Last week, we began exploring the lack of engagement pervasive across the healthcare industry. Nearly every healthcare professional, physicians in particular, will be subject to this struggle at least once during their career. Often, healthcare leaders misunderstand this apparent lack of engagement as a physician withholding their “best effort”, as mentioned last week, which leads us deeper into the chasm of misunderstood motives.
Read MoreIt 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.
Read MorePivoting from our look at the multi-faceted issues caused by a serious lack of communication in the healthcare industry, today we’ll begin to explore the wide-spread lack of engagement many physicians and clinicians experience at various points throughout their career.
Read MoreAs outlined, a major problem in the healthcare industry is lack of quality communication. Specifically, the fact that one-on-one communication between leaders and physicians is practically non-existent on a day to day basis. One of the mitigating reasons for this lack between physicians and team leaders is the current circumstances under which it currently exists. Spoiler alert: it’s not good.
Read MoreThe lack of time built into a daily work schedule for quality communication points us to another uncomfortable truth, which is that occasionally (not always everyone, calm down!) physicians can be difficult to talk to. I’ve often heard cited from coaching clients as a reason leaders feel uncomfortable engaging with the physicians on their team. Now, let’s be clear: Leaders, your discomfort speaking to physicians is not a valid reason to let communication fall to the wayside. It’s an excuse and you know the old saying about excuses, right?
Read MoreThe next problem we’ll begin to unravel is the systemic lack of communication that runs rampant in nearly every hospital and healthcare organization. Over the next few posts, we’ll see how poor communication rears its ugly head in several obvious (and avoidable) places.
Read MoreOver the past seven years or so, the medical community has woken up to the pressing issues caused by the systemic and regular use of locum tenens. In the first decade of the 21st century, hospitals regarded locum physicians as life savers, interim workers who can cover shifts when needed and help lighten the load of overworked full-time staff.
Read MoreHello and welcome back to our “Season of Lack” here on the blog. Yes, that may sound depressing at first glance, but far from it. It’s hopeful. It’s daring. We are on a mission to explore the problems of the healthcare industry in depth instead of ignoring the issues or putting a band aid on a serious injury.
Read MoreA new series is here - how exciting! For the next few months on the blog, we’ll be uncovering some of the problems that exist in the healthcare industry, diving into detail about what’s caused the issues, and finally looking at ways to solve the existing problems instead of throwing our hands up in the air and saying, “Well, that’s just the way it is.”
Read MoreYou’ve hit a dead end. Are sailing along at the same level, neither improving nor falling flat. You’re not content and unsure how to level up. Your goals are unclear, your future is fuzzy, your potential feels…untapped.
Read MoreA long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there lived an angsty teenager named Luke Skywalker, who wanted nothing more than to attend the Imperial Academy and become a fighter pilot for the Empire.
Wait, what? That can’t be right…
Read MoreThere are things that will only motivate you for a finite amount of time. It takes a special combination and renewed sense of purpose to create a true leader, bringing a dream from conception to reality. Without the proper combination of core and vision, it’s easy to fall into the trap of the drifter, sleeper or dreamer, instead of realizing one’s true potential as a leader.
Read MoreWe know that a trusted method to fight stress, overwhelm and burnout is to diversity our lives by having more than one support structure, many power initiatives and several career enhancement methods in place. (See our previous post if you missed it!) Yet, that sentence in and of itself may seem a bit overwhelming.
Read MoreDiversification is an invaluable tool in our fight against stress, overwhelm and burnout. It’s the golden rule of investment AND the key to healthy living. In 1952, Dr. Harold Markowitz wrote a groundbreaking paper which launched modern portfolio theory and eventually awarded him the Nobel Prize for Economics.
Read MoreThe thing about stress, overwhelm and burnout that’s imperative to understand is that at some point, the MORE we work, the less productive we become. I call this the Law of Diminishing S.O.B.’s. It’s like trying to scale an ever-increasing incline or a run up an exponential curve – eventually, you’re just falling backwards.
Read MoreWhen strengthening your core in order to defeat the enemies of stress, overwhelm and burnout a mindset shift is necessary in order to be successful. Think of it as a change in strategy – if you’ve been defeated by the S.O.B. in the past, you’ll need to rethink your game plan in order to be successful in the future.
Read MoreSimply deciding to eliminate stress isn’t enough. It’s too simple, not specific and will ultimately fail. Just like New Year’s resolutions that statistically are abandoned by January 12 – trying to build a new habit without specifics will not bring the results you’re looking for.
Read MoreYou’re probably familiar with the “fight of flight” reactions to stressful situations, but recently another common response is being researched and understood more and more: Freeze. This is an increasingly common answer to perceived threats, especially among people dealing with our least favorite foes: Stress, Overwhelm and Burnout – that sneaky S.O.B. Freezing in stressful situations (or perceived stressful situations) is akin to…well, freezing.
Read MoreThere’s no shortage of information about how to combat stress, overwhelm and burnout so why is it that most people seem to be stuck in a cycle, convinced “that’s just the way it is”? Many of us sit as unhappy prisoners for years without realizing that the door was never locked – we were always free to leave.
Read MoreThe sneakiest trick played by our S.O.B. (Stress, Overwhelm and Burnout) enemy is that it cuts you off from your most important tool – your mind. It keeps you confused and flustered so you forget who the real enemy is and start to feel as though the way you feel is normal, or simply “the way things are”. This S.O.B. is like an abusive partner, manipulating and gas-lighting you into thinking you’re the one who’s crazy – not the other way around.
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