Physician Coaching

How can a physician coach help you?

Coaching is an evidence-based process for helping you gain rapid clarity on your career goals and aspirations, overcome professional challenges, and navigate the inevitable transitions you face as a physician.

For some, this is about finding the critical changes needed to stop enduring and start thriving as clinicians, despite the challenges of the current healthcare system. For others, it is about developing new skills to step fully into their roles as leaders or practice owners. For still others, it is about figuring out if the problem is just their current job or the career of medicine itself – and then using this knowledge to execute a change that will bring more purpose, connection, and fulfillment.

Regardless, the busy physicians and leaders we work with choose coaching because they want a structured process to efficiently and effectively transform their careers.

What types of issues do coaches work on?

We work with physicians on almost every conceivable career and personal issue. The most common issues relate to achieving greater fulfillment, developing leadership and inter-personal skills, and navigating major career transitions. About half of our clients seek coaching on their own, and about half are referred through their employer, medical board, or state physician health program.

Common coaching topics include:

Re-connecting with the joy of medicine
Improving burnout resilience and creating better work-life balance
Increasing confidence, assertiveness, and interpersonal communication
Reducing disruptive and self-undermining behaviors (such as work compulsion, perfectionism, judgementalism, Imposter Syndrome, boundaries issues, and over-care)
Finding and pursuing new challenges within medicine and within your personal life
Developing portfolio careers that include both clinical and non-clinical work
Navigating leaving clinical medicine for another career
Developing effective leadership and communication skills, and stepping into new leadership roles

Please feel free to download a printable copy of our physician coaching brochure for additional details!

How Does Coaching Differ From Therapy?

Coaching and therapy both can help physicians make positive changes in their lives and become more productive. However, there are key differences.

Therapists diagnose and treat clinically significant disorders, with the goal of helping clients return to normal function. There is often a focus on understanding how the past has created the present, and on achieving emotional resolution of past events and interpersonal issues.

Coaching, in contrast, is focused on helping clients move from functional to optimal, as well as overcoming areas where they may be stuck (such as burnout, leadership challenges, or questioning their current path). Coaching uses evidence-based techniques to help physicians clarify what living their best life looks like, and what internal and external challenges are getting in their way. That insight is then used to set and accomplish goals for leading a more purposeful and meaningful life. Coaching is very focused on action and on the future.

Given these differences, physician coaching is ideal for:

Clarifying and achieving new professional and personal goals
Developing purpose and mindfulness to re-connect with the joy of practicing medicine
Achieving better work-life balance and health while reducing stress
Identifying and developing new career trajectories, including non-clinical work
Developing critical leadership skills such as emotional intelligence, self-awareness, communication, and learning agility
Holding you accountable for taking action and effecting change

Therapy is more appropriate for:

Treating substance abuse or clinically significant psychopathology that interferes with work – such as anxiety or depression
Recovering from past traumas or work-related PTSD
Treating neurocognitive disorders that interfere with efficiency or effectiveness at work, such as ADHD, OCD, or spectrum disorders*
Exploring recurrent patterns of dysfunction in past professional or personal relationships
Mitigating pervasive personality disorders (Borderline or Narcissistic) that undermine effectively working with others
Dealing with a significant life event impacting work, such as a death of a loved one or divorce

* Some clients may use a psychiatrist to manage medication and for medical optimization, as well as work with a coach for practical skill building

What if you don’t know what you need from coaching?

That is completely normal! Many physicians we work with do not have a clear vision for what they want. They simply know that they do not want to look back in one to two years and realize that nothing has changed.

Physician coaching is particularly effective in these moments. Through a structured process, we help physicians like you gain the clarity needed to know what is possible and how to start moving in that direction.

Who does coaching work best for?

Coaching works best for physicians who are highly motivated to create new opportunities for success and fulfillment, and are willing to do the work. Real change and growth occur as a result of the client taking insights and ideas from the sessions and translating them into action between sessions. Coaching is not for physicians who are not ready to take responsibility for improving their lives, nor is it for physicians who are content blaming others or the system for their challenges.

How is coaching structured?

Coaching packages:

We work with most clients by phone, Skype, or Facetime in one hour sessions, 1-2 times per month. Some clients require just a few sessions to work on a focused issue. Others may require ongoing support for over a year to manage a large transition, such as leaving medicine for another career.

