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American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2019; 83 (7) Article 7060.

RESEARCH

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Use of a Modified Delphi Process to Define the Leadership Characteristics
Expected of Pharmacy Faculty Members
Andrew P. Traynor, PharmD,a Laura Borgelt, PharmD,b Tobias E. Rodriguez, PhD,c
Leigh Ann Ross, PharmD,d Terrence L. Schwinghammer, PharmDe
a

Concordia University Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, Mequon, Wisconsin
University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy, Aurora, Colorado
c
AAL, Atlanta, Georgia
d
University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, University, Mississippi
e
West Virginia University School of Pharmacy, Morgantown, West Virginia
b

Submitted March 12, 2018; accepted July 12, 2018; published September 2019.

Objective. To reach a consensus on a working definition for leadership and identify expectations for
leadership among all pharmacy faculty members.
Methods. A modified Delphi process was employed to establish consensus among experienced department and division chairs regarding the definition and expectations of faculty leadership to guide
faculty evaluation and development. From the AACP faculty roster, 280 department and division chairs
were surveyed to identify participants with at least five years of experience in their roles and willingness to participate. Twenty-three chairs were identified from a variety of colleges and schools to
comprise the expert panel and asked to participate in three rounds of questions over a two-month
period. One Likert-type question and six open-ended questions were included in round 1. A thematic
analysis of round 1 responses provided items for participants to rate their agreement with and provide
comments on in rounds 2 and 3. Consensus for items was set prospectively at 80% of participants
selecting agree or strongly agree for each item. Items could be modified by the panel in subsequent
rounds of surveys if participants suggested edits to items.
Results. Consensus was achieved among 23 chairs regarding a definition, 10 guiding principles, four
learning competencies, six skills, six expected leadership activities (ELAs), and 20 personal characteristics related to faculty leadership.
Conclusion. The results of this study provide guidance to pharmacy faculty members and administrators regarding leadership characteristics including knowledge, skills, and activities expected for faculty
members to develop into effective leaders for the academy and the pharmacy profession.
Keywords: leadership, faculty, Delphi, expectations

generations of practitioners as well as patients and the
public, all pharmacy faculty members are in a position
to be among the most influential leaders in their communities, the profession, and higher education. Kezar and
colleagues summarized the importance of faculty members as leaders on campus both in decision-making and
innovation in teaching, research, and service.2 In considering leadership specific to academic pharmacy, Dr.
Wells further stated that leadership is what propels faculty
members to reach their potential.1 Faculty members are
essential to academic organizations fulfilling their mission and, therefore, need to be adequately developed to
lead. In the course of their professional development, the
question of what leadership characteristics are expected
of faculty members is vital to answer.

INTRODUCTION
The focus on leadership as a part of the development
of the affective domain of learning in pharmacy education
has received much curricular focus and stimulated
innovation in the past 10 years. During an address to the
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP),
then-president Barbara Wells challenged the academy to
develop and embrace leadership to address the challenges
it faces.1 With so much attention placed on the leadership
development of learners, the behaviors of those modeling
leadership may be overlooked. In working with future
Corresponding Author: Andrew P. Traynor, Concordia
University Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, 12800 N. Lake
Shore Dr., Mequon, WI 53097. Tel: 262-243-2782. E-mail:
andrew.traynor@cuw.edu

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American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2019; 83 (7) Article 7060.
Many articles discuss the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for administrative leaders in academia.
For example, Basham identified transformational leadership characteristics necessary for college and university
presidents in higher education.3 As a dean in the health
professions, Haden outlined a conceptual framework for
leadership.4 Others have identified leadership attributes
that deans of dentistry and nursing schools should have.5,6
Finally, Schwinghammer and colleagues identified leadership characteristics for department chairs in pharmacy
schools.7 While faculty members may choose to exercise
their leadership capabilities by taking administrative
roles, leadership expectations should not be restricted to
those with administrative or “positional” authority. Within
academic pharmacy, leadership is addressed multiple
times in the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education “Standards 2016” (Table 1).8 However, little research
has been done to determine the specific skills, attitudes,
knowledge, and beliefs associated with faculty leadership
in pharmacy. In fact, faculty culture may often work
against leadership development given its focus on “publish
or perish” rather than strategy and influence.9 The evolving
landscape in pharmacy and healthcare demands that faculty members be prepared to be effective leaders.
Leadership by non-administrative faculty members
has been evaluated in other disciplines. For example, the
top leadership skills needed by faculty members in business
management have been identified as business skills (eg,
management of personnel, material, and financial resources
to accomplish business goals), cognitive skills (eg, communication and ability to learn and adapt), and interpersonal
skills (eg, interacting with and influencing others).10 Preparation for faculty leadership has been discussed in nursing,11 and faculty development initiatives to promote
leadership in medical education have also been developed.12
Faculty citizenship has been addressed in pharmacy, but
likely represents only a part of faculty leadership.13,14

