Development of leadership confidence and valuing of skills: Outcomes of a national leadership program for senior academic women

Background:  Over nearly 20 years, the Hedwig Van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM®) program has supported leader development in medicine, dentistry and public health.  The year-long, part-time fellowship addresses the need to improve leadership diversity in formal and informal institutional leadership roles. Key to the integration of program competencies and the application of new skills to organizational work are institutional action projects, senior leadership interviews, and leadership development coaching. 

Methods:  The Leadership and Learning Career Development Survey (LLCD) is an online, quantitative survey measuring curricula based leadership skills.  Subscales include: strategic resource management, organizational dynamics, personal and professional effectiveness, and community building.  ELAM fellows self-rate importance and confidence by responding to 46 items using a seven-point Likert scale. Pre-, immediate post-, and 2-year follow-up assessments were collected for 3 classes. Data was analyzed for 3 independent cohorts for subscales and total scale values.

Results:  Total LLCD scale average scores were low to moderate for levels of importance and confidence at pre-test [mean(std)=1.62(.44), 3.30(.64)] for the Class of 2013 (n=46), lower scores at immediate post-test [mean(std)=1.51(.39), 2.33(.50)] for the Class of 2012 (n=39), and high scores at 2 years post-graduation [mean(std)=6.40(.49), 5.57(.47)] for the Class of 2011 (n=39). Importance and confidence scores at the 2-year follow-up differed significantly from pre- and immediate post-assessments (p=0.00).

Conclusions: This unique study provides an understanding of skills fellow’s value and confidence used by high potential women as they diversify academic workforces.  Future research allows for longitudinal testing of these cross-sectional trends.