Why Leadership Matters in Audiology: Inside the LEAP Program with Dr. Samantha Ramirez

Leadership is more than a title. It's a skill that shapes teams, strengthens patient care, and drives the future of the profession. In this episode of Science Meets the Sound Booth, hosts Sarah McAlexander and Maggie Kettler sit down with Dr. Samantha Ramirez to discuss the Academy's new Leadership Excellence in Audiology Professionals (LEAP) program. Learn why leadership development is becoming increasingly important in audiology, how LEAP equips participants with practical skills in communication, emotional intelligence, strategic decision-making, and change management, and why every audiologist can benefit from investing in their leadership journey.

Learn more about LEAP: https://www.audiology.org/leadership-excellence-in-audiology-professionals-series/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Science Meets the Sound Booth, sponsored by the AAA Foundation, where hearing meets understanding. We're your hosts, Sarah McAlexander and Maggie Kettler, and in this podcast, we'll explore evidence-based clinical care and audiology. Science Meets the Sound Booth aims to translate research into real-world application. We're finally stepping out of the booth, metaphorically at least, to support informed decision making and better patient outcomes. Whether you're an audiology professional, a student, or you've spent so many hours wearing that monitor headset that you've forgotten what daylight looks like, you're in the right place. Today I'm excited to welcome Dr. Samantha Ramirez, audiologist, leader, and advocate for professional development within audiology. Dr. Samantha Ramirez is a supervising audiologist at Kaiser Permanente in Redwood City, California. She earned her Doctor of Audiology degree at Wayne State University. She has been volunteering for the Academy since 2016 and is currently the chair of the Professional Development Council. Today we're going to be talking about the American Academy of Audiology's LEAP program, which stands for Leadership Excellence in Audiology Professionals. LEAP is a leadership development series designed specifically for audiologists and was developed in collaboration with the American Academy of Audiology, the American Board of Audiology, and the Tulane University Leadership Institute. The program focuses on building practical leadership skills such as communication, emotional intelligence, strategic decision making, team development, and change management. Samantha, thank you so much for joining us today. We're so excited to hear from you. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

I know that a lot of this podcast is about um breaking research and emerging things, but I definitely feel that leadership is a huge part of clinical excellence and things that we definitely need to bring to our clinics and to our membership. So I appreciate you all having me on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Thank you so much. We're excited to have this conversation and couldn't agree more that leadership really is at the core of what we do as audiologists. So before we dive into learning more about the LEAP program, why don't you tell us a little about yourself and your professional journey?

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah, absolutely. Um, thank you for the introduction. I uh am a clinical practicing audiologist in Northern California. Most of my time is spent with patients, but another portion of my time is in formal leadership. So I am a supervising audiologist where I help manage and mentor a team of audiologists and support staff and technicians and receptionists, uh, medical assistants. I'm also uh adjunct faculty at San Jose State University audiology program. And so not only am I currently helping mentor and develop currently practicing audiologist, but also the future profession, our students. And so I find those things very, very rewarding and very exciting. And that's really where my interest in leadership stems from. Uh so I think it's really, really important that our profession is focusing on the future and where we're going with and how we're training our future professionals, not just clinically, but also in these soft skills or professional development skills that we don't really formally get in our AUD programs.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

That is awesome. No, and I feel like leadership has really been a focus for you for a while. I think I remember back when I was um an audiology student and you were an audiology student as well, hearing you talk about leadership at one of um the student conference events. Um, so it's really cool to see the way that it's um continued to impact your career as an audiologist as well. Um, so let's start with the basics. What exactly is LEAP?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Yeah, LEAP is a brand new offering that the Academy, the American Board of Audiology, and the Tulane University Leadership Institute has worked on for the past year. Uh LEAP stands for Leadership Excellence in Audiology Professionals. So, what we've developed is a six-part series. It starts in September. Um, people will attend online, and it's designed specifically for audiologists who want more practical leadership skills that they can apply immediately in their workplace. Um, so whether they supervise a team or whether they're um uh just an individual contributor on a team, this program is really meant for anyone in any phase of their career. The reason we've focused on this so hard in the past uh few years here is well, what we're what we're seeing is a lot of audiologists are retiring and leaving the profession, rightfully so. They've spent wonderful, meaningful careers building us up, but we also have to start thinking about the future. Um, something else that's been a big focus for all of us is again, these professional development or soft skills. Um, I think many of us can easily find training, CEUs, resources for anything we want clinically, right? Vestibular, tinnitus, pediatrics. Um, but where do audiologists go when they are now stepping into a management role or leading a committee or um leading a project and they don't know how to manage a team or they don't even know where to start? And so that's really where uh LEAP has stemmed from, and we're really, really excited to offer this.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

