Perspective: The Missing Link in Academic Career Planning and Development
Retention of faculty in academic medicine is a growing challenge. It has been suggested that inattention to the humanistic values of the faculty is contributing to this problem. Professional development should consider faculty members' search for meaning, purpose, and professional fulfillment and should support the development of an ability to reflect on these issues. Ensuring the alignment of academic physicians' inner direction with their outer context is critical to professional fulfillment and effectiveness. Personal reflection on the synergy of one's strengths, passions, and values can help faculty members define meaningful work so as to enable clearer career decision making. The premise of this article is that an awareness of and the pursuit of meaningful work and its alignment with the academic context are important considerations in the professional fulfillment and retention of academic faculty. A conceptual framework for understanding meaningful work and alignment and ways in which that framework can be applied and taught in development programs are presented and discussed.
Retention of faculty in academic medicine is a grand challenge. Although there is normal attrition throughout the years, loss of new faculty is of particular significance in the current context of medical education. The increasing numbers of vacant academic positions and an aging faculty further complicate the issue.
According to some in academic medicine, inattention to the humanistic values of faculty is contributing to this problem. Professional development should consider faculty members' search for meaning, purpose, and professional fulfillment and should support the development of an ability to reflect on these issues. Such self-awareness is the first step in effective career decision making.
The process of leadership involves engaging people toward goals that are shared. Academic physicians enact leadership when they engage with others in pursuit of the realization of a shared academic mission of education, research, and service. They lead, directly, by significantly affecting the thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors of others, or, indirectly, by exerting an impact through the works that they create. Souba has asserted that ensuring alignment of the inner direction of these individuals with the context and mission of the academic health science center is critical to their professional fulfillment and effectiveness. Reflection on the directions, strengths, and values of one's academic environment can inform decisions about how to enable an authentic fit. The premise of this article is that awareness of and the pursuit of meaningful work and its alignment with the academic context are key to the professional fulfillment and retention of academic faculty. A description of a conceptual framework for understanding meaningful work and alignment and how that framework can be applied is provided. Such awareness can inform faculty members' career planning and action. This paradigm has been successfully used in a number of leadership and career development programs for faculty and residents in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
Retention of faculty in academic medicine is a growing challenge. It has been suggested that inattention to the humanistic values of the faculty is contributing to this problem. Professional development should consider faculty members' search for meaning, purpose, and professional fulfillment and should support the development of an ability to reflect on these issues. Ensuring the alignment of academic physicians' inner direction with their outer context is critical to professional fulfillment and effectiveness. Personal reflection on the synergy of one's strengths, passions, and values can help faculty members define meaningful work so as to enable clearer career decision making. The premise of this article is that an awareness of and the pursuit of meaningful work and its alignment with the academic context are important considerations in the professional fulfillment and retention of academic faculty. A conceptual framework for understanding meaningful work and alignment and ways in which that framework can be applied and taught in development programs are presented and discussed.
Introduction
Retention of faculty in academic medicine is a grand challenge. Although there is normal attrition throughout the years, loss of new faculty is of particular significance in the current context of medical education. The increasing numbers of vacant academic positions and an aging faculty further complicate the issue.
According to some in academic medicine, inattention to the humanistic values of faculty is contributing to this problem. Professional development should consider faculty members' search for meaning, purpose, and professional fulfillment and should support the development of an ability to reflect on these issues. Such self-awareness is the first step in effective career decision making.
The process of leadership involves engaging people toward goals that are shared. Academic physicians enact leadership when they engage with others in pursuit of the realization of a shared academic mission of education, research, and service. They lead, directly, by significantly affecting the thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors of others, or, indirectly, by exerting an impact through the works that they create. Souba has asserted that ensuring alignment of the inner direction of these individuals with the context and mission of the academic health science center is critical to their professional fulfillment and effectiveness. Reflection on the directions, strengths, and values of one's academic environment can inform decisions about how to enable an authentic fit. The premise of this article is that awareness of and the pursuit of meaningful work and its alignment with the academic context are key to the professional fulfillment and retention of academic faculty. A description of a conceptual framework for understanding meaningful work and alignment and how that framework can be applied is provided. Such awareness can inform faculty members' career planning and action. This paradigm has been successfully used in a number of leadership and career development programs for faculty and residents in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
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