Why you should consider working with a coach

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills 2 00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260 to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 3 00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340 As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. 4 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380 When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find 5 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780 that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research 6 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,200 program. 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,480 Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. 8 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580 However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs. 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800 the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,040 Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. 12 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,460 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast. 13 00:01:03,460 --> 00:01:07,540 I'm your host Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is a pleasure to be speaking with you today. 14 00:01:07,540 --> 00:01:12,220 I'm really excited about today's episode because I'm talking about why you should consider 15 00:01:12,220 --> 00:01:15,600 engaging a coach in your research career. 16 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:20,480 Yes, why you should consider engaging a coach in your research career. 17 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,880 And for many of us, we have mentors, and mentors are awesome people. 18 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:29,880 I want to just shout out all the mentors who are making sacrifices, moving the careers 19 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:31,820 of so many mentees forward. 20 00:01:31,820 --> 00:01:38,180 You are awesome, and you deserve all the goodness in the world because of the goodness you create. 21 00:01:38,180 --> 00:01:39,180 Thank you. 22 00:01:39,180 --> 00:01:46,040 And I will tell you that even though mentors are absolutely amazing, they're kind of limited 23 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:51,800 because their focus really is just on research and your research methodology. 24 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:58,880 And really, you are really so much more than the research that you do, so much more than 25 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,360 the grant writing that you do, so much more than the papers that you submit. 26 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:09,200 And one of the great things is an opportunity to bring everything that you are to the table 27 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,880 and have a coach help you shape your career. 28 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:17,560 And when I think about coaching, so I will tell you that I had no idea about coaching 29 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:21,940 until, gosh, maybe eight years into my faculty career. 30 00:02:21,940 --> 00:02:24,300 And I was part of this career development program. 31 00:02:24,300 --> 00:02:29,400 And actually, up until I had had a couple of times where I had met with coaches, and 32 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,200 I remember thinking, wow, this is so awesome. 33 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:34,840 And I remember I finally got to a point in my life where I was like, I think I need a 34 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:35,840 coach. 35 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,560 And so I attended this career development workshop, and there was this amazing coach 36 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:45,800 who was just talking about the importance of coaching in our research and mentoring 37 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:46,800 life. 38 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:53,400 And then she did a demonstration coaching session, and I was the person who stepped up to have 39 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:54,400 the demonstration done. 40 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:56,280 And it was just so powerful. 41 00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:02,040 I was talking about something that actually was tangential to my research, wasn't directly 42 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:03,040 related. 43 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,220 It was really about me getting... 44 00:03:05,220 --> 00:03:08,080 It was kind of tangential to my research. 45 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:13,200 It wasn't exactly like germane, but it was about me getting enough sleep, which is important 46 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,280 because if you don't get enough sleep, then how can you kind of get the best use of your 47 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:18,280 mind? 48 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,320 And so this coach came and she worked with me through the process. 49 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,920 And I had so many aha moments in that space. 50 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:29,480 And I was like, oh, my goodness, I want to work with you. 51 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,560 And so I will tell you that it's three years later, and I'm still working with the same 52 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:33,840 executive coach. 53 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,440 And it's been a phenomenal, phenomenal relationship. 54 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:42,120 And since then, because I've kind of recognized the power of coaching, I've done so much coaching 55 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:43,440 in so many areas of my life. 56 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:46,040 I have a peer group and we coach each other. 57 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,760 I have a peer coach and we coach each other. 58 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,160 I have a grant writing coach that I work with. 59 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:57,520 I right now recently have actually gotten a health and wellness coach as well. 60 00:03:57,520 --> 00:03:58,520 I love coaching. 61 00:03:58,520 --> 00:03:59,520 I think it's awesome. 