VIP Coaching Intensives:

For physicians who have very limited time and want to catalyze rapid change without ongoing sessions, we also offer one-day coaching intensives. These are bespoke one-on-one experiences done in person or virtually. The focus is entirely on you and helping you gain clarity on your vision for greater success and fulfillment. From that vision your coach will help you create a concrete plan of action to rapidly effect change. Intensives are perfect for jumpstarting a new role, such as a leadership transition, or rapidly gaining clarity in an area where you feel stuck professionally or personally.

Both processes begin with an initial session to allow me to better understand you and your needs. From that point, and depending on your preferences, the coaching is custom tailored to best support you in getting you from where you are to where you want to be.

Schedule an introductory consultation to experience coaching and begin the work of transforming your career!

Also, you can download a printable copy of our physician coaching brochure for additional details!

Somewhere in my training I forgot how to say no

The greatest insight for me was realizing how much trouble I was having saying no to the barrage of demands around me. Somewhere in my training I forgot how to say no and put my needs first. By learning what to say no to, and learning to discern what truly matters in my work, I have become a much better leader for my organization.

Anonymous – Academic Department Chair

Not “just a coach”, but a fellow physician

As a physician making a career transition, I weighed whether I really needed to work with a coach. I am a capable person who has been able to figure things out on my own thus far so why should this phase of my life be any different? It wasn’t until I met Ryan at a conference and got a taste of how talented he is that I felt more strongly that the experience just might prove fruitful. How right that feeling turned out to be.

Since Ryan is not “just a coach”, but a fellow physician, he has a much deeper understanding of our underlying situation. This allows for very productive sessions right from the start. Ryan is a very attentive listener which enables him to reach you where you are in your process. In a kind and reassuring, yet honest and on-target way, Ryan is skilled in capturing and verbalizing the forces and motivations for how someone has gotten to the place they are and then assists in leading toward goal oriented action.

Karina – Pediatric Hematology-Oncology

Hugely positive and transformative growth

Ryan helped me identify what my hurdles were and challenged me to confront them. I credit a time of hugely positive and transformative growth to his compassionate and direct approach and his ability to really listen and help me reflect.

– Lake, publishing specialist

Had I known what I would learn, I would have done this a long time ago!

I did not choose to undergo coaching willingly, but decided to try to get the most from it. Had I known what I would learn about myself and how to deal with stress in a more productive manner, I would have self-referred a long time ago.

Mark – Family Practice Physician

Having a coach who is a physician was a big advantage

I absolutely think having a coach who is a physician was a big advantage and probably the major difference between this and my previous coaching experience. The concrete approach and actionable items that were identified were extremely helpful!

Anonymous – Cardiothoracic surgeon

There was a point where I thought I would leave medicine

There was a point where I thought I would leave medicine, but now I actually look forward to most of my work. You helped me tame the constant sense of overwhelm by changing how I respond to the demands for my time and attention. I am now much more intentional in my life, and happier for it! This should be required training for medical school!

Neeta – Hospitalist

Profound time-management ideas

The ideas in the time-management workshop were simple, and yet profound. It has truly changed the way I approach all of the demands for my time and attention.

Tony – Emergency Physician

Life Changing

I had been unhappy for so long, stuck in my head about what to do. Working with a coach helped me stop thinking and start doing. Ryan helped me overcome the doubts that were holding me back from making a much needed change.

Jackie – Anesthesiologist

Incredibly helpful in figuring out what I actually wanted

I cannot thank you enough for your help during this process! The session was incredibly helpful in figuring out what I actually wanted. My approach to making a decision before was purely analytical and I had, in a way, removed myself from the decision-making process.

T.G. – Medical student

You can find a way to satisfy multiple things you want

Thank you for helping me understand that there are ways to merge two seemingly separate ideas or paths. That you can find a way to satisfy multiple things you want.

Laura – Radiologist

First person in a long time who truly had my interests at heart

I did not choose to work with a coach – an interpersonal issue at work led to my being referred to a physician health program, and Ryan was recommended by them as an option. Ryan helped me move past the anger and resentment of that situation. He is the first person in a long time who truly had my best interests at heart, and has helped me make changes so that I can actually start to enjoy my work days again.

Anonymous – Surgeon

It was a pleasure working with Dr Bayley

It was a pleasure working with Dr. Bayley to coordinate a CME activity at our facility. He was quick to respond to all correspondence and was able to accommodate our request on short notice. The presentation was well received. The evaluation summary included many positive comments and practical solutions that the providers would be incorporating into their daily routines, as well as sharing the information with their colleagues.

Marie Duster – Education Specialist, Mercy Dubuque