Lack of Training: When's the Time?
Last week, we began exploring the complicated issue with the lack of training for those in positions of leadership in the medical field. It feels strange, because a physician is arguably one of the “most-trained” positions in the modern world. Physicians spend longer in higher education that any other profession. Yet the career transition from physician to physician leader involves minimal and inadequate preparation in the best of situations.
Why aren’t our physician leaders as well prepared for their role as physicians are? And what can we do to change this for the future?
One of the reasons physician leaders aren’t properly trained is they aren’t given time.
Leader’s Schedules are Maxed Out
Due to the immediate (and often unrealistic) demands made on a physician leader, many are unable to find time to attend any leadership training at all, even if excellent physician leader training was widely available. There’s always something to do - one more meeting to attend, one more fire to put out, one more initiative to launch. Leaders often have such a difficult time wrangling their own schedule, they’re unable to set aside time to manage their teams or build the individual relationships that would contribute to a healthier workplaces. This over-scheduling lays the foundation of a culture where conversations don’t happen naturally — ding ding ding -- ring a bell?!? Flashback to our Lack of Communication post! This shaky foundation sets the stage for low levels of trust, which is a huge obstacle in getting anything done.
Overtaxed schedules force leaders to prioritize incorrectly, putting relationship building and important conversations on the back-burner.
As a result, untrained leaders inadvertently create a vacuum that breeds mistrust, lack of engagement, and burnout — between both physicians and themselves. These results are long-lasting and far-reaching. Of course, an intuitive leader understands that losing control of their time management is a much bigger problem.
As Jenn Lofgren from Forbes puts it:
If there's never enough time, time management isn't your real problem.
Which is absolutely the truth. While the lack of training for physician leaders is a glaring issue, the lurking issue behind this is the lack of prioritization for training at all. How can we expect physician leaders to excel, lead well and guide their teams through difficult times if their professional development isn’t a priority? In short, we can’t.
Next week we’ll pull at a final thread that begs attention when discussing the lac of training before moving on through our problems series.