Negotiating a new chair package: context and considerations

Gather information before proceeding

The process of gathering information about the position helps the department, the institution and dean, and the candidate. At a department level, key faculty and staff leaders can use this exploration phase to help share the department’s priorities, areas of need, current strengths and opportunities for future development, as well as to evaluate candidates’ depth of understanding based on what information they ask for. Institutions can use this opportunity to decipher whether a candidate understands the scope of the position and can use resources appropriately for the role. And on an individual level, it can be used to help candidates assess whether they can see a future vision for the department, what kinds of investments they might need to advance that vision and whether they can see themselves as part of that future vision.

Candidates typically begin by learning the strategic priorities of the medical school and the health system, the expectations of the institution and the dean, and how the department fits in achieving these priorities. Questions to consider finding the answers to include: What does success look like at 1, 3 and 5 years to the dean/institution? How are faculty positions hired and paid for and which budgets and reporting lines are in the chair’s control? Does the dean already have a vision of how the department can fit into the institutional priorities and needs?

From this, the chair candidate can better assess what might be the opportunities to build capacity and address gaps, which may begin to develop into ideas for the future vision of the department and the list of requests to support that vision. Box 1 provides suggestions of questions to ask about the core departmental mission areas of clinical care, teaching and research during this information gathering phase, as well as resources to consider within these areas; box 2 includes similar considerations for cross-cutting missions and support areas within a department.

Expectations, priorities and resource considerations can be sought from current department leadership and faculty, and the current department administrator may be a great resource for revenue and expenses. Since department finances and funds flow are key, candidates should ask for budget and cost sheets and review them closely. Department strategic planning documents or external department reviews can also be a source of valuable information. Additionally, Chair candidates typically reach out to other department chairs in their network and at the institution to gather data on the institution and to get a sense of the typical scale and scope of chair packages. They can ask for the opportunity to interview institutional leaders, especially those with whom the department works closely and those who have become chairs within the last 5 years. All of these sources will help the chair candidate assess whether they are interested in the position; whether there are any ‘red flags’ that they may need to consider, such as any information that will not be shared; and what the breadth of opportunities are or could be in the role.

Propose an integrated vision: frame the chair package proposal for success

Begin the proposal with a mission-aligned vision. Once the chair candidate has a good sense of the department’s current landscape and the institution’s goals, a written proposal for what will be requested as a package of start-up resources can be drafted. A successful proposal will be framed to align with the departmental and institutional missions and address how the department can deliver on institutional priorities. This may begin with a coherent vision statement and 3-year and 5-year goals, including how reaching this vision in a collaborative way is both complementary to the school and health system goals.

Keep the emphasis on the department. Chair candidates must responsibly negotiate on behalf of the department. A chair package is a unique opportunity to infuse resources into a department to address barriers and stimulate growth. While it may be helpful for candidates to emphasise how their particular skills and strengths can uniquely enable processes and desired outcomes, a chair package should not be used to support the passions or hobbies of a particular candidate.

Viewing the negotiation as a responsibility to the department is crucial, and thinking about it with this framing may help some candidates negotiate more successfully. This can be especially true for women, as the negotiation framework often triggers gender-based reactions, both for the candidate and her evaluators.5

Chairs are sometimes recruited with hopes of rescuing the department from a difficult situation or bringing new ideas. Candidates can leave space for such thinking in their vision statement and proposed package. Novel ideas are highly valued and can help the institution envision a new path forward, provided they fit within the strategic plan of the institution. For example, the institution may have little or no experience with a clinical service like Integrated Behavioural Health; linking this idea to cost reduction, increased patient satisfaction and improved quality measures, which all may be strategic goals of the institution, can help persuade the Dean or CEO to support the new expenses.

Articulate key environmental realities. Chair candidates should begin by naming key realities in the environment (eg, performing a strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats (SWOT)analysis; referencing the what they found in the information gathering stage, see suggestions in boxes 1 and 2). As an example, for a request related to research support, it should be acknowledged that research generally loses money, even when department faculty succeed in obtaining grants.6 It often takes new faculty several years to get independently funded and similarly, it may take a clinical faculty 1–2 years before their clinical work reaches target levels.7 Throughout their proposal requesting start-up resources, the chair candidate needs to be as specific as possible, tying their ideas for expansion or new projects to the institutional mission.