It's gonna be great, and it's gonna really fill a void that we have in our profession. Um, I know I'm in a leadership role within my organization as well, and have always been seeking more opportunities that are audiology focused. So, how did this come about and how has Leap um remained focused on audiologists and the the personalized need that we have as audiologists in our career?

SPEAKER_01 6:07

That's a great question. Um the idea stemmed from a session from the Beyond the Booth series at AAA 2025 in New Orleans. We invited the Tulane Um Leadership Institute to come and do just a beyond the booth uh learning module. And uh the theme was emotional intelligence. That was the topic that they presented on. And that topic was standing room only. So there were over 200 conference attendees who wanted to come listen to this uh speech specifically, and that's when the professional development council said, Whoa, okay, there's definitely a need here. If 200 people are taking time out of their conference to come and learn about emotional intelligence and learn how to apply that to their teams, um, obviously there's a deeper, a deeper need and a deeper want for more of this type of content. And so since that conference, we were working closely with Tulane, and what they did is they have a very well nationally recognized curriculum. I again, they're a leadership institute. So these are leadership principles that they've applied across several disciplines, but they're very, very interested in uh healthcare leadership as well. And so as we started meeting and working with them, um, what we did is with the professional development council's help, um, we were able to really have a lot of discussions about what audiology specifically needs and how these, again, these topics that are not normally covered in one business management or practice management course in the AUD program is just not enough. And so a lot of input from our membership council, our professional development council, new professionals, people involved in Beyond the Booth. Um, we asked questions from senior audiologists to mid-career to early career audiologists. And so we helped not only look at the curriculum that we're putting out in September, but we're able to also couple discussions, case examples, panel conversations, things that uh audiologists actually face every day in our clinics, hospitals, private practice, education, and industry. Um, so this content, although Tulane is really the content leaders and experts in the foundations of leadership, um, we've absolutely tailored it so it's applicable to audiologists specifically, because that's what we feel was missing from other leadership programs that maybe you would find in your organization or your hospital or your university.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

That's awesome. It's exciting to hear a little bit about the development and what goes into making a program that's specifically designed for audiologists. Um with that in mind, who really is the ideal participant of the LEED program? Is it all audiologists? Is it really audiologists that are already in those leadership positions, new professionals, people who've been in the field a little bit longer? Um, what are your thoughts about that?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yeah, the one thing that we really love about the LEET program is it's designed for any audiologist at any stage of their career. So whether you are your first year out of graduate school, whether you have managed your own private practice for 30 years, I truly believe anyone can take applicable foundations and uh tangible examples out of this program to bring directly to their teams. I think, like many people, at least early on in my career, I always thought leadership came with a title, right? I did never thought of myself as a leader until I had a title. And that's just simply not true, right? Um, many of us volunteer, many of us work on special projects or have clinical expertise. And whether you have a leader formal leadership title or not, you are leading in some capacity. All of us in audiology are leading in some capacity because we have to, right? Some of us are a sole audiologist on a team. Some of us, maybe there's only um, you know, a few audiologists on the team, or likewise, uh, maybe we work at a hospital or clinic where there's 20 to 30 audiologists. So um again, we've really catered this to anyone at any point in their career. Um, but definitely it will capture, I think, people who are interested in how to communicate more effectively, make stronger decisions day to day in their jobs. Again, there's something valuable for everyone at any stage of their career for this program.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

It's really great. It's really great to hear that this is happening in such a transitional time for our career for our career in audiology. Um, we're seeing so many things uh change and develop and really evolve across the profession, across the states, um, seeing lots of scope of practice changes and really opportunities for us to continue to grow. So let's talk bigger picture about the LEED program. Why do you think that this leadership development is so important in our career right now?

