Why are Physician Leaders afraid to hire an executive coach?

(Successful leaders think very differently.)

The data speaks for itself, every physician leader should have an executive coach. But when push comes to shove, many shy away from hiring one and never take the steps necessary to improve their leadership and career. Why is this? What’s holding leaders back? 

Maybe this sounds familiar to you. You’ve been thrust into a leadership position without much training and are trying to muscle through and make it work because you are, after all, a highly trained physician. You’re smart. You’re more than capable. So why is this leadership position so different from your previous work? I’ll tell you -- because they don’t teach leadership in medical school. It’s not that you’re less than capable, it’s that you’ve had no training! This truth can be difficult for many physician leaders to realize. 

Yet, once you’ve realized you’re not at fault for the difficulty you experience as a physician leader, you might still find yourself on the fence about pursuing leadership coaching. Let’s unpack some reasons why. 

Coaching isn’t Easy

First, being coached is no walk in the park. It’s hard work. Many leaders aren’t ready to undertake such a mammoth task. As a coach, I can immediately tell which leaders are still stuck in their beginner “muscle-through-it” phase and which leaders are ready to take on the work of becoming experts and masters of leadership. Don’t be a leader that holds yourself back!

Here’s the difference: New and inexperienced leaders focus on how much money they’ll have to spend, calculating anxiously how much they’ll owe a coach each hour. While experienced leaders focus on the long-term return of their investment. They value what an expert executive coach brings to the table instead of worrying about the upfront cost. Not only are wise leaders good at calculating ROI and value, they are also adept at articulating the need for an executive coach to their boss when they ask for money to invest in their professional development. Yes, coaching is an investment that organizations often fund for their leaders!

Those serious about pursuing quality coaching also want to understand how much time it will take. Time is indeed money after all. If you consider the ridiculous ways you’re asked to spend your time as a leader, you’ll quickly see how time is passing by and costing money. Money in lost opportunities, a stagnating career, low patient satisfaction, too many meetings, and much more.

Change is Difficult

Second, in my nearly 15 years of executive coaching, I often observe that new leaders, no matter how enthusiastic they are, may be ready to try new things, but find it hard to fundamentally change the way they do things. They want to change processes without having to change themselves. 

This is a matter of perspective. New leaders want to be handed tips and tricks. Experienced leaders ready for true transformation, know that this process will change them completely. They begin coaching prepared for a total overhaul. 

The change experienced through executive coaching will impact you forever. It’s beyond ROI or time investment, and is ultimately brought about by your own effort and willingness to revise your thinking and processes completely. 

An example: If you’re trying to lose weight, you may obsessively waste time on articles like: 5 foods to avoid, or 20 exercises to do today, or 7 things to eat. This will cause you to gain and lose the same 15 pounds again and again over many years. Or you approach weight loss through the perspective of health and abundance, changing your whole mindset and outlook of nutrition and food. You change fundamentally within and change your relationship to food completely. In this way you find a healthy balance without quick tips and tricks. 

An inexperienced leader is the same. They’ll continue to search for blog posts titled “7 Things a Leader Should Do” and watch countless TED talks. While a leader ready for true change will look inward, knowing the path to higher performance lies through being coached from the inside out. 

Physicians are Unique

Third, this struggle is physician specific. Physicians, as part of our medical training, amass a vast amount of knowledge. Unfortunately, once in the field, we hardly use a big chunk of what we learn in school. Yet, knowing something intellectually may make it feel like you know everything about it. I call this the “phenylketonuria fallacy”. We study phenylketonuria in first year in medical school, and you bet there are questions in the board exams about it. PKU results from an error in metabolism, and is a rare disorder. Due to its rarity, most of us never see a case of it in practice. And will never know how to manage patients with PKU, much less how it feels to raise a child who has PKU. However, due to intellectual knowledge and successfully answering test questions, it “feels” like we know a lot about it and it shouldn’t be so hard to diagnose or manage a patient with it. 

Imagine a physician talking about managing metabolic syndrome or mental illness based on their knowledge of what they learned in the first year of medical school. They sound pompous at best, completely out of touch at worst. Leadership is no different. You may read many texts on leadership but have no true experience. Real leadership happens when applying the knowledge you gain. Information is not power, applied information is. Knowing something intellectually doesn't mean you know it experientially. 

We’re Lone Wolves

Fourth, is the lone wolf syndrome. Dike Drummond, M.D. in his book, Stop Physician Burnout: what to do when working hard isn’t working, calls it “the lone ranger” in all physicians. The truth is that unfortunately, medical training doesn't prepare us to work as a team. Instead, we work at the top of the care pyramid, carrying so much individual responsibility for patient care that we forget to shift our mindset when it comes to leadership. You don't have to do it alone, and it takes time and effort to unlearn what has been drilled in decades of training. The minute your job title changed to physician leader, everything changed, except your lone wolf mindset. You don't have to do everything yourself (in fact you can’t do everything yourself!), you must lead others to do what they do best. A lone wolf mentality keeps doctors from asking for help, leading to reduced wellbeing and stagnant self development. 

There’s no “Prize” at the End

Finally, we’re used to collecting degrees and certifications. We keep them in our office in nice frames, showcasing our knowledge and qualifications. Of course, this sounds like a worthwhile endeavor, if you need systems literacy, or want to keep collecting letters after your name besides M.D. But, there comes a time when enough is enough. Degrees and certifications will give you technical knowledge, not necessarily applied knowledge. Effective leadership performance is a combination of technical skills and behavior skills, plus application of those skills in daily life. “The single most important predictor of organizational success is the behavior of individual leaders,” says Michael Frisina in Influential Leadership. No amount of technology or process improvement can make up for the behavior deficiency of a leader. Without fundamental behavioral change, one more degree or seminar is not going to make a difference in your performance. A leader must be ready to undertake coaching for the sake of true and lasting change, not a certificate of completion at the end. 

How Successful Leaders Move Forward

Successful leaders begin by learning to calculate their return on investment (ROI). You must know your own value, and the value your role brings to the organization. Physician leaders who are not in operational roles may find this difficult to calculate. The easiest way to find out is through your boss’s office. Whether you like it or not, your role does have a dollar value. Aren’t you curious to find out? Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how an investment in your coaching could ultimately benefit your entire organization?

Of course, taking the steps toward executive coaching is no walk in the park (as we’ve discussed), but I’ve created a FREE 5-day challenge that culminates in asking your boss to invest in your coaching, outlining all necessary steps. This challenge offers an opportunity to practice having influence in your organization and also, managing your boss -- a good refresher in systems literacy. It also prepares you to seize opportunities when they come your way and create the career you want, instead of being frustrated with the job you have. You may be surprised how easy it can be.

Also, consider how much effort it will take to find and hire the right coach. A lot! The truth is that no one is a better coach than YOU. This is always my goal with clients, to work myself out of a job as soon as possible, making sure you’re able to coach yourself to success. That’s why my 5-day challenge is titled: Coach Yourself! 

Coach Yourself! is a *free* 5 day program where you’ll quickly learn what steps to take to change your behavior and improve your leadership with tried and true, research-based methods I’ve been using with my clients for over a decade.