Encouraging Reflexivity in a Residency Leadership Development Program: Expanding Outside the Competency Approach

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Leadership Development
• Organizational Culture

Background:

• Academic medicine often frames leadership development as competency acquisition, potentially limiting focus to social behaviors.
• This competency-based approach may reinforce existing cultural traits that hinder effective leadership rather than fostering change.
• There is a need for leadership development programs that encourage critical examination and transformation of academic medical culture.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the impact of a leadership development program incorporating social reflexivity.
• To assess the effectiveness of a novel approach beyond traditional competency-based leadership training.
• To identify methods for enhancing leadership development and evaluating its outcomes in academic medicine.

Main Methods:

• A leadership development program was implemented for residents from 2013-2016.
• The program included skills-focused seminars and impactful annual capstone sessions for resident-physician discussions.
• Discussions focused on social interactions such as feedback, support after adverse events, and clinical teaching/learning.

Main Results:

• Capstone sessions facilitated open conversations about group interactions and social behaviors.
• The program's success led to a department-wide initiative promoting transparency and reflexive examination of interactions.
• This initiative aimed to understand how professional role interactions influence leadership and teamwork.

Conclusions:

• Leadership development programs can be diversified to better encourage social reflexivity.
• Expanding assessment mechanisms beyond competency-based systems is necessary to evaluate leadership program outcomes.
• Promoting social reflexivity offers a way to address weaknesses in traditional leadership development paradigms.