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah, like you said, uh healthcare is changing rapidly, faster than all of us can really keep up with. And that's just across the healthcare landscape in general. But audiologists, especially, we're being asked to do a lot more, right? Not only providing excellent clinical care and evidence-based care, but leading teams, implementing new technology, technology that's coming up faster than we can keep up with. Um, patient access is a huge discussion right now, too. There's so many patients to help, and not enough of us. So, how do we solve these problems, right? We can't um, you know, we can try to matriculate more audiologists, but we we can't always. We can try to, you know, employ more support staff or or mid-level staff. But um this is where I think audiology needs to shift from being more um strategic and organized rather than reactive. Our profession is highly reactive, again, because we're we're keeping up with so much. Um, but I really believe leap is the first step in taking a pause and really being more reflective and figuring out, okay, what does strategy really mean? Um, how does making good decisions at my clinic impact the profession as a whole? What is the domino effect of these decisions as we change and lead all these different teams at, again, different sectors of our profession, industry, hospital, private practice, education?

SPEAKER_00 13:00

On a similar note, how does stronger leadership um impact patient care?

SPEAKER_01 13:06

I truly believe, and many leaders will will um say this is that strong leadership um in turn creates a stronger team. When your team trusts uh each other, trusts their leader, that in turn improves better patient care, right? When we can communicate more effectively and solve problems collaboratively collaboratively rather than unilaterally, you know, that's really the change we need to see to ultimately impact our patients in uh a productive and successful way. And so I do think that when we understand ourselves as leaders and we know how to lead. And again, not everyone leads the same. That's not the purpose of this of this program. It's not to create all the same type of audiology leader, but it's really a reflective moment to sit to learn what kind of leader am I? Am I the most effective leader for my team or the project I'm working on or the people I work with? And and of course, when we're more effective, when we're happier at work, when we can elicit positive change, um, that positive change trickles down, of course, to our patients. And so I really think that the more we focus on leadership, the stronger audiology will become. And then in turn, our patients will be much happier with better outcomes.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

And looking beyond the patients, how do you feel like this leadership will help develop clinical excellence?

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah, clinical excellence. Again, we have a lot of content available to us for clinical excellence, which is awesome. Um, but how do we apply that, right? So a big topic that you all discussed on your podcast was um genetics and gene therapy. Um I know that this is an upcoming uh uh clinical tool. I know this is something I should keep an eye on, but as a leader, how can I bring this back to my team? How can I um emphasize to senior leadership or other leaders around me that this is an important topic to focus on and look at and apply in our clinics? Um, leadership skills help clinicians communicate recommendations more effectively. We as audiologists do a great job of knowing the why. And it's very easy for, you know, I at least myself to read a really awesome article with really awesome outcomes and say, yeah, like why not do this? Like that that's a no-brainer. Um, but a lot of us don't work with other audiologists or uh audiology leaders, or a lot of our senior leaders are not audiologists. So learning how to communicate that recommendation effectively across disciplines, right? Whether we work with ENTs or PAs or nurses, uh that's what's gonna ultimately improve workflows, create environments of trust where high quality care can consistently flourish. And it's not just, oh, you know, Samantha, the audiologist, has this great idea or learned this great thing at this conference, but uh, let's table that for later. We have other things to worry about. No, no, these are things we have to worry about now. So that's really how I think it's linked to clinical excellence is how do we communicate these things, not only within our profession and within our own teams, but um across across different disciplines.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Absolutely. I think that's I think that's such a great point about how we need to know how to communicate why these things are important or how to talk about it with our teams when we're trying to get these clinically excellent ideas, these evidence based practices into our clinic. Um, because you're right, there's so many times that I do go to a conference or listen to someone talk, and I'm like, wow, like that sounds great. I'd love to do that. And then when it comes to practically looking at the nitty-gritty and making it happen, I don't feel like I have the skills to make that happen. And so ultimately it just doesn't get done. Um, and so I think it's really taking that clinical excellence that we're hearing about and turning it into something tangible that leadership skills really help with. So I think that's awesome. Um, thinking back really to Leap specifically, walk us through the curriculum. What types of topics can we expect to be covered?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Yeah, there are six main topics that we have identified as very important for our audiology professionals. Um, one is foundations of leadership, uh, another is emotional intelligence, three is effective communication, four is strategic decision making, five is team development, and six is organizational change. So, how we've catered this is each module builds on the previous one. So participants develop a pretty well-rounded toolkit overall, something they again can bring back to their clinics immediately after attending the session. And um there are also uh this is also meant to be very interactive. So this is not your typical um CEU course or um webinar or module where you're just listening to a presentation and maybe there's like five minutes of QA after. No, there's uh the cohort is very interactive, so it'll be a lot of discussion, examples, practice, uh case studies, uh things that we do in real time with the facilitator and other audiology leaders. So again, we can practice it in a safe space of LEAP, and then you can immediately apply it to uh your workplace.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Let's talk about strategic decision making. How does the LEAP program support audiologists in developing this skill, one that's so important for us in the field, and implementing strategic decision making into the practice?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Great question. Um, I think for all of us who work on a team, we know that when a problem comes up in clinic or a new topic or issue or something we're thinking through, uh, there's not always one obvious answer. Um, if there was one obvious answer, the decision making would be easy. But we know that that's not how it always goes in our clinics. Um and so when we think of uh when we think of complex decisions and when we think of strategic decision making, it's really about balancing priorities and making thoughtful decisions and decisions that we can confidently implement with our teams. Um so again, you know, it there's not always one path to decision making. Um, whether we're a leader or not, we know that we have to, many of us have made pros and cons lists, for example. Um many of us have thought about different outcomes or plans, A, B, and C. And so that specific module really helps identify okay, how do I prioritize things that are potentially competing? Uh, what is a priority for my team? How do I go about making the best decision for that moment? Um, and again, you know, sometimes we don't make the best decision in the moment. And so that module also talks about what happens when when we have to deviate or change, or when we have to um try something different. And that can be hard for a lot of us audiologists. And so that's why we wanted to focus on um that specifically. I I think from you know, as a profession and especially, you know, triple A leadership, um, they the the board, for example, and our leaders in AAA, they're constantly making strategic decisions that will benefit and um prolong our profession, right? And help our profession and help our patients. And so that's another way this could also be applied in developing this skill is for those of us who are interested in academy leadership as well. And what does it mean to be on a board where we have to make certain decisions very strategically for the betterment of our profession?

