Institutional Accountability for Developing the Next Generation of Faculty Leaders

Faculty retention provides a competitive advantage in an academic medical center. Faculty surveys show that lack of career advancement and leadership opportunities are primary reasons faculty seek employment elsewhere. Leadership roles for faculty are frequently locally maintained and not available for institutional leaders to assess leadership opportunities and gaps, especially for women and race/ethnicity groups underrepresented in academic medicine.

Offices of Faculty Affairs, Faculty Development and Health Equity & Inclusion launched a collaboration to frame and define the current state of faculty leadership at one institution. A desired faculty leadership philosophy, best practices, role descriptions, and overall title framework were developed and reviewed with department leaders. Departments identified all current faculty leaders using the title framework, and titles were entered as additional appointments into our human resource database at the faculty level.

Baseline demographic analysis of faculty leadership appointments demonstrated a gender and race/ethnicity disparity between the population of faculty and those in leadership roles. With the expanded tracking, the number of faculty leadership roles increased approximately sevenfold. While gender and race/ethnicity gaps closed substantially, the data revealed differences in higher-level leadership roles with more equity in mid-level and emerging roles.

Results enhanced awareness of the importance of tracking and evaluating leadership roles at all levels. Consequently, faculty leadership data were translated into real-time data visualizations. Tracking of who holds leadership positions increases accountability for initiatives designed to diversify leadership in an academic medical center, and demonstrates a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.