62 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,840 So I want to talk to you about why you should consider it, especially from the perspective 63 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:06,480 of your career as a research scientist. 64 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,840 So why you should engage a coach alongside your research career. 65 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,680 And today I have five reasons, five reasons to share with you. 66 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,800 Okay, so coaching has changed my life. 67 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,480 And one of the ways it's changed my life is because it really helps you develop clarity 68 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:22,640 of purpose. 69 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:24,080 So maybe I'll speak in the first person. 70 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,400 It's helped me develop clarity of purpose. 71 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:32,240 And I will tell you that when I first started my faculty career, it felt nebulous to me 72 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,660 what I was expected to do as a faculty member. 73 00:04:34,660 --> 00:04:39,000 And I don't know about you unless someone's really guided you and shown you the way it 74 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,660 feels a little nebulous because it's like, okay, well, medical school is pretty straightforward 75 00:04:43,660 --> 00:04:47,840 because you have to finish the curriculum, pass exams, and you knew you were done when 76 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:49,960 you got the certificate at the end. 77 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:50,960 And the same for residency. 78 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,040 Okay, these are the competencies that you're supposed to develop. 79 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:58,240 And at the end of the residency program, here you are, you get to graduate. 80 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:00,260 And the same if you went on to fellowship. 81 00:05:00,260 --> 00:05:02,440 These are the competencies that you need to develop. 82 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,520 You go through people's clinics, you do rotations. 83 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:10,600 And at the end, having met all the requirements, you get a certificate. 84 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,280 It's like, congratulations, you're done. 85 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:19,980 And then you get into your faculty career, and it's not exactly clear what is a win. 86 00:05:19,980 --> 00:05:20,980 It's not clear. 87 00:05:20,980 --> 00:05:25,120 It's like, okay, so I need to see X number of patients in clinic, make sure I meet these 88 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,880 RVU targets, and then I need to meet my scholarly writing metrics. 89 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:29,880 Okay. 90 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,160 And then I also need to teach and mentor. 91 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:34,240 Okay. 92 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,240 And it's just there's so much to do. 93 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,680 And there's so many bosses, and there's so many people who seem to be yelling at you 94 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,280 to produce things or to create things. 95 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:47,120 And the things that people say are most important have no accountability and no structure. 96 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:52,880 So it can be overwhelming to be a new faculty person. 97 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,440 And even after you've been in the process for a couple of years and you finally figured 98 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:01,160 out what you're supposed to do, it still can be so hard. 99 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:06,240 And depending on who you meet with and who you talk to, they have different ideas for 100 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,020 what your career should look like. 101 00:06:08,020 --> 00:06:12,560 And so you are a trusting, wonderful person, and you're like, okay, mentor, mentor me. 102 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:13,880 And they're like, this is what you should do. 103 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,360 And if you talk to another mentor, they're like, well, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that. 104 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:18,360 This is what you should do. 105 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:22,360 And then there are people who say, no, no, no, focus on only one mentor, only one mentor, 106 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,880 ignore what everybody else says, just focus on this one mentor. 107 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:28,840 And then there are other people who say, well, you should have multiple mentors because you 108 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:30,480 have multiple aspects of your life. 109 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:32,640 It's like, which one is it? 110 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:34,600 There's so much. 111 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,520 And for the average faculty member, there's so much chatter. 112 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,880 It's hard to decipher which is the most important, what is the most important thing I'm supposed 113 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:43,880 to be doing? 114 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:45,880 Like, what about the rest of my life? 115 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:47,640 And it just feels overwhelming. 116 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:48,640 I can. 117 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:56,440 One of the things coaching did for me was to just pause on all that noise and really 118 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,280 put me at the center of my career. 119 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,640 Oh my goodness. 120 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:02,640 It was revolutionary. 121 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:08,160 It was the first experience I had had in my life where I was the center. 