Hospitalist physician leadership skills: perspectives from participants of a leadership conference.

Objective: To characterize how the use of behavioral contracts may serve to focus individuals' intentions to grow as leaders.

Methods: Between 2007 and 2008, participants of the Society of Hospital Medicine Leadership Academy courses completed behavioral contracts to identify 4 action plans they wanted to implement based on things learned at the Academy. Contracts were independently coded by 2 investigators and compared for agreement. Content analysis identified several major themes that relate to professional growth as leaders. Follow-up surveys assessed fulfillment of personal goals.

Results: The majority of respondents were male (84; 70.0%), and most were hospitalist leaders (76; 63.3%). Their median time practicing as hospitalists was 4 years, 14 (11.7%) were Assistant Professors, and 80 (66.7%) were in private practice. Eight themes emerged from the behavioral contracts, revealing ways in which participants wished to develop: improving communication and interpersonal relations; refining vision and goals for strategic planning; developing intrapersonal leadership; enhancing negotiation skills; committing to organizational change; understanding business drivers; establishing better metrics to assess performance; and strengthening interdepartmental relationships. At follow-up, all but 1 participant had achieved at least 1 of their personal goals.

Conclusions: Understanding the areas that hospitalist leaders identify as "learning edges" may inform the personal learning plans of those hoping to take on leadership roles in hospital medicine.