian’s take-home message was that we need to move beyond “fixing the women” if we want to attain the ELAM goal of promoting and sustaining more women leaders in academic medicine, dentistry, and public health. We need to change the institutions so that men and women – both from diverse cultures – have the opportunity to reach their full academic potential. We can see that the current state of academic medicine is analogous to having all of one Myers Briggs type leading – we are not fielding our best teams to meet the challenges we face in the broad areas of health and healthcare in this country.
Collins’ main take-home point addressed the same theme from a different angle: the success of any organization or undertaking needs the right people “on the bus” at the outset. Then these people may decide collectively how to drive the bus to accomplish the goal.
The AAMC meeting had some additional highlights – and Seattle was a terrific location. Dinners with the Learning Community topped the list. The deans’ reception had the feel of a debutante ball. Although it provided the opportunity for some to hear public praise from their dean, for those whose deans elected to be elsewhere, it re-affirmed that events targeting the promotion and advancement of women are not seen as the “real” work of medical school deans.
As we enter the New Year, we are reminded how little time we have to complete our ELAM assignments. However, we look forward to our interviews with institutional leaders, completing our benchmarks assignment, and continuing our dialogues on WebCT and with our learning communities. Finding opportunities to learn from one another and to receive advice and recommendations from our ELAM colleagues reminds us of the value of the present and future network that ELAM helped us forge. As Page and Roz said, ELAM fellows and ELUMS form a community of practice and we, the class of 2006-07, are grateful to be its newest members.
Molly Carnes, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
mlcarnes@facstaff.wisc.edu
In collaboration with the Northern Lights Learning Community and their ELAM Advisors:
Iris Borowsky, University of Minnesota Medical School
Sally Camper, University of Michigan Medical School
Karen Colley, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
Sonia Crandall, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Chery DeVore, The Ohio State University College of Dentistry
Linda French, University of Toledo College of Medicine
Joanne Hilden, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
Sharon Hostler, University of Virginia School of Medicine
Judith Kersten, Medical College of Wisconsin
© SELAM International
SELAM Board Retreat – October 26-27, 2006
Optimal global health will be possible when women are fully engaged as leaders in the academic health professions.
This is the new vision statement for SELAM. The statement was drafted at the Board Retreat during the AAMC meeting in Seattle WA. Retreat participants included: Chris Abrass, Phyllis Beemsterboer, Kathy Kim, Elizabeth Kunkel, Joan Lakoski, Karen Novielli, Tori Odhner, Roz Richman, and Roberta Sonnino. In addition to the vision statement, the retreat participants revised the mission statement. The values of SELAM were articulated as follows:
The final mission and vision statement will be presented to the membership at our annual meeting in April 2007.
In order to enhance continuity, expand involvement of members, and enhance services to members, the retreat participants approved a new structure for the Board. The Board of Directors will be comprised of:
The new Board would have a total of 13 members. The new structure will be presented to the membership in April 2007 and implemented in April 2008.
The group then discussed establishing a Development Plan and Task Force. The development plan would be linked to the strategic plan. It would review internal sources of revenue (membership, pins and scarves, auctions), and consider an endowment drive and other sources of external support. As part of our development efforts, Karen Novielli and Mary Lou Voytko attended the AAMC Development Course in San Diego in January 2007.
Remember the SELAM Annual Meeting will be held April 20–22, 2007. Starting in April 2007, each SELAM Committee will be expected to meet at the Annual meeting.
Kathleen Kim, MD
© SELAM International