Surgeon Leadership Is Amplified by a Coaching Culture in Healthcare

Leadership is one of those terms commonly used, but not always universally defined. As you look about your organization and operating rooms, you have an idea of who the leaders are. But what makes them leaders? Compassion? Collaboration? Confidence in decision-making?  Communication? Yes to all of the above, in addition to mindfulness, awareness, empathy, balance and self-care. A coaching culture in the operating room and healthcare creates an environment where the development of individual surgeons and team members, as leaders, enhances patient care and team performance.  

To help illustrate, we look to an industry that is easily relatable and commonly used in metaphors, sports. In this recent publication, former Dean of the Harvard Business School, Nitin Nohria and Tom Brady distill leadership principles into seven behaviors to maximize team performance. Tom Brady has won the most career NFL championships by a quarterback. Yet, he astutely recognizes that success is not achieved exclusively through the leadership of the individual vs the team, but in combination. Half of the behaviors are about Brady himself and the other half is about the team. What we learn is that personal leadership and team leadership are two distinct but interconnected concepts. A great surgeon leader embodies both. 

Personal leadership is defined by the ability to guide the direction of your life, through self-care, mindfulness, stress management and balance. Nohria and Brady identified principles of Putting the team first, Creating a culture of 100% effort, and Awareness of external pressures, all of which speak to personal skills in a high-stress environment. When in the operating room, most would agree that surgeons excel in these areas and are able to focus on the surgery in progress and patient care tasks at hand. Sadly, however, sometimes this happens to the extreme and at the expense of self-care and balance, which leaves a surgeon at risk of burnout and being less effective as a clinician. Coaching provides the surgeon with a safe space to explore and practice skills for compassion and mindfulness and to recognize when personal leadership is not optimized. Only with that awareness can we find ways to change our personal outcomes and redefine success. 

Team leadership can be built upon the solid foundation for personal leadership that is in place.  Team leadership is defined by the execution of strategies that fulfills organizational purpose/mission. In healthcare, that could mean quality metrics, patient satisfaction scores, hospital reimbursement, community outreach, organizational finances, and so on and so forth.  Nohria and Brady identify the principles of Showing appreciation for unsung colleagues, Recognizing motivators of individuals on the team, Complementing the leadership style of other leaders. These behaviors may not be as automatic for a surgeon in a high-stress setting who is laser-focused on the patient. There may also be an expectation that every team member understands his/her role. Neither of these ways of thinking are wrong. But a simple gesture of acknowledgment for those who work behind the scenes to help make every surgery go smoothly can be equally important to the outcome. Understanding what makes an individual feel valued or motivated can enhance team performance and align team members to have a shared purpose. Coaching empowers a surgeon to exemplify behaviors that bring team members together and motivate them to give their best efforts, through awareness, communication, collaboration and timely decision-making. 

A coaching culture in healthcare embraces an environment for continuous learning, collaboration and growth. It places an emphasis on the development of both the individual and the team. The final principle in the article - Building relationships and trust  is essential to effective self and team leadership. Physician coaches have the skills to create trust, renew passion and promote an environment where an individual feels empowered to lead. It is a widely accepted, even encouraged, practice for corporate executives to use coaches for the betterment of themselves and the organization. Why not a surgeon? A surgeon or physician with a strong sense of self and guiding principles to lead the team to success will have a ripple effect, both in the operating room and in the organization as a whole.

Authors:

Mindy Ho, MD, MBA, FACS is a board-certified General Surgeon with over 20 years of experience in medicine, both in private and hospital based settings.  She is a physician coach   passionate about helping other physicians navigate the challenges of having a demanding career and a busy family life.

Joseph M. Kaczmarczyk, DO, MPH, MBA was a board-certified Obstetrics and Gynecology physician, physician leader, and physician coach focused on physician career transitions, physician leadership and physician retirement emotional challenges.

Jeffrey M. Smith, MD, FACS, PCC is a practicing Orthopaedic Traumatologist with over 25 years of experience in academic and private practice settings. He is an ICF-certified coach who works with quality and performance-driven surgeons to help them achieve their goals while nurturing their health and well-being and the relationships most important to them.

Olivia J Wolf, MBA, is an orthopaedic practice executive with 25 years of healthcare administration experience. She is also a physician advocate and leadership coach and is passionate about returning humanities to healthcare. Olivia is the host of the podcast, The Stuck(ish) Podcast, on Apple and Spotify.

References:

1. Brady, Tom, and Nitin Nohria. “Tom Brady on the Art of Leading Teammates.” Harvard Business Review, Sept. 2024, hbr.org/2024/09/tom-brady-on-the-art-of-leading-teammates.
2. Dennison, Kara. “Executive and Leadership Coaching Transforms Organizations.” Forbes, 15 Sept. 2022, www.forbes.com/sites/karadennison/2022/09/15/executive-and-leadership-coaching-transforms-organizations/.