Why Do I need a Physician Coach?

Dr. Elsie Koh is an interventional radiologist and founder of Lead Physician, a physician specific coaching company. She trained in coaching at the Proctor Gallagher Institute (PGI), the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and received an Executive Master in Healthcare Leadership at Brown University. After working for only two years out of fellowship, she became the medical director of a surgery center. She had no experience in leadership, and due to her own insecurity and modeling after what she had seen in her medical training, she failed at this position. She was given feedback at a work event, which changed the trajectory of her career.

After this occurred, she began reading self-help and personal development books. She sought out the PGI institute, and ended up training in their program to become a coach. Through this difficult experience, she realized other physicians could benefit from this type of guidance. Next, Dr. Koh explains the difference between mentorship and coaching. Mentorship is having someone tell you what to do, or modeling a behavior or career path that you want to emulate. Coaching allows a person to discover more of themselves, become aware of their blind spots, and learn what makes them unique.

We discuss some of the most common barriers she sees among physicians that prevent them from seeking out coaching. She believes many hesitate because they don’t believe it will work for them. Many physicians simply don’t know what coaching involves and what their goals should be. Sometimes cost is prohibitive, mostly due to the fact that people are not used to investing in themselves in this way. Many physicians lack the confidence to admit they don’t know how to do something, such as start a company or be a successful leader. At Lead Physician, they have the advantage of only coaching physicians, which helps clients let their guard down, because they are around like-minded thinkers. Dr. Koh likes group coaching sessions because it allows people to build off each other's inspiration, and yields greater idea sharing than one-on-one sessions.