122 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:14,760 Oh, I was the center, not the curriculum, not the medical school, not the metrics, not 123 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:17,000 the mentor, but me. 124 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,400 Oh my goodness. 125 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:25,600 And it gave me such clarity of purpose because to be honest, let's just be honest, this career 126 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,320 is about me and it's always been about me. 127 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:34,080 But somehow it becomes confusing because it seems like it's about the mentor or it's about 128 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:37,400 the division chief or it's about the needs of the department. 129 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:43,080 It's not always clear that you are the center of this career, but you are. 130 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:49,440 And what coaching did for me was to put me in the center of my career and say, let's 131 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:51,840 lead with you as the center. 132 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,760 And that put everything in perspective. 133 00:07:54,760 --> 00:08:00,640 It put everything in focus because now I could start to look at my career through the lens 134 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:02,080 of me. 135 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:03,700 What do I want? 136 00:08:03,700 --> 00:08:04,700 What do I need? 137 00:08:04,700 --> 00:08:06,880 Where do I want to go? 138 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:08,600 How do I want to get there? 139 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:10,840 It was such a beautiful experience. 140 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:16,800 It just made the, you know, it's like when you're like, when you're farsighted and you've 141 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:23,000 never had a glasses prescription and you finally go to the eye doctor or the optometrist and 142 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,120 they give you a prescription and you put it on for the first time and all of a sudden it's 143 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,760 like, wow, the sharpness of the focus. 144 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,660 It's like, oh, it's like seeing for the first time. 145 00:08:32,660 --> 00:08:35,540 It's like, wow, everything is so sharp. 146 00:08:35,540 --> 00:08:38,380 That was the kind of clarity that I had. 147 00:08:38,380 --> 00:08:39,960 Clarity of purpose. 148 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:45,920 It was so, so awesome just to finally see my career through the lens of me. 149 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:51,800 I mean, who else, who else is so important to this career but me? 150 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:57,640 And to be honest, one of the things that happens for better or for worse is that people make 151 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:04,480 our mentors the centers of our careers and it's not healthy and it's not right because 152 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:05,980 it's not their career, it's ours. 153 00:09:05,980 --> 00:09:09,800 And they came along maybe 20 years ago, 10 years ago and things are a little bit different 154 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:14,000 now and they don't have the same kind of experience that you have because you're different from 155 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:15,000 them. 156 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:21,440 And so to be the center of your own career is the only way and being in an experience 157 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:26,680 with a coach allowed me to do that in a way that none of my well-meaning mentors had been 158 00:09:26,680 --> 00:09:33,280 able to do for me because yes, they have more knowledge and more insight than I do but what 159 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,440 they don't have is more knowledge and more insight about the life I'm living today. 160 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:42,560 And coaching allowed me to bring my life front and center as the most important piece of 161 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:44,560 my career. 162 00:09:44,560 --> 00:09:47,400 That was number one. 163 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:52,200 Number two is that it allowed me to bring my whole self to the table. 164 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,600 You know, I want to appreciate my mentors. 165 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,040 They are, they're good at what they do. 166 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:04,120 They've succeeded and nobody succeeds in academic medicine as a clinician scientist without 167 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:08,400 major effort and major self-sacrifice. 168 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,440 And I think we're sacrificing in different ways today than perhaps our mentors did 10, 169 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:18,160 20, 15, you know, years ago but we're still making sacrifices because this journey is 170 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:19,600 hard. 171 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:25,360 But even though our mentors are so awesome, one thing they don't get into and I don't 172 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:29,920 blame them and to be honest I don't want them to get into it is our family stuff, is our 173 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:33,220 family drama, is our family challenges. 174 00:10:33,220 --> 00:10:37,880 You know, some of us have children, some of us do not, some of us have aging parents that 175 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:42,660 we're looking forward to, some of us have significant others that, you know, are a big 176 00:10:42,660 --> 00:10:46,760 component of our lives and some of us don't. 177 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:49,920 But all of that stuff stays under the radar. 178 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:57,320 But the thing is, even though they stay under the radar, they are driving a significant 179 00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:58,680 portion of our experience. 180 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:05,840 Like if we have a bad relationship or we are struggling with maybe infertility or something, 181 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,640 those are not issues we bring to the mentoring table. 