Implementation and Evaluation of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Leadership Program for Women Faculty

Background: Women continue to be underrepresented in top leadership roles in academic medicine. Leadership training programs for women are designed to enhance women's leadership skills and confidence and increase overall leadership diversity. The authors present a description and evaluation of a longitudinal, cohort-based, experiential leadership program for women faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Methods: We compared pre- and post-program self-assessed ratings of 11 leadership skills and specific negotiation behaviors from 3 cohorts of leadership program participants ( n =134) from 2010 to 2013. Results: Women reported significant improvements in skills across 11 domains with the exceptions of 2 domains, Public Speaking and Working in Teams, both of which received high scores in the pre-program assessment. The greatest improvement in rankings occurred within the domain of negotiation skills. Although women reported an increase in their negotiation skills, we were not able to demonstrate an increase in the number of times that women negotiated for salary, space, or promotion following participation in the program. Conclusions: The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Leadership Program for Women Faculty has demonstrable value for the professional development of participants and addresses institutional strategies to enhance leadership diversity and the advancement of women.