This study was conducted to identify a working definition of faculty leadership, and develop learning competencies, skills, expected leadership activities (ELAs),
and personal characteristics related to leadership expected of all faculty members in academic pharmacy.
The study was conducted by the Scholarship Committee
of the AACP Leadership Development Special Interest
Group with the intent of providing recommendations
and a framework that can be used by AACP and individual
institutions to guide leadership development efforts of all
current and future faculty members.

METHODS
This study employed a three-round Delphi process to
address the study objectives described above. In a Delphi
process, each round uses a survey to progress a group of
identified experts from individual opinions to consensus
on a chosen topic.15 In the first round, researchers interpret participants’ individual answers to open-ended questions and craft thematic statements to use in subsequent
rounds. Later rounds ask experts to rate their agreement
with the developed statements and submit comments to
improve and/or enhance agreement with the statements.
Modifications are made to statements when comments
are provided in early rounds and agreement is pursued
in additional rounds until a predetermined level of agreement is reached or the process ends.16 Delphi processes
have been used in the pharmacy education literature
to address a variety of issues, including student perceptions of professional engagement and identification
of leadership development competencies and guiding
principles.16-18
This study was approved with exempt status by the
Concordia University Wisconsin Institutional Review
Board. Experts solicited for involvement were department
or division chairs identified from AACP’s Roster of Faculty.
A survey was e-mailed to 280 chairs confirming their current

Table 1. Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education Standards Related to Faculty Leadership8
Standard
8.7
9

9.1

19.5

Description
Faculty participation in college or school governance – The college or school uses updated, published documents, such
as bylaws, policies, and procedures, to ensure faculty participation in the governance of the college or school.
Organizational culture - The college or school provides an environment and culture that promotes self-directed lifelong
learning, professional behavior, leadership, collegial relationships, and collaboration within and across academic
units, disciplines, and professions.
Leadership and professionalism – The college or school demonstrates a commitment to developing professionalism and
to fostering leadership in administrators, faculty, preceptors, staff, and students. Faculty and preceptors serve as
mentors and positive role models for students.
Faculty/staff development – The college or school provides opportunities for career and professional development of its
faculty and staff, individually and collectively, to enhance their role-related skills, scholarly productivity, and
leadership.

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American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2019; 83 (7) Article 7060.
roles and requesting information related to their years of
experience in the role and name of the department they
chair. Chairs with at least five years of experience in that
role were chosen as the experts because of their responsibilities and experiences related to faculty development and
evaluation of leadership skills. A panel size of at least 20
experts was desired based on acceptable study sizes between
10 and 50 participants reported in the literature.19,20
Our study consisted of three rounds of surveys administered online via Qualtrics (Qualtrics, Provo, UT). Surveys
were open for two weeks for rounds 1 and 2 and three weeks
for round 3. The entire process took place between September 27, 2016, and November 22, 2016. Experts received
reminder emails one week prior to the deadline for each
survey round if they had not yet completed the survey. The
first round consisted of open-ended questions and one
Likert-type question to solicit the opinions of each expert
(Table 2). The researchers then conducted a thematic analysis of the responses, crafted leadership expectations for
faculty members and personal characteristics of effective
faculty leaders, and modified a draft definition of faculty
leadership. The items from the process were linked to the
expert responses and shared with experts prior to rounds 2
and 3 to ensure transparency in the study.
In rounds 2, experts were asked to rate their level of
agreement with each item. A Likert scale was used with
the following format: strongly disagree, disagree, agree,
and strongly agree. A comment box was provided to allow
participants to include qualitative responses about each
item. Experts were encouraged to comment if they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the items. This inclusive process resulted in additional comments for each
item. When applicable, comments were used to propose
amendments to the items for expert consideration in round
3. Consensus on an item was defined prospectively by the
research team as being when 80% of the experts responded
agree or strongly agree to the item. Because there are no
definitive guidelines, Delphi studies have used varying
levels of consensus ranging from 51% to 100%.21

