J Dent Educ. 73(3): 311-318 2009
© 2009 American Dental Education Association
Milieu in Dental School and Practice |
Tomorrow’s Leaders, Starting Today: A Pilot Leadership Development Program for Dental Students
Kristin Z. Victoroff, D.D.S., Ph.D.;
Keith Schneider, D.M.D., M.S.;
Crystal Perry, D.M.D.
Key words: dental students, leadership, dental education
Submitted for publication 07/01/08;
accepted 11/17/08
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Abstract
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Effective leadership is vitally important as the dental profession strives to meet current and future challenges. Leadership development programs have been created for mid-career dental professionals, but the relative lack of such programs for dental students may represent a missed opportunity to cultivate the dental leaders of tomorrow. A pilot leadership development program for dental students is described in this article. A voluntary leadership development program for dental students was offered in 2008 at the Case School of Dental Medicine with support from the Ohio Dental Association Foundation. The program aimed to increase students’ leadership knowledge, improve their leadership skills, and provide inspiration through exposure to leaders who could serve as role models. At the conclusion of the program, students attended the Ohio Dental Association’s Leadership Institute event. Forty-six students attended at least one program session. Thirty students attended all or all but one of the on-site sessions. Thirty-three participants responded to a post-program anonymous online survey. The majority of participants (81 percent) rated the program as very useful or useful and said they would participate in the program again (85 percent). Student attendance at the state dental association’s leadership event increased appreciably from previous years. Student participation in the pilot program exceeded expectations. Leadership development programs for dental students are feasible and can benefit students and the dental community.
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader."
—John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States1
In their book The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner write that leaders "mobilize others to get extraordinary things done" (p. 14).2 John Kotter, professor of leadership at the Harvard Business School, states that "leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles" (p. 25).3 The need to "get extraordinary things done" in the dental profession as we move forward in the twenty-first century is great. The challenges and obstacles faced by the profession and all those who work to improve oral health, as well as the need for effective leadership to address those challenges, have been articulated in all aspects of dentistry, including clinical practice,4,5 dental education,6–10 organized dentistry,8,11,12 dental research,8,13,14 and dental public health.8,15,16 Acknowledging the need to develop effective leaders, formal leadership development programs have been created for dental professionals. For example, the American Dental Education Association (ADEA)’s Leadership Institute was created in 2000 to develop future academic dental leaders.17 The Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women prepares senior women faculty at schools of medicine, dentistry, and public health to move into positions of leadership.18 The American Dental Association developed the Institute for Diversity in Leadership program in 2003 to "enhance the leadership skills of dentists who belong to racial, ethnic, and/or gender backgrounds that have been traditionally underrepresented in leadership roles."19 The ADA/Kellogg Executive Management Program for dentists has been offered through the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University since 2005.20 At the state level, programs such as the Ohio Dental Association’s annual Leadership Institute, which began in 2002, have been developed.21 In addition, the American College of Dentists now offers online learning modules related to leadership.22
Existing formal leadership development programs are directed primarily toward mid-career dental professionals who are in or are moving toward leadership roles. Less emphasis has been placed on leadership development at the dental student level, yet the dental school years may represent an important opportunity to inspire, encourage, and enhance the development of the dental leaders of the future. The profession and those it serves could benefit from taking advantage of this opportunity. At the national level, the American Student Dental Association (ASDA) recognizes the need for student leadership development, offering a biannual leadership training program for students who are involved in ASDA at the regional or national level.23 However, this program is available to only a small subset of the nation’s dental students each biennium. The initiation of student leadership development programs by the University of Michigan School of Dentistry24 and the University of Southern California School of Dentistry,25 both in 2006, suggests interest in creating opportunities at a more local level. This article describes the development, implementation, and outcomes of a pilot leadership development program at the Case School of Dental Medicine.
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Program Description
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A pilot leadership program was offered to dental students at the Case School of Dental Medicine during the spring semester of 2008. The program was initiated, designed, and implemented by a collaborative team of two dental students (coauthors KS and CP) who had been active in student leadership roles and one faculty member (coauthor KZV) with training in organizational behavior and interest in leadership development.
