Why faculty lead: motivations and benefits for informal pedagogical leadership

Recent shifts in higher education have highlighted the critical role of pedagogical leadership in driving educational change. While much prior work focuses on positional influence, our study studies informal pedagogical leadership across three programs at three institutions in two national contexts: conference presenters, departmental ambassadors, and teaching fellows. We asked: (1) What motivates academics to assume informal pedagogical leadership roles? (2) What benefits do they perceive from these experiences? (3) How do these motivations and benefits compare across different institutional contexts and programme types? Through focus groups with 45 participants, we analyse experiences using a validated framework, identifying five additional dimensions beyond their model. We find that enabling learning for teachers and students and professional development consistently motivates engagement across diverse program structures, while the reported benefits vary significantly with context. Conference presenters valued gaining visibility and recognition, departmental ambassadors were able to create new learning spaces, and teaching fellows garnered changing leadership opportunities. These findings provide academic developers with insights into what motivates faculty to engage in informal pedagogical leadership and the benefits they value. This understanding can inform how such programs might be framed or designed for those who step into roles of informal leadership.