Maintaining Scholarly Productivity During Your Transformation into a Leader

In this chapter, we address a critical challenge that we experienced firsthand and that you’ll likely face as you transition from a faculty role to a leadership position in medical education: maintaining your scholarly productivity. Drawing from our personal experiences, both individually and as a scholarly group, and the relevant literature, we present seven key strategies that can help you balance your new responsibilities with ongoing academic pursuits. You’ll learn how to leverage networking to build collaborations, access opportunities, and discover the often-overlooked importance of wellness in sustaining both your productivity and leadership effectiveness. We’ll show you how forming or joining scholarly groups can help maintain your research focus, hold you accountable, and increase output through collaboration. Recognizing time management as a critical skill, we offer techniques to help you allocate sufficient resources to both leadership and scholarly activities. You’ll also learn the importance of cultivating key relationships, including mentors, coaches, and sponsors, each playing unique roles in supporting your scholarly endeavors. We emphasize the necessity of continuous professional development to help you stay current and develop new skills relevant to leadership and scholarship. Finally, we explore how you can leverage technology to enhance efficiency and open new avenues for research and collaboration. Throughout the chapter, we provide real-world examples and practical advice drawn from our journeys, illustrating how you can not only maintain but also enhance your scholarly contributions in medical education during your transformation as a leader.