Needs Assessment and Funding
An important first step was to assess the needs and interests of the dental student body with respect to leadership development. We designed a survey to determine students’ perceptions of the characteristics of effective leaders, their perceptions of the importance of leadership skills for dentists and whether such skills can be learned, their interest in participating in leadership development activities during dental school, and their perceptions regarding the effectiveness of various leadership development activities. All Case School of Dental Medicine dental students (n=280) were invited to complete the survey in February 2007. The survey and results are described in detail elsewhere.26 The majority of respondents said they believed that it is important for dentists to possess leadership skills and that leadership skills can be learned, and they expressed interest in participating in a leadership development program if such a program were offered. In addition, respondents were able to identify leadership abilities they would like to improve, including assertiveness, ability to communicate effectively (including public speaking), ability to listen to others, organizational skills, and ability to influence others.
In July 2007, we sought funding from the Ohio Dental Association Foundation to support the development and implementation of a pilot program. Funding was approved by the Ohio Dental Association Foundation in September 2007. The funding was intended to provide honoraria for guest speakers, food for participants when sessions were held during the lunch or dinner hour, travel expenses for participants to attend the Ohio Dental Association Leadership Institute in spring 2008, and other expenses associated with the program, such as a leadership-related book for each participant and the opportunity for each participant to complete an online 360-degree leadership competencies inventory.
Program Design
In designing the program, we were guided by several key principles. In The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner assert that "leadership is not the private reserve of a few charismatic men and women. It is a process ordinary people use when they are bringing forth the best from themselves and others. When the leader in everyone is liberated, extraordinary things happen."2 First, based on this perspective, we defined leadership in the broadest sense, to include dental students’ current and future leadership roles in their practices, communities, families, and in dental education, research, organized dentistry, and volunteerism to advance oral health. Second, based on the belief that leadership can be exercised in all contexts and at all levels and that it is difficult to predict who will emerge as a leader in the future and in what context, we had a strong desire to open the program to all students who were interested, instead of restricting participation to a few select individuals. Third, the program was based on the assumption that leadership skills can be learned, which is consistent with current thought in the field.2,27 Fourth, based on principles of adult learning that suggest adult learners can identify what they want to learn and are most motivated to learn about topics they have selected themselves, we let the student survey results guide our choice of topics, particularly in the early stages of the program. We attempted to create a program that was immediately responsive to students’ perceived learning needs while also, later in the program, incorporating topics and activities perceived to be important by experts in the field. Fifth, it was our goal to incorporate active learning experiences into the program, based on students’ reported preference for active versus passive learning formats. Finally, given that this was a pilot program and that the required predoctoral curriculum places heavy demands on students’ time and energy, we planned to keep the number of sessions and the program activities modest and convenient. In addition, we built in incentives for participation, such as a free book, the opportunity to complete an online 360-degree leadership competencies inventory, a participant recognition dinner with the dean of the School of Dental Medicine at the end of the program, and a certificate of program completion.
The pilot program was organized around three core themes: Knowledge, Skills, and Inspiration. Sessions related to the Knowledge theme involved guest speakers with expertise in a particular area of leadership. Sessions related to the Skills theme provided the opportunity for participants to actively practice a particular skill and/or receive feedback on their leadership skills. The inclusion of sessions related to Inspiration was based on Kouzes and Posner’s statement that "leadership is an affair of the heart," having to do with values, meaning, and connection to others. These sessions were designed to introduce students to dental leaders who could serve as role models and to provide networking opportunities. We hoped to bring students into contact with dental leaders who could share their stories about why they do what they do, what inspires and drives them to strive to bring about positive change, how their personal and professional lives have evolved over time to bring them to leadership roles, and what they learned along the way. Sessions often addressed more than one of the three themes. For example, the public speaking sessions addressed both Knowledge and Skills. The first session included a presentation by, and discussion with, a guest speaker with expertise in public speaking. During the second session, each student prepared and delivered a short talk to the group on a topic of his or her choice, critiqued his or her own performance, and then received constructive feedback from the public speaking expert and the other students in the group.