Items that did not reach the consensus level of 80% in
round 2 were revised or removed based upon expert comments and reviewed by the research team. Items that
reached consensus could be revised based upon expert
comments if the researchers decided that the revision substantially improved the clarity of the item. In round 3,
experts received a document outlining the results of round
2. Revised item revisited in the round 3 survey followed
the same format as the round 2 survey. An overview of the
modified Delphi process used is shown in Figure 1.

RESULTS
Of the 280 identified chairs from the AACP roster,
24 (8.6%) were interested in participating in this study
and had at least five years of experience in their role.
Twenty-three experts participated in round 1 and 24 experts participated in round 2 and round 3. The average
time the participants had spent chairing a department was
9.6 years, with a range of 5 to 26 years. Ten participants
represented pharmacy practice, eight represented a pharmaceutical science department, and six represented a
combined pharmacy administration/pharmacy practice
department. Thirteen participants represented public institutions and 10 represented private institutions.
The Delphi process resulted in consensus, with
82.6% expert agreement with the following definition
of faculty leadership: “Faculty leadership is the process
of collaborating with, inspiring and enabling others,
regardless of one’s administrative responsibilities, to
achieve goals rooted in a shared mission and vision
through ethical efforts in teaching, service and scholarship.”
Ten guiding principles for faculty leadership, four
learning competencies, six skills, and six ELAs achieved
expert consensus (Table 3). Twenty personal characteristics of effective faculty leaders were also identified
(Table 4). Several expectations proposed by experts in
round 1 failed to achieve the predetermined level for
consensus in rounds 2 and 3 (Table 5).

Table 2. Questions Asked of the Expert Panel in Round 1 of a Modified Delphi Process to Define the Leadership Characteristics
Expected of Pharmacy Faculty Members
Please rate your level of agreement with the proposed definition of faculty leadership. If disagree or strongly disagree, why and
what would you change (if applicable)?
“Faculty leadership is the process of inspiring others, regardless of administrative responsibilities, to achieve goals rooted in the
common good of society through efforts in teaching, service and scholarship.”
What are the guiding principles for faculty leadership development? (eg, born/or made, valuing positional and non-positional).
What key personal characteristics (values, attitudes, ways of being) are needed for faculty members to be effective leaders?
What knowledge do faculty need to possess to be effective leaders?
What skills should faculty members have to be effective leaders (ie, what should faculty members be able to do)?
What leadership activities do you expect of all faculty regardless of administrative position?

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American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2019; 83 (7) Article 7060.

Figure 1. Overview of the Modified Delphi Process to Define the Leadership Characteristics Expected of Pharmacy Faculty
Members

States about what constitutes effective leadership for all
faculty members.
The results of this study are intended to help frame
the construct of leadership programs by providing a hierarchy for development efforts. The guiding principles
proposed here for faculty leadership are the broadest
statements conceptually and represent the goals and priorities that leadership programs should consider when
developing their mission statements. The proposed competencies are the defined behaviors that should be the
outcome measurements established through a program’s
guiding principles. The proposed skills are the abilities
that the competencies reinforce. The proposed ELAs are
akin to the entrustable professional activities (EPAs) that
outline core skills necessary to enter pharmacy practice.22
Finally, the proposed characteristics are the desired leadership attributes and qualities of all faculty members. All
these items articulate the importance, relevance, and practicality of faculty leadership and provide a framework for
leadership development opportunities. The broad nature
of these categories permit innovation in the areas of faculty hiring, development, evaluation, retention, and promotion.
While this study identified numerous leadership
characteristics needed of all faculty members, certain proposed leadership expectations failed to achieve expert
consensus (Table 5). The study was not designed to determine why these expectations were not selected. Some
of these characteristics (eg, competence, caring) and
skills (eg, empathy, fairness), are often included in leadership discussions, so why did they not reach consensus in
this study? One may infer that respondents did not believe
those characteristics were important enough to merit inclusion. One alternate explanation is that respondents felt
that those attributes were encompassed in other qualities,
and it was not necessary to duplicate characteristics. An
alternate explanation is that respondents did not identify
the attribute with leadership specifically.
The outcomes of this study are important because
many newly hired faculty members lack formal leadership

