I Don't Feel Heard: Coaching a Healthcare Leader Through Influence

So let's talk about the desire to make a difference.

And when that becomes frustration, what do you actually do? So the physicians that I'm sharing with you today stepped into an administrative leadership role.

They wanted to make a difference.

They were concerned about what was happening inside their organization, but inside the physician group specifically.

More physicians were leaving than were actually joining.

And they were seeing the effects of burnout among their colleagues.

Now, when we hear the word burnout in healthcare, we often think about workload, long hours, documentation demands, and the emotional toll of caring for patients.

Those are important factors.

But this physician was experiencing something else.

They felt like they were constantly fighting the system.

They wanted to raise concerns, but they didn't feel that those concerns were being heard.

And they weren't alone.

Other physicians were experiencing similar frustrations.

They were seeing colleagues struggle in an environment where decisions seemed to come from the top down, with limited opportunities for physicians to have a voice, to influence what was going on and what was happening around them.

And as someone who had stepped into leadership, that was especially difficult.

So think about the contradiction.

They had taken on an administrative role to hopefully help improve the organization, but now they were feeling frustrated by the inability to influence the very changes that they believed were necessary.

They were responsible enough to recognize the problem, but didn't feel empowered to really do anything about it.

And that can really be an exhausting place for a leader to find themselves.

So they decided to get involved.

They joined the wellness committee and proposed creating a subcommittee specifically focused on physician concerns.

Now, from their perspective, this made sense, right? Physicians were burned out.

Physicians were leaving the organization.

Physicians needed a place where their concerns could be raised and also addressed.

But the administrators wanted more.

So let's talk about the desire to make a difference.

And when that becomes frustration, what do you actually do? So the physicians that I'm sharing with you today stepped into an administrative leadership role.

They wanted to make a difference.

They were concerned about what was happening inside their organization, but inside the physician group specifically.

More physicians were leaving than were actually joining.

And they were seeing the effects of burnout among their colleagues.

Now, when we hear the word burnout in healthcare, we often think about workload, long hours, documentation demands, and the emotional toll of caring for patients.

Those are important factors.

But this physician was experiencing something else.

They felt like they were constantly fighting the system.

They wanted to raise concerns, but they didn't feel that those concerns were being heard.

And they weren't alone.

Other physicians were experiencing similar frustrations.

They were seeing colleagues struggle in an environment where decisions seemed to come from the top down, with limited opportunities for physicians to have a voice, to influence what was going on and what was happening around them.

And as someone who had stepped into leadership, that was especially difficult.

So think about the contradiction.

They had taken on an administrative role to hopefully help improve the organization, but now they were feeling frustrated by the inability to influence the very changes that they believed were necessary.

They were responsible enough to recognize the problem, but didn't feel empowered to really do anything about it.

And that can really be an exhausting place for a leader to find themselves.

So they decided to get involved.

They joined the wellness committee and proposed creating a subcommittee specifically focused on physician concerns.

Now, from their perspective, this made sense, right? Physicians were burned out.

Physicians were leaving the organization.

Physicians needed a place where their concerns could be raised and also addressed.

But the administrators wanted more.