All students at the dental school were invited by email to participate in the program, and an organizing meeting was held in early January 2008. The program sessions and activities, scheduled between January and April 2008, are shown in Table 1
. For convenience, the majority of the sessions were held on-site at the School of Dental Medicine. These sessions ranged in length from one hour (for a guest speaker) to two and one-half hours (for the public speaking skills workshop). Shorter sessions were held during the noon hour, while longer sessions were held immediately at the end of the day, with dinner provided. The program culminated with the opportunity for participants to travel to attend the Ohio Dental Association Leadership Institute, a one and one-half day annual event for Ohio dentists featuring leadership-related speakers, breakout sessions, and time for networking with fellow dental professionals. Sixteen pilot program participants attended the Leadership Institute, and several had the opportunity to participate as panel discussants during a breakout session in which the implementation and results of the pilot program were described. This session provided the opportunity for discussion between the students and members of the Ohio Dental Association who have an interest in leadership development.
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Program Outcomes
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Student participation in the pilot program exceeded our expectations. Given the existing demands on students’ time and energy, we estimated that ten students would commit to participate in the program. However, the initial sign-up meeting was attended by fifty-five students, with forty-six students subsequently participating in at least one session. Thirty students formed the core participant group, attending all or all but one of the on-site sessions.
The participants’ response to the program was evaluated using a ten-item post-program anonymous online survey. A link to the survey was sent by email to all students who had initially signed up for the program. Reminder emails were sent one week and two weeks later. Students were asked to rate the usefulness of each specific session and the overall usefulness of the program (4=very useful to 1=not useful), to indicate whether or not they would be interested in participating in the program if it were offered again next year, to indicate the reason(s) they did not attend some sessions (if applicable), and to provide written comments regarding the program, whether or not it met their needs, and suggestions for additional topics and/or improvements for subsequent programs. Year of study, gender, and age were also collected.
Thirty-three students completed the survey. Respondents were 61 percent male and 39 percent female. (Of all students enrolled in the predoctoral program during the 2007–08 academic year, 72 percent were male, and 28 percent were female.) Thirty-three percent were between twenty and twenty-four years of age, 61 percent were between twenty-five and twenty-nine years of age, and 6 percent were between thirty and thirty-four years of age. Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) were completing the first year of the predoctoral program, nearly one-third (30 percent) were completing the third year, and the remaining students (9 percent) were completing the second or fourth years.
The majority of respondents (81 percent) gave the program an overall rating of very useful or useful (Figure 1). Eighty-five percent of respondents reported that they would be interested in participating in the program again if it was offered the following year, and 15 percent reported that they might be interested (Figure 2). No respondent reported that he or she would not be interested in participating in the program again. Of those who reported that they had not attended one or more sessions, the most frequently cited reasons for lack of attendance were schedule conflicts (75 percent) and being too busy with school-related commitments, such as studying for exams (45 percent). No student reported missing a session because of lack of interest in the specific session or topic offered.
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Figure 2. Students’ interest in participating in a future leadership development program, by percentage of total respondents
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Participants provided written comments. Representative comments are shown in Table 2.
We considered a number of program outcomes in addition to the results of the post-program participant survey. First, an important outcome from the perspective of the Ohio Dental Association was the number of students who attended the Ohio Dental Association Leadership Institute. There was a marked increase in the number of students from our school who attended the event: from one student in 2006 and four students in 2007 to sixteen students in 2008, the year the pilot program was initiated. Second, seven students who had participated in the pilot program in 2008 volunteered to assume a leadership role in planning for and organizing the program in 2009. This was an indication that the participants recognized the value of the program for themselves and for their peers, in that they expressed willingness not only to participate the next year but to invest additional time and energy into making the program happen.
Finally, an unexpected but very positive outcome of the pilot program was the impact the experience had on the two student organizers. They reported that their involvement in initiating, developing, and implementing the program had been a unique experience for them personally and had contributed to the development of skills they would carry with them into future leadership roles. Over the course of the project, they had the opportunity to design a survey, write a grant proposal, design and implement the pilot program, gain experience in organizing groups of people, mentor more junior students, work as part of a team to envision and complete a task, network with and learn from dental leaders, give oral presentations about the project at the school, state, and national levels, coauthor a journal article, and gain insight regarding the nature of academic dental careers by working closely with a faculty member. Most of these were experiences that dental students typically would not encounter during dental school.
