1. Academy for Faculty Advancement: Setting Career Goals
September 30, 2013
David Coleman, M.D.

2. Career Development of Faculty
Starting a new faculty job
Important elements of career planning
Where do departments go wrong?
Special vulnerabilities in faculty career development
Mentoring
Balancing
Institutional service and career goals
Personal and professional life

3. Starting a New Faculty Job
Before starting – get started
Transferring of grants, credentialing, orders, hiring, regulatory approvals, renovations
Mentoring/buddy system
Find mentors of all types
Get Oriented- don’t assume it will come to you
Who’s who?
Opportunities for social networking?
Define resources related to research, clinical care, and education
Start social networking
Post arrival
Affirm/set goals
Continuously define additional needs and find new opportunities
Reach out
Resource “Before Starting Phase”
Group orientation: (professional/social)

4. Important Elements of Career Planning The Self Evaluation Phase
Honest assessment of
Training
Passion
Talent
Resources
Sometimes faculty assume roles they want “to be” but do not want “to do”
Balancing service commitments
Balancing quantity vs quality of publications
Training – am I adequately prepared to compete successfully?
Interests – what am I really interested in?
Talent – what am I good at and how can I tell?
Resources – what is the right amount of resources sufficient for my success?

5. Important Elements of Career Planning The Independence Phase
Establishing independence
Timing of independence
Relationship with mentor(s)
Planning beyond first three year term
Visibility outside of the institution

6. Where do Departments go wrong in Career Planning for Faculty?
Insufficient due diligence in the search process
Inadequate investment
Resources
Mentorship
Infrastructure
Protected time
Misalignment of what is needed with what is rewarded
Overuse of women and under-represented minorities for institutional service
Inflexible approaches to career development (e.g., part-time vs full-time, job sharing, timelines for promotion, exit and re-entry strategies)
Insufficient help with funding (pilot, bridge, grant opportunities, grant pre-review)
Need off ramps and on ramps for career development
Workforce-workplace misalignment

7. Special Vulnerabilities in Faculty Career Development
Late Asst and Assoc Professor
K award to RO1 grant transition
Clinical and/or teaching demands
Distribution of effort – fostering excellence?
Focus vs. breadth of research
Balancing career and personal life
Minority and female faculty
Relationships with primary mentor
Senior faculty
Often overlooked
Want to contribute and to be heard and respected
Very useful in sounding board
Ask about retooling, how they’d like to contribute

8. Principles for Finding and Sustaining Successful Mentorship
Find more than one and more than one kind (Friend, critic, supporter)
Trust your “gut”
Define your needs and do not underestimate them
Realize that no one believes they are a bad mentor or a bad mentee
Allow yourself to be effectively mentored (i.e., be honest, pose questions, seek “sounding boards”, listen carefully, give feedback)

9. Generational Approaches to Mentoring (http://www. 3creek
Birthdate
Mentoring style
Traditionalists
duty, long-term, solitary,
face to face
Boomers
mutually beneficial,
face to face over meals,
mentors higher status
Generation X
peer sharing more than vertical career advancement,
short term connections to gain new understanding or competencies,
face to face not necessary, convenient access important
Millennial
primary learning relationship, used to learn job responsibilities,
temporary, situational, ask for immediate feedback,
expands social networks,
not heirarchical

10. Moving Forward: How to Balance Institutional Service with Career Goals
What is your understanding of what you were hired to accomplish?
Most junior research faculty should expect to be largely protected from institutional service
Institutional “citizenship” is important and valuable, but ok to say “no”- What to do when you want to say “no” to a supervisor?
Turn the question around: “do you think this is important for me to do?”
“I am juggling x, y, and z. How do you suggest I incorporate this activity? What should be my priorities?”

11. How to Balance Institutional Service with Career Goals (cont.)
Increasing tenure on the faculty carries a greater burden of service
Departments and sections are dependent on faculty to perform under-compensated activities

12. In Conclusion: Balancing your Career with your Personal Life
Inherently personal set of priorities-do not ignore the need for balance, but recognize the tradeoffs
Leaders increasingly aware of the need for balance (e.g., resident work hour restrictions, need to avoid “burn out”, prevalence of dual career relationships)
Higher burden of organization-plan carefully
Recognize that many academic careers evolve, change, and adapt

13. Key Elements of Mentoring Programs
Formal vs. Informal programs
Voluntary vs. compulsory assignments
Peer mentoring
Complement existing mentoring
Successful mentoring is a dual responsibility of mentor and mentee