How to Be an Effective Team Leader and Committee Member or Chair

Abstract

Academic leaders are often chosen based on their academic success and reputation in the core mission of research over teaching and patient care. However, leadership of a team, committee, or department in an Academic Medical Center (AMC) also requires knowledge of clinical operations and finances, as well as administrative and managerial skills that are usually not part of the academic medical education or career. Many AMCs have recognized the need for effective physician leaders to successfully advance innovation and improve the clinical care of patients. They offer educational programs to help their faculty grow into leadership roles spanning the traditional silos of hospital administration, clinical care, research, and education of the next generation of physicians and scientists. The academic physician is encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities. The skills one will learn will greatly benefit one's academic career even if one does not choose a traditional leadership position. What are the skills that make a good academic leader? While successful leaders have widely differing backgrounds and personality traits, they generally excel in vision, communication, and strategic planning. The special challenge to leaders in AMCs is the different missions and parallel reporting structures, from clinical operations to faculty development, that require the mastery of a range of different leadership styles adapted to the environment. While support staff in a clinic may respond to a more authoritative leadership approach, faculty physicians are independent experts who can only be engaged by means of a democratic communication and decision processes. Academic leaders usually cannot and should not try to employ corporate reward and punishment powers, but need to rely on their interpersonal and persuasive skills to motivate their peers and staff. Participation in academic and administrative committees is usually voluntary for faculty and an opportunity to become engaged in the leadership decision process of their AMC at multiple levels. Faculty can help produce a superior outcome by contributing their expertise and creativity to the leadership of an AMC. In order to fully engage them, leaders need to make faculty team members feel respected and valued for their work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)