The Coach is skilled in the art and science of leadership and management, and is trained to help physician executives build their capabilities and refine their skills.

The Coach works with the senior medical executive in a healthcare organization, and/or with one or more physician leaders within the organization, to determine current capabilities and identify the need for essential skills that are lacking, or may need further development in order for the physician executive to excel.

The Coach may work with a physician who wishes to prepare him/herself for his/her first leadership position, or a more senior leadership role, and may assist in the development and execution of a recruitment strategy. The Coach may assist the physician evaluate and respond to job offers.

The Coach will work with the physician executive to conduct a thorough assessment of his/her skill set and identify his/her strengths and weaknesses. They will collaborate in the development of a work plan for knowledge acquisition and skill development.

The Coach will help the physician executive examine the organization of his/her work setting, including the management structure, and will offer appropriate guidance to the physician executive as s/he contemplates changes.

The Coach will work with the physician executive to establish practices and systems for communication, resource allocation and decision-making within the context of the organization’s rules and practices.

Coaching is intensive at first, but the strength and value of the relationship comes from continuing guidance and reinforcement over a period of time; often several years.

While the physician executive is likely to become increasingly effective over time, the availability of the Coach to help the physician executive on an ongoing basis as h/she contemplates issues and alternatives is one of the principal long-term values of the coaching relationship.

The Coach, working with a capable and committed physician executive, will help the individual improve his/her performance. Importantly, a Coach can help a physician who has recently taken on administrative and leadership responsibilities be more efficient in evaluating and prioritizing issues, and more effective in identifying workable solutions before initiating action. The Coach works with the physician executive to accelerate the skill development and proficiency process.

The Coach is safe. The Coach can serve as a confidant in ways that no internal staff member can. The Coach’s only interest is in the well being and success of the physician executive being coached.

The Coach is candid, and can speak in a clear and unambiguous fashion with the physician executive, offering constructive guidance.

The Coach is timely. He limits the number of physicians he coaches to a relative few individuals. He commits the time necessary to assist the physician executive on a scheduled basis, and as-needed on short notice. While many sessions are ‘face-to-face’ at the physician executive’s home site, or at the Physician Executive Coach’s learning laboratory in Boulder, CO, inter-session consultations are scheduled by phone and Internet, including tele-video (allowing for same time/different place face2face communications). between the Coach and the physician executive and may occur frequently.

The result is a marked improvement in the physician executive’s performance which is perceived by those around them and, more importantly, by the individual himself or herself.

Better decisions are made in a more timely fashion. Errors may be avoided and communication with others is enhanced. The improved process leads the physician executive to have greater self-confidence, and engenders greater confidence in her or him by others.

Leadership from a position of strength and certainty replaces the process of ‘trial and error’. Costs are avoided because better decisions are made and implemented the first time; rework of issues in kept to a minimum.