182 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:14,160 I mean it's just rare that you would be so comfortable to do that. 183 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:18,400 And but it's your life and those things are affecting you. 184 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:22,520 And if you don't bring them forward, they can be in the shadow in the background, but 185 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,800 they absolutely are driving your career. 186 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:32,440 And so to have a coach where you can really bring everything in your life that is relevant 187 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:40,680 to your career to the table is very freeing, very liberating, very illuminating and so 188 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:41,680 critical. 189 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:45,640 I mean because in reality it's like trying to pretend you don't have an arm and a leg 190 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:50,600 because the only thing that's important in this particular research mentoring meeting 191 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:52,200 is your head. 192 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:56,880 But your arm and your leg exist and if they hurt, they're going to affect your head's 193 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:58,880 ability to focus. 194 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:04,480 And so it's really important that you're able to bring all of yourself to your career experience. 195 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:06,240 And coaching allows you to do that. 196 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,480 Coaching allows you to do that because coaching doesn't tell you, well this is the only thing 197 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:11,180 we can talk about. 198 00:12:11,180 --> 00:12:14,920 Coaching doesn't say, well I'm only here for your research side of things. 199 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,440 Like what is going to help you be the best that you can be? 200 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,160 What is going to help you achieve the goals that you set out for yourself? 201 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:27,520 And if a family relationship is getting in the way of you being everything you can be, 202 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,840 then the family relationship is on the table for discussion. 203 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:35,520 And it's a beautiful thing that you can do that because there are not many spaces in 204 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:40,400 our academic environment where we can bring up those things without fear of judgment or 205 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,800 fear of censure in some way or the other. 206 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:48,860 And so I really have appreciated my coaching relationships because everything can come 207 00:12:48,860 --> 00:12:49,860 to the table. 208 00:12:49,860 --> 00:12:54,980 My whole self can come to the table because my whole self is important in moving my research 209 00:12:54,980 --> 00:12:55,980 career forward. 210 00:12:55,980 --> 00:13:02,240 Okay, so number two, that it allows you to bring your whole self to the table. 211 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,920 Number three is it helps you learn to trust yourself. 212 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:09,060 I really like this one. 213 00:13:09,060 --> 00:13:11,760 It helps you learn to trust yourself. 214 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:17,560 Okay, so when I first started in my faculty career, I had no idea what I was doing. 215 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:18,560 I didn't. 216 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:24,040 I mean, I didn't have research, much research background. 217 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,360 I hadn't really submitted grants very much. 218 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:28,160 I mean, I'd submitted one or two. 219 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:29,640 I hadn't written many manuscripts. 220 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,560 I'd done a couple, but there was so much I didn't know. 221 00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:37,640 And so I was always looking around for who knows, who's the expert, who's the brilliant 222 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,040 person, who's the person who's done this? 223 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,160 And of course, invariably, there are all these amazing mentors who've done so much. 224 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,480 It's like you're in awe of them. 225 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:48,160 And everything they say is like gold. 226 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:52,960 Oh my goodness, they recommended I do this. 227 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,360 I must do it now. 228 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,920 You know, there's just the sense of like the mentor is the expert. 229 00:13:58,920 --> 00:13:59,920 They're the leader. 230 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:01,760 They know everything. 231 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,960 They're so awesome. 232 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:09,120 Until you find out that, well, you know, they're kind of human. 233 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:13,160 Like, oh, maybe they're not thinking as critically about my career as I'm thinking as critically 234 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,200 about my career. 235 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,040 And it's not that we find out that there are flaws in our mentors. 236 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:22,440 It's just that we find out that, you know, there's only so much someone external to you 237 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:25,640 can do to move you forward. 238 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:27,760 And it's not a judgment on the mentor. 239 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,120 It's just a judgment of the process. 240 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:31,400 Maybe not even so much a judgment. 