Amy K. Patel, MD, American College of Radiology® (ACR®) Radiology Leadership Institute® (RLI) program faculty; Medical Director of the Breast Care Center at Liberty Hospital and Associate Professor of Radiology at UMKC School of Medicine and Managing Partner of Alliance Radiology, contributed this piece.
As the new generation of our specialty, our early career radiologists hold an incredibly important opportunity to help drive the future of radiology, from advocacy to patient care and practice management. It’s imperative that we help cultivate success both in and outside of the reading room, equipping this demographic with the resources and tools that will help them blossom into strong radiology leaders. Moreover, with the rapidly changing radiology workforce, many early career radiologists are finding themselves in positions where they are suddenly leading and start seeking the skills and resources needed to effectively lead.
It can be challenging for early career radiologists to find the right type of leadership training program, since many are geared towards mid-career or high-level positions – but that’s where the inspiration to create the RLI Learning to Lead program sparked.
The Learning to Lead Bootcamp arose from the feedback of early career radiologists desiring a course that could help them with their leadership skills, as many are encountering leadership opportunities which have only been accelerated post-COVID given the rapidly changing radiology workforce. I, myself, also received this feedback on a consistent basis when I was Chair of the ACR Young and Early Career Professional Section in 2020, and thus after discussions were had, the RLI took the lead to devise robust programming for this demographic.
Learning to Lead is a one-day virtual bootcamp designed to help early career radiologists build the groundwork for strong leadership with training in areas such as building trust and respect, strategy development, conflict resolution, financial literacy and time management between clinical and administrative duties. This bootcamp also includes real-life clinical scenarios, where attendees work through cases and discuss potential solutions to problems.
Regardless of the trajectory of an early career radiologist, any modicum of leadership training can be immensely helpful in navigating many facets of one’s career. I highly recommend this bootcamp for anyone willing to cultivate their leadership skills and expand their knowledge base as when the situation potentially arises when one is called upon a leadership role, they will be well prepared to assume the role to ensure a smooth transition which steadily translates to success.
