What is coaching?
A deeper dive
Coaching assumes you are whole, not broken, and don’t need to be “fixed.” Instead, we assume you are resourceful, creative and the expert on “you.” As your coach, I am a guide who walks alongside you to identify perspectives that may be contributing to an internal dissonance. I don’t dispense advice or answers like a mentor would, but instead work with you to uncover the solutions that are within you.
Current mindsets and beliefs have been analogized to a map of a familiar landscape. Sometimes we have to move ourselves into a new land, such as a new role at work or a new personal relationship. Other times the landscape changes around us while we stay still, sometimes so slowly we don’t realize it until suddenly we see things are no longer like they were before. In both cases, the map we had for the land we were in before no longer matches the new landscape around us. This mismatch creates a sense of dissonance, and we feel uncomfortably lost.
Our map incongruity manifests in different ways
feeling stuck, limited, or confused in your current situation
sensing you are being acted upon instead of making your own empowered choices
behaviors that may have worked in the past are now limiting you
perceiving unseen barriers to your success
recognizing your potential is unrealized and not having a clear path to achieving it
As your coach, I explore the changed landscape with you and together we discover new understandings about you that reframe your current context. We work together to draw a new map that sets you on a path of transformational growth and success.
A new map provides a better awareness of yourself in your landscape and empowers you to consciously choose the outcomes best suited to achieve your goals.
Coaching for Leaders
Leaders are often promoted because of their success in a former role. Using our map analogy, we see that this person had a great map of their land and used it to succeed. That success was recognized and this person was moved into a new role as a leader – into a new land.
Many times, an organization will recognize that the new leader needs a new map and will invest time and resources into creating that new map. Typically that takes the form of a large “policies and procedures” file, but it may also include mentoring or even coaching.
Other times, organizations believe the leader is best served with a “baptism by fire” or, as I was once told, “we’re going to throw you into the deep end and see if you can swim.” Too often, new leaders themselves feel overwhelmed, like they are floundering. They recognize they are in a new land and their old map isn’t working.
Whether coaching is proactive or reactive, leaders often benefit from a guide who can help navigate this new land and help draw a new map. (Fortunately, I received some excellent coaching to help fish me out of the deep end when I started to flounder!)
Coaching for Physicians
Physicians are highly driven individuals who enter health care with a focus on those they’ll serve. The training is competitive, grueling, and filled with sacrifice – by physicians as well as their friends and families. Often during their training and after they enter into practice, they find that there are numerous barriers to their practicing the way they aspired to. Their mindsets don’t match their surroundings. Said another way, the land they find themselves in is not the one they anticipated, and the map they hold is ineffective in navigating this unexpected landscape.
The incongruity for physicians shows up in a number of ways, all of which can contribute to physician burnout
frustration with administrative burdens that appear to interfere with patient care
a sense of un-empowerment, especially when advocating for their patients
difficulty balancing the demands of their practice and the needs of their families – and themselves
Physicians are at some level aware of a mismatch between what they do day to day and what they trained and sacrificed to do, what their values ask of them. When we feel prevented from honoring these values, we experience an uncomfortable dissonance.
As a physician - and a leader of physicians - I’ve experienced this dissonance firsthand and have seen it in numerous physicians throughout my leadership career.
As your coach, I’ll partner with you to explore the dissonances underlying our discomfort in medicine and find empowering ways to navigate this landscape. We’ll work together to create a new map that matches the land you are in, one that honors