Recently, I presented a Team Building and Physician Leadership Program to a group of young physician leaders at a mid Atlantic State Medical Association Annual Meeting. The participants are what we, in the executive business coaching world, term "high potentials." These are individuals who not only strive to perform at a constantly higher level, but also consistently reevaluate their performance to help them do so. The program consisted of three segments: team building, individual personality assessments and a review of how physician leaders and functioning healthcare teams can thrive in healthcare reform.
At the conclusion of the program, the increase in energy level of the group was palpable. As I was probing for feedback, this young group of truly dynamic physicians, who are at the beginning of their careers, told me they began this program without much hope for a satisfying career, however they were extremely optimistic by the end of our working together. Further questioning led to the conclusion that the career disillusionment of their physician mentors in their residency programs was spilling over to these young physician leaders. Makes perfect sense! The well respected mentors, who are in the 45 plus age group, are excellent at instructing the art and science of medicine, but their negative attitude of careers in medicine due to the Broken Covenant in US Healthcare are negatively affecting the younger physicians' aspirations and dreams.1 (Click here to read full article)
I left the program with two ideas to prevent this trend from continuing. First, we must continue to coach young physicians to allow them to reach their full potential and enjoy their careers. Second, we must coach the more seasoned mentor physicians to have more satisfying careers and positively impact those they mentor.