SPEAKER_00 21:27

That's great. Um, so I know we've talked about this a little bit, but there are a lot of professional development offerings out there. There's a lot of different types of courses, and all of them are at different price points or are offered in different ways. Um, what specifically makes Sleep different from a lot of these other um professional development offerings that people might find?

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Yeah, we worked collaboratively with Tulane Leadership Institute, also the ABA. So that way, not only are you earning CEU. Use when you're taking these courses, but you'll also be given a digital badge through the ABA once you complete it. So this is something that you can put on your LinkedIn, for example, your resume. Again, this is a program specifically for audiologists. So for people who are really looking at adding leadership on their resume. Like, for example, I know my institution is now looking for that specifically, even when we're hiring a new graduate audiologist. This is a great way to fulfill or bulk up that leadership area on a resume. You'll earn 0.9 CEUs. So you definitely get CEUs out of it. You get the ABA badge. You also get recognition from the Tulane Leadership Institute. So you'll have Thule's recognition as well. And we think the cost is quite fair. You know, for six modules, a badge and recognition, it's $375 for Academy members and $525 for non-members. So fairly affordable, or we try to make it as affordable as possible. And for people who have tuition reimbursement or have funds that they can use with their employer towards CEUs or training programs like this, we have also created a justification letter. So that way if you have to advocate for yourself or want to sign up for this program or need prior approval, AAA's made it really easy. So that way we already have a justification letter drafted up for you to submit to your employer or your boss. Or again, some people are just investing in themselves and doing this on their own. And we have um we have registration open now until September. So you have time to think about it and time to talk to your employer about it before the curriculum starts.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

So what mindset should participants bring into the program?

SPEAKER_01 23:57

The mindset people should have is really curiosity and a willingness to reflect. The more open-minded you are to trying new approaches to learning from other people in the cohort and from the Thule professionals, that's really how you're going to get the most out of this program. And so this is our first time offering it. We're really, really excited. We've had registrants who are fresh out of school. And we also have people registered who have owned a private practice for several decades. So we're really, really excited to not only learn from the professionals of Thule, but each other in the cohort.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

And thinking back sort of on your own leadership journey, your own experience, as well as some of the things that are offered through the LEED program, um, what's a leadership trait that you feel that every audiologist should seek to develop?