DISCUSSION
As noted by Kezar, leadership remains critical to innovation in teaching and advancing knowledge on campuses.2 While the literature most often describes
leadership from the perspective of administrators, leadership should be expected of all pharmacy faculty members,
regardless of rank or administrative title. Daily interactions are vital to the operations of pharmacy education and
impact our learners, patients, professional colleagues, and
society. There are many examples of these daily interactions. Student organizations require well-prepared and
committed faculty advisors and mentors to ensure their
success in achieving the group’s goals and communicating with the parent national organization. Faculty members with patient care practices must take leadership roles
on healthcare teams to ensure that patients achieve optimal outcomes from their medication therapy. Research
faculty members are increasingly required to display
leadership on teams with multidisciplinary faculty members in order to compete successfully for extramural funding and participate in meaningful collaborative translational
research endeavors. Faculty members who serve as coordinators in team-taught courses must be responsible for overall course management and integration and not simply teach
the content in their own area of clinical or scientific expertise. Faculty members are appointed to chair important
school committees that directly impact the mission of the
college or school, such as the curriculum committee or
an accreditation self-study committee. Both practice and
science faculty members are needed to serve academic,
professional, and scientific organizations on appointed
committees and as elected volunteer leaders at local, state,
and national levels.
Despite the multitude of areas where faculty members are required to demonstrate leadership prowess, little
research has been conducted to identify what specifically
is needed to develop leadership for all faculty members.
Our study, which is novel within health professions education, achieved consensus from 23 experienced pharmacy department or division chairs across the United
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Skills Practiced by Effective Faculty Leaders – steps of activities for effective
faculty leadership

Learning Competencies Related to Knowledge for Effective Faculty
Leadership – leadership knowledge for effective leadership

Guiding Principles for Faculty Leadership Development – guiding principles
outline beliefs about faculty leadership development
and its purpose.

Category

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(Continued)

Faculty leadership can be developed.
Some faculty leaders have inherent leadership skills/abilities.
Leadership should be practiced by all faculty.
Faculty leadership requires a foundation of values.
Faculty leadership involves service for and with others.
Faculty leadership involves leading by example.
Faculty leaders should be visionary.
Faculty leaders should be able to enact change.
Faculty leaders relate to and understand needs of those they are leading.
Faculty leadership development involves engagement in professional activities.
Faculty leaders should have knowledge of their organization and related profession,
both historically and culturally.
Faculty leaders should have knowledge of various leadership theories and
practices.
Faculty leaders should have foundational knowledge of how to utilize
leadership skills including;
Conflict management
Communications skills
Assessment and prioritization
Emotional intelligence
Faculty leaders should have knowledge of one’s own character, strengths,
motives, and limitations.
Faculty leaders must be able to listen to and communicate with others effectively.
Faculty leaders must be able to collaborate effectively with others.
Faculty leaders must be able to make sound, effective decisions.
Faculty leaders should be able to demonstrate self-awareness.
Faculty leaders should have good organizational skills.
Faculty leaders should demonstrate personal leadership by practicing and displaying
the following:
Ability to accept failure and the humility to learn from it
Trust and respect of others
Integrity
Ethical behavior
Open-minded thinking
Proactive thinking
Adaptability
Confidence in themselves and their beliefs

Results

Table 3. Consensus Leadership Expectations for All Pharmacy Faculty Members That Were Identified by an Expert Panel Through a Modified Delphi Process

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American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2019; 83 (7) Article 7060.

