Professional Development and Colleague Connections

Physician well-being and job satisfaction are 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 members. 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% of their work efforts engaged in the activities 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, professional coaching, web-based modules, short videos and newsletters. Intramural grants also are 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 physician engagement groups, also known as COMPASS groups. These groups are 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 also is supported through access to the River Room, a lounge with free beverages and healthy snacks, computers, round tables for gatherings, and additional food for purchase. The lounge is open to voting staff made up of physicians, scientists and administrative leaders.

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