Articulate your requests and provide evidence to support them

A thorough proposal will be detailed, supported by data and tied into the candidate’s vision for the future of the department. Candidates may glean additional ideas and considerations for the proposal from the suggestions in boxes 1 and 2; most resources will be related to personnel to support growth and expansion of programmes across each of the mission areas. When asking for resources for new faculty positions to expand or enhance programmes and clinical structures, consider aspects such as personnel, time, space and finances as well as the extra benefits of making changes that may enhance clinical structures in way that it simultaneously increases educational and scholarship opportunities. For example, a clinical office is often the teaching and research laboratory for clinical faculty and learners. A clinical question from observing patient outcomes, for example, why a laboratory value is higher in older adults after prescribing a certain medication, can become a research question which will help educate learners to not only understand clinical outcome but can also develop into a scholarly project using clinical data. Connecting and harmonising the missions of the department will build a better foundation for including these specific requests and how they are all a part of your cohesive story.8

Much of the context below is specific to faculty needs, but it is crucial to have enough support and administrative staff to help faculty perform their core duties. Staff positions can support multiple areas of the department. For example, an academic writer can help with grants, manuscripts and other needs of the research enterprise, but can also be structured to support departmental communications, philanthropy and faculty promotion.9

For new faculty positions, chair candidates should specify goals for productivity, full-time equivalent allocation (eg, what percentage of time for research, clinical care, education), expectations for salary support and whether the request for institutional salary support is a one-time request or is ongoing (eg, tenure track lines). For any faculty recruits, consider academic rank and educational background (MD/DO, PhD, other). Assistant professors may be easier to recruit, but early-career faculty will need time for development and access to senior faculty mentors. Beyond salary, candidates must consider space, equipment and other material expenses as well as the costs of the recruitment itself, which can be substantial.10–12

In addition to the above, a request for new research faculty should include the cost of one or more full or half-time research assistants, doctoral fellows or postdoctoral fellows for 3–5 years, who are crucial to research success and might also need seed funding for start-up costs. The candidate should learn what the typical packages are for new research hires at the institution and negotiate if these are too small to successfully recruit faculty. Specifically, budgeting for a proposed research hire might include 1.5–2 × the cost of an annual per year plus moving expenses. It is important to understand that start-up funds for scientists in clinical disciplines are usually much less than the start-up for basic scientists, so feel confident as you ask for resources.

There are many creative opportunities for negotiation and leveraging of resources to support the vision within a proposed start-up chair package. For example, for faculty positions, chair candidates may consider shared hires with another department or school (eg, public health, social work, education, engineering, nursing). However, they should be careful of overlapping calendar years and different expectations for faculty in other schools (eg, ‘summer salary’ for main campus/non-school of medicine faculty; teaching loads). Shared hires between departments should include a memorandum of understanding (MOU) about how costs, research credit and indirects will be shared.

In addition to salary and material support for faculty and staff, chair candidates may request funding for professional development for them and their team. This may include access to an Executive Coach (at least 5 years of support is recommended); leadership development opportunities, such as ADFM’s LEADS fellowship,13 Drexel University’s ELAM Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine fellowship14 or the Organisational Leadership in Academic Medicine workshops offered by the AAMC15; money to support an external departmental review or specific outside consultation if needed (eg, research development consultation through the Building Research Capacity Initiative).13–16

Finally, chair candidates may consider support for faculty well-being, such as retreats, wellness activities or team-building initiatives. The chair package negotiation process may be an opportunity to maintain or develop equity and diversity within the department, for example, it may provide an opportunity to address gender-based or race-based salary disparities. Gaining an understanding of allowable expenses within funds (eg, expenditure of state/public funds) and limitations, as well as what might be negotiated in terms of institutional overhead or the rate of indirects that come back to the department are also important in planning for financial realities as a future department chair.

Present your vision and package proposal and then negotiate

Chair candidates should choose the right time and manner to present their vision and their proposed start-up package. Given the amount of information needed to develop a comprehensive statement, this may occur later in the hiring process. Candidates could, however, consider sharing an outline of thoughts earlier in the process as a means to engage the Dean, institution and department leaders in an effort to help them see the candidate’s vision and create alignment. Their comments will create an opportunity for further refinement and may streamline the process of negotiating the new chair package from what the chair candidate proposes to what the Dean ultimately agrees to.

Most new chair packages cover 3–5 years window of time. Chair candidates should consider how this aligns with the goals and vision they have created and consider asking whether money could be stretched beyond this if the funds have not been spent down. They may also consider requesting the opportunity to renew or renegotiate the package at the end of the initial window if they can show measurable success towards milestones. For this, they will need to get in writing what measurable success would look like as well as written agreement that the dean will evaluate future needs.

Know when to walk away

If the candidate is offered the position but cannot agree on a package of resources with the dean after sharing their proposal and negotiating, or finds that the current departmental faculty are not supportive of the proposed vision, the position probably is not a good fit. Additionally, if they are not convinced the dean is committed to their success, they should not take the job. Ideally, the candidate and the dean share a common vision for the department, as this contributes to a productive relationship and the likelihood of a successful tenure as Chair.3 Candidates must determine if the package offered to them can meet the expectations of the dean within the time frame they are requesting. If there is a mismatch and the gap cannot be reconciled, the position may not be the right one for the candidate.

If the candidate’s vision is embraced by the department and institutional leadership, and the package they are offered has enough resources to support moving towards these goals, they should be well set to work toward growing the department as they have envisioned it. However, candidates should keep in mind that everything can be affected by institutional political, which can shift with leadership changes. In times of significant institutional and leadership change, the department and institution’s core resources and environment will be the bedrock that allows the vision to continue to move forward.