If the strategic mission is not advanced, for example, by a faculty member's membership on boards of two professional societies, then such membership might not be regarded as a chip in the process of promotion. All junior faculty need to learn about criteria for promotion. And perhaps most centrally, junior faculty need to sit down with their chairman or division head and ask to talk about their careers. Such conversations should transpire perhaps every 2 to 3 months for junior faculty until they become secure in their roles and responsibilities. If I were to try to reduce my response to one short descriptor, it would be that successful junior faculty have been able to develop concrete plans for their careers and to convince others that they can carry out their plans.
Successful faculty are successful in implementing the plans that they put forward.
A failure to implement is often the problem for faculty who face difficulties. Reasons for failure of implementation are varied and include psychological, environmental, and resource factors. The mentoring and guiding of careers of faculty is a primary responsibility of associate professors. The whole range of activities that involve mentoring of not just students, residents, graduate students, and fellows, but also other faculty members. Successful associate professors see junior faculty as important contributors to their departments and not as competitors or simply as collaborative career opportunities for themselves.