Professional Development and Colleague Connections

Physician well-being and job satisfaction is enriched through leadership and faculty continuous professional development and strategies to intentionally promote connection with colleagues.

Leadership and Faculty Development

Leaders have a critical role in the well-being of their staff. In the Program on Physician Well-Being study of more than 2,800 physicians, composite leadership scores of immediate physician supervisors strongly correlated with burnout and satisfaction scores of individual physicians. Leadership scores are obtained biannually at Mayo Clinic with tailored leadership training for those leaders with suboptimal scores.

Meaning in work and good career fit are also essential to physician engagement. Physicians who spend at least 20 percent of their work effort engaged in the activity they find most meaningful have a lower risk of burnout.

Physicians and their immediate supervisors discuss career fit during annual reviews and how best to access available faculty development offerings to better enable physicians to reach their career goals.

Various approaches are used for faculty development including face-to-face seminars, web-based modules, short videos, and newsletters. Intramural grants are also available to support research and other faculty development initiatives.

Connect with Colleagues

Social support is key to resiliency. All Mayo Clinic physicians and scientists are encouraged to participate in COMPASS groups, an outgrowth of the program's randomized controlled trials testing the impact of biweekly, facilitated small-group curriculum on physician well-being, job satisfaction, and professionalism.

Connection with colleagues is also supported through access to the River Room, a voting staff only (physicians, scientists, administrative leaders lounge with free beverages and healthy snacks, computers, round tables for gatherings, and additional food for purchase.

Departments and divisions also host social events at regular intervals and Mayo Clinic holds an all staff meeting annually.