Ideal Candidate for a Physician Leadership Coaching Program

Q: Our physician leaders attended already a physician leadership program; isn’t that enough?

Q: Our physician leaders attended already a physician leadership program; isn’t that enough?

A: It can be enough or maybe it won’t. Here is how you want to look at this. If you have a physician leader who is achieving the intended results in their department; i.e. turnover is low, the employee engagement is high, and the physician leader is satisfied and performs optimally in their role – there is nothing else you can wish for your physician leader and his / her department unless of course they want to upgrade their leadership skills and get to the next level.

My experience with working with physician leaders has been that they are often overwhelmed with dealing with administrative work on top of their clinical work. Even though they may cut back their clinical work, they struggle with the administrative tasks – and it is completely normal because it is a new skill and a different way of thinking that they have to get used to.

On top of that there are skills that are required in an administrative position that are differently used in a clinical role. Delegating work, coaching staff and peers, leading effective meetings, working on business strategies, negotiating opinions and decisions etc – I see many physician leaders who struggle with this. I hear many physicians who compare their role of taking on a physician leader with drinking water out of a fire hose. They feel overwhelmed, they are frustrated with results, they really are ineffective in their role – and that is where this leadership program comes in. I don’t teach business acronyms or business strategies. Instead I work with physician leaders to upgrade their leadership behavior so that they can accomplish their business goals and they can be the leader who inspires others to follows them in order to accomplish organizational goals.  And that is what this program is about. That’s why a physician leadership coaching program can be a great addition to a business knowledge focused leadership program.