Faculty leaders practice personal leadership by;
Communicating effectively
Displaying integrity, honesty, emotional intelligence, passion, and dedication
Having respect and concern for others
Committing to excellence
Being flexible without lowering standards.
Being engaged in one’s profession.
Being responsible for their own professional growth
Strategically reflecting
Faculty leaders serve as a good example of leadership, professionalism and
collegiality to those around them.
Faculty leaders are present and active in the full scope of their duties.
Faculty leaders support and mentor fellow faculty members and learners.
Faculty leaders have the ability to lead teams that may include faculty
committees, practice teams, research teams, and team teaching.
Faculty leaders engage, proactively, in continuous improvement of their
organizations and activities.

training. For other long-time faculty members, assuming
leadership roles in a school or college may be perceived as
unrewarding or as a distraction from pursuing their personal goals in teaching, patient care, or research. Pharmacy
faculty members must understand the importance of their
leadership contributions, and that they feel prepared to take
on such roles. Some of these individuals may aspire to
future formal leadership positions such as department
chair, assistant/associate dean, dean, or other administrative roles in higher education. Thus, leadership development for these faculty members is important for their career
trajectory and for succession planning in schools and colleges to ensure seamless leadership transitions. Faculty
members could also self-assess their characteristics to
identify areas of focus for leadership development. Faculty
members should demonstrate exemplary leadership characteristics for students, patients, and colleagues, which is
important internal modeling and external representation of
our profession. Faculty interactions with students are especially important because we expect graduates to become
the change agents required for continued advancement of
the pharmacy profession. Department chairs could use the
results of this study to facilitate formal and informal professional development opportunities. Using a data-driven,
analytical process, the results create a holistic model for
designing leadership development programs.
The results of this study also corroborate and support
what has been reported by other health education disciplines. Within nursing education, Young and colleagues
reported that nurse faculty leaders often found themselves
thrust into leadership positions for which they were unprepared, or did not identify themselves as leaders until
they were recruited into leadership positions by others.11
The authors concluded that although such experiences are
part of becoming a leader, formal preparation that supports and encourages leadership development in nursing
faculty members is needed.
In medical education, Steinert and colleagues performed a systematic review of the effects of faculty development interventions designed to improve leadership
abilities on the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of faculty
members in medicine and on the institutions in which they
work.12 The authors concluded that, despite generally
weak study designs, the literature supported that faculty
development programs resulted in positive outcomes.
Program features that contributed to positive outcomes
included use of multiple instructional methods within single interventions, experiential learning and reflective
practice, individual and group projects, peer support, development of communities of practice, mentorship, and
institutional support.

Expected Leadership Activities of Faculty Leaders – expected roles and
functions of leadership for all faculty.

Category

Table 3. (Continued )

Results

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Table 4. Personal Characteristics of Effective Pharmacy Faculty Leaders as Identified by Consensus of an Expert Panel Who
Participated in a Modified Delphi Study
Faculty leaders should embody personal characteristics,a including:
Integrity
Authenticity
Respect
Empathy
Honesty
Trustworthiness
Receptiveness
Strong work ethic
Resilience
Collaboration
Transparency
Fairness
Consistency
Ethical thinking
Supportive
Commitment to excellence
Accountability
Positivity
Forward thinking
Engaged
a

Personal characteristics are the values, attitudes and ways of being an effective faculty leader

With regard to pharmacy education, the 2002-2003
joint meeting of the AACP Academic Affairs, Professional Affairs, and Research and Graduate Affairs Committees identified competencies for effective leadership
for faculty members, associate and assistant deans, department chairs, and deans of colleges and schools of
pharmacy. These competencies included consensus
building, ability to articulate a vision, networking skills,
credibility and integrity, communication skills including
listening, and ability to make a decision.23 The groups
agreed that a wide variety of leadership development programs should be offered to meet the needs of pharmacy
faculty members across the academy. The 2002-2003 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee recommended that
AACP establish a Center for Academic Leadership and
Management in Pharmacy to design and implement structured, ongoing, and comprehensive leadership and management development for AACP members. The group
recommended that the proposed center not design programs and services focused only on “positional” leadership
because all faculty members are called upon at some point
to engage in the process of leadership.24
Although the Center for Academi...