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Discussion
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This article describes the design, implementation, and initial outcomes of a pilot leadership development program for dental students at one dental school. In initiating such a program, we gained insights that may be beneficial to others who are interested in student leadership development at the dental school level. First, our program demonstrated that there is interest in leadership development among dental students and that it is feasible to initiate a program during students’ predoctoral education. The level of student participation was greater than expected. Second, we believe that it is important to open such programs to as many interested students as possible. Third, the success of a program can be enhanced by addressing learners’ perceived needs. In our experience, program sessions that directly addressed students’ learning needs, as identified by students in the pre-program survey (for example, students identified the need to improve their public speaking skills), proved to be the most highly rated. We strategically placed student-identified topics early in the program to generate interest and involvement.
Fourth, the partnership formed between the state dental association foundation and the students and faculty of the dental school was mutually beneficial and met the goals of both groups. State dental associations are interested in encouraging new dentists to get involved in organized dentistry in order to develop the leaders of the future and establish a leadership pipeline. The state dental association foundation’s support of this program, both financially and through the willingness of state and local dental leaders to participate as panel discussants and guest speakers, contributed to the success of the program and raised dental students’ awareness of opportunities to get involved in organized dentistry. A tangible benefit for the state dental association was the sizable increase in the number of students attending its Leadership Institute event and thus gaining exposure to organized dentistry. Other state dental associations may wish to consider supporting local student leadership development programs in their states.
Fifth, scheduling was the major challenge to the implementation of a program. Both dental students and dental leaders have busy schedules with minimal free time. In particular, the high number of first- and third-year students and low number of second- and fourth-year students who participated in the program probably reflects the heavy workload associated with the second year of the curriculum and the need to prepare for graduation during the fourth year. Sixth, a program such as this provides the participants with a unique opportunity to network with other students, with faculty, with guest speakers, and with dental leaders in a relatively relaxed learning environment. We observed the development of a sense of camaraderie among the participants.
Finally, we felt that collaboration between students and faculty in designing and implementing the program provided benefits that would not have been realized had the program been purely faculty-driven or purely student-driven. Our collaboration provided two different sources of input and perspective when choosing topics, identifying guest speakers, planning sessions, and managing logistics. In addition, senior students often serve as role models for more junior students. The involvement of two senior students in a prominent role in the planning and implementation of the program may have been an important factor in our ability to attract students to participate in the program.
The program described here was a pilot program, and the list of leadership topics covered during the program was in no way exhaustive. Based on comments from participants and from dental leaders, additional topics and activities that will be considered for inclusion in the program in subsequent years include the following: sessions on developing a personal, office, or organizational mission and vision statements and how to develop a strategic plan; teamwork and team-building exercises to develop skills for working effectively in groups; organizational skills; negotiating and conflict management skills; more focus on leadership skills in the dental practice; more interaction with local and state dental leaders; discussion of how new dentists can get involved in organized dentistry at the local and/or state level; and development and discussion of case studies based on dental leaders’ experiences in dental practice, academia, organized dentistry, and the community.
Our experience offering a pilot leadership development program for dental students suggests that such programs are feasible. This conclusion appears to be consistent with the experiences of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry24 and the University of Southern California School of Dentistry.25 The initial feedback we received from student participants and the willingness of the Ohio Dental Association Foundation to provide financial support for the pilot program suggest that such programs can be of value to both students and the dental community. A database of participating students’ names and year of graduation was created so that participants can be contacted for follow-up in the future. Long-term outcomes data could include measures of change in participants’ leadership competencies over time (for example, through use of 360-degree assessment instruments), the extent to which participants seek out additional leadership development opportunities and programs in the future, and the extent to which participants become involved in leadership roles throughout their careers. Although it is too early to determine the long-term impact of leadership development programs offered during students’ predoctoral education, efforts should be made to do so in the future as the profession continues to seek effective ways to develop the dental leaders of tomorrow.
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Acknowledgments
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The authors wish to express their thanks and appreciation to the Ohio Dental Association Foundation for its generous support of the pilot leadership development program, to the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine dental students who enthusiastically participated in the program, to our school’s administration for encouraging the development of the program, and to Dr. Kenneth L. Zakariasen for his constructive comments on an earlier draft of this article.
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Author Information
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Dr. Victoroff is Assistant Professor, Department of Community Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University; Dr. Schneider is a Class of 2008 graduate of the School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University; and Dr. Perry is a Class of 2008 graduate of the School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University. Direct correspondence and requests for reprints to Dr. Kristin Victoroff, School of Dental Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-4905; 216-368-6616 phone; 216-368-5888 fax; kristin.victoroff{at}case.edu.
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Abstract
Program description