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Um I can think of two and two that I work on constantly myself. Um, the first one is don't assume, ask. So anytime I hear about a new initiative at work or another colleague brings up a new idea, um, I have to really clamp down that assumption part of my brain and really change that to the asking part of my brain, wanting to learn more about their idea, wanting to learn more about why it's important to them. So don't assume ask. Um, the other one is self-awareness. So understanding how we communicate, how we respond under pressure, how our actions affect others, I think is really the foundation of becoming an effective leader. Many leaders in audiology, uh, it's not something uh we now we're shifting the mindset where we want people to work toward leadership, but I think many of us have kind of stumbled or fell upon it, right? It's something that someone has said, tapped us on the shoulder and said, Hey, like, I think you should apply for that job, or hey, I think you'd be really good at this, or hey, do you want to lead this initiative or this project? And um, so understanding ourselves before we jump into that role so we're not as scared, I think is really important. So I would say don't assume and self-awareness.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

And what is the best piece of leadership advice that you've received in your career?

SPEAKER_01 26:23

The best piece of leadership advice I've received is that a leader does not have all the answers all the time. It might look like that on the outside, but it's just so not true. A good leader asks good questions and creates an environment where other people feel comfortable to contribute ideas and solutions. Um, so the best leadership advice I've received is we don't have to have all the answers. We just have to know the good questions to ask.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

And what's one leadership misconception um that you can share with us?

SPEAKER_01 27:04

I would say the biggest misconception that I mentioned is um leadership does not start when you get a special title or get promoted. In reality, leadership starts the moment you choose to positively influence the people around you. Um so thank you, Sarah, for mentioning the um Slack talk I gave. I can't even think about how long ago that is, but that that's an example of you know wanting to positively influence people around you. I was a student when I gave that talk still. And I all I wanted to do was positively impact other students. And so I had no formal title. I didn't even have my degree then. So yeah, one of the biggest misconceptions is that you don't need to have a formal title to begin to be a leader. It's about wanting to positively impact the profession and people around you.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

And you definitely positively impacted me because clearly I remember that talk all these years later. I still remember seeing you up on that stage with a few other um audiology student leaders and thinking, wow, like wouldn't it be so cool to be able to be like them when I get further along my student journey and on my audiology journey? And so I think you've been positively impacting people from the beginning. And I think that's such a good reminder that you don't always you don't always know who you're able to give that positive impact to when you say yes to those leadership opportunities and take advantage of them. Thank you. That's so sweet.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Samantha, thank you so much for sharing your insight and helping us learn more about the American Academy of Audiology's LEAP program. Where can audiologists who are interested register?

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Yes, um, you can register on the Triple A website or the American Board of Audiology website. Um there is a link that hopefully will be linked to this podcast for it. Um but if you have any questions or you're having a hard time registering, um if you email tripleainfo at audiology.org, the right person will get you the registration link.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

So we'd love to ask our guests one last question. Outside of the sound booth or outside of your day job, what is a habit, a hobby, or a mindset that helps you stay balanced and focused?

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Uh yeah, something that I really make sure I have a mindset in is creativity. So whether the creative outlet is taking a dance class, the creative outlet is picking up a new arts and crafts hobby like crocheting or embroidery, um, that that's one way that really helps me not only stay creative in my personal life, but in turn, I think it does also help my leadership skills because leaders have to be creative as well. Um so I would say doing something creative on a regular basis. And um I've never really had one that I like to stick to, but I like to try a bunch of different things.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

That's excellent. That's a great way to relieve stress and have something outside of work to uh to be that outlet. So again, thank you so much. I learned so much today about the LEAP program. I'm definitely interested in attending it myself, as well as sharing it with a few of my colleagues who I think could really grow and develop and learn these skills, especially specific to our unique profession.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Yes, that's that's great. Yes, please share this program for all of you listening. If you can even think of one person who might benefit from the program, whether it's yourself or a colleague who you think this sounds like a really great program for, please share it with them. We'd love to have them join us.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Thank you for listening to Science Meets the Sound Booth sponsored by AAA Foundation. We hope today's discussion provided clinically relevant insights you can apply in your practice and professional development. For references, additional resources, and future episodes, be sure to follow the American Academy of Audiology to stay connected. If you found this episode valuable, consider sharing it with audiology colleagues, friends, and students. Until next time, this is Science Meets the Sound Booth translating research into better patient care.