Faculty Self-Assessment in Dental Leadership Training Program: A Pilot Study

Accurate self-assessment is critical for faculty professional development, yet this area remains largely underexplored in dental education. To address this gap, this study investigated the alignment between dental faculty members' self-assessment regarding their teaching, mentoring, and leadership skills and evaluations from professional colleagues and institutional leaders.

Dental faculty from the ADEA Leadership Institute's in-person cohorts (2021-2024) used the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI 360) assessment to evaluate leadership skills. Data from approximately 80 faculty participants, complemented by 8 to 10 observer evaluations per faculty, were analyzed for alignment between self-assessments and external evaluations, with considerations of gender and academic rank. Statistical analyses employed the Mann-Whitney U test with a significance level at p < 0.05.

The results revealed that faculty generally underrated their leadership abilities relative to observers, with the area of "team building and collaboration" scoring highest and "inspiration of shared vision" lowest. Combined self-ratings showed no significant gender differences (male: 48.5 ± 7.2, female: 49.3 ± 6.8), though females demonstrated more modest self-assessments, especially in the areas of "modeling behavior skills with integrity and ethics" and "encouragement of innovation," while males' self-ratings were closer to observer ratings. Differences by rank showed assistant professors rated themselves higher in innovative areas, while associate professors were more self-critical.

This study identified significant differences in how dental faculty assess their own leadership practices, influence by gender and academic rank. The findings highlight the importance of incorporating external feedback into customized professional development programs to enhance leadership effectiveness in dental education.