Are you considering taking on a leadership role? Deciding to embrace leadership shouldn’t be taken lightly and requires a particular person who is willing to show up and commit to affecting change.
In episode 28 of the Life, Love, and Leadership for Physicians podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Stephen Viel to discuss some of the challenges that come with stepping into a leadership position. You’ll learn Dr. Viel’s best advice for positioning yourself as a leader, how professional relationships change post-leadership, and tips on navigating difficult situations, such as delivering feedback to your team.
Dr. Viel is a physician leadership expert and practicing emergency physician in New Smyrna Beach, FL. He founded Executive Physician Strategies, LLC, which provides leadership coaching to other frontline physician leaders and consultation to health systems looking to differentiate themselves through powerful physician leadership. He received his Emergency Medicine training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and continues to practice emergency medicine at Halifax Health in Daytona Beach. He is the chair of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians leadership academy and is an associate clinical professor for the Florida State University College of Medicine.
Why do physicians struggle with taking on leadership positions?
Physicians struggle with taking on leadership positions because their established leadership style in medicine, which emphasizes strong, direct authority, may not be effective or adaptable in other contexts. When faced with new leadership challenges that require different skills, physicians find it difficult to adjust and employ alternative approaches.
How can physicians begin to affect change and put themselves in a position to lead?
The best leadership advice Dr. Viel has received about getting into a leadership position is to show up and do what you say you will do. While it sounds simple, many people wish things were different and are willing to complain but aren’t ready to show up and commit to making that change.
“If you show up, you start showing up to the hospital committee meetings, start showing up to your department meetings, somebody will ask you to do something. There will be something that you want to fix, and someone will ask you. And then, if you do what you say you will, someone will ask you to do something else. And then, before you know it, you can affect change. You’re going to be in a position to lead.”
How do relationships change when you step into leadership?
While hospital leadership is on the same team, trying to do the right things and affect the right change, the unfortunate reality is that physicians don’t generally regard administrators as kindly. When you step into a leadership position, this can be an internal and external struggle, especially when holding others accountable.
“You’re not one of the guys anymore; you can’t just go out drinking and run your mouth about everything you think is wrong with the hospital or what you think of that new doctor that the group hired, and that can be hard.”
“When you go into leadership, they’re all your patients. And you’re responsible for patients that everybody sees, whether you saw them or not, making decisions about protocols, who to hire, and letting people go. You’re still approaching it from that same patient perspective, but you can’t do it yourself, which can be challenging. I think it does separate you from the rest of your team.”
What makes giving feedback so challenging for physician leaders?
We know the people we’re giving feedback to are trying to do the right thing, but sometimes there can be uncertainty around whether somebody’s actions were right or wrong or even what constitutes something as right. Dr. Viel feels that this is one of the reasons we tend to provide metrics because they offer a sense of objectivity and tangibility, but quality and medicine can be hard to measure this way. We first want to establish clear expectations and standards with your team to minimize ambiguity and avoid gray areas.
“The second part is it’s just always difficult to give feedback and hurt somebody, and it took me a while to realize that it was almost like breaking bad news to a family member about a prognosis or something like that. You deliver the bad news, wait, and expect emotion and defensiveness. It doesn’t matter. Don’t address it on the surface level. Don’t answer questions about where that number comes from or how they got those metrics; it doesn’t matter. They’re just processing. It’s just defensiveness. They will return in 24 hours, and you can have an actual conversation about it, but everybody is defensive, and you expect that emotion, making it hard.”
How can we best approach delivering feedback?
Remember: Your team members deserve honest feedback on their performance, and your patients deserve to have physicians who receive honest feedback, too. Listen and learn more about stepping into leadership and providing feedback in episode 28 of the Life, Love, and Leadership for Physicians podcast.