241 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:35,880 It's just the reality of the process that nobody is thinking about your career more 242 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:37,360 than you are. 243 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:42,560 Even if you have the most amazing mentor in the world, they can't be thinking about you 244 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,400 more than you. 245 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:48,720 Because yeah, they may be thinking about you and thinking, OK, what opportunities can I 246 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:49,720 give to this person? 247 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,560 But they don't know anything about what's going on in your house with a newborn baby 248 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:54,880 who doesn't go to sleep. 249 00:14:54,880 --> 00:15:00,800 They have no idea of how much you struggle just to get into work in the morning because 250 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,880 maybe of all the arguments that you're experiencing at home. 251 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:08,780 They just don't have any idea about how you're needing to care for your aging parents is 252 00:15:08,780 --> 00:15:10,680 impacting your work. 253 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:14,480 And you don't necessarily want them to know because you don't want them to stop giving 254 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,600 you this great stellar advice. 255 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:22,400 But what happens is that you have to bring all these things to bear in making your own 256 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:23,400 decisions. 257 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:24,400 When do you slow down? 258 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:25,920 When do you speed up? 259 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:30,200 And maybe the mentor is telling you, like, look, you have one more year until tenure, 260 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:32,480 drop everything you're doing and focus. 261 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:37,680 And you're like, oh, I can't do that because right now we have a sick child at home that's 262 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:40,040 taking a lot of time and energy and attention. 263 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:43,680 And I recognize that the tenure clock is one year to go. 264 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:46,920 This is not the right time in my life to accelerate. 265 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:52,620 And in reality, what it helps you to do is it helps you learn to trust yourself. 266 00:15:52,620 --> 00:15:55,360 It helps you learn to trust your instincts. 267 00:15:55,360 --> 00:16:00,720 It helps you learn to stop outsourcing the direction for your career. 268 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:08,160 It really helps you look inward and to trust that the way you feel, your gut reaction is 269 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:09,440 real. 270 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:15,520 It helps you to trust your inner witness, your inner voice, your inner sage. 271 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,920 It really helps you do that. 272 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:25,240 And the reality is we're needing to learn to do that again because much of our experience 273 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:34,040 kind of, I think maybe the word I want to use is denigrates our experience or it denigrates 274 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:38,840 our, yeah, our experience because it's like you haven't had much experience. 275 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:43,440 I'm the one who's been here for the last 30 years and I'm successful and they are. 276 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:50,120 But there is a thing that works for you that may not be conventional, but you know, you 277 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:51,680 know it will work for you. 278 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:58,480 You know this is the way to go and you can't explain it fully to a mentor who's done it 279 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:02,880 differently, but you know it's the right way to go. 280 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:08,940 And so learning to trust yourself is important and a coach allows you to do that. 281 00:17:08,940 --> 00:17:14,480 Number four is it helps you shape a career that's actually fully yours. 282 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,320 In general in life, we're autobiographical people. 283 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:21,680 What's worked for us is what's worked for us. 284 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:25,080 And so when we give advice to people, we're going to give advice about what's worked for 285 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:26,300 us. 286 00:17:26,300 --> 00:17:29,960 We're rarely going to give advice about things that haven't worked for us or that we have 287 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:31,960 no clue about. 288 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:37,620 And so many times when our mentors and they're so, they're great people, they're helping 289 00:17:37,620 --> 00:17:44,000 us shape our careers, they're helping us shape our careers according to their experiences. 290 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:48,760 And most of the time if you follow your mentors, you may not go wrong, you probably won't go 291 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:54,680 wrong, but you won't be shaping your career, you'll be shaping their careers, or you'll 292 00:17:54,680 --> 00:18:00,400 be developing a mini me career, or you know, you'll be like going off of a template that's 293 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,480 not you. 294 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,720 And the reality is that your career is yours. 295 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,040 But in order to make it fully yours, what you need to do is take all the ideas that 296 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:16,740 you're given and then shape it into a career you actually want. 297 00:18:16,740 --> 00:18:22,800 And so working with a coach allows you to stop looking to other people as the trusted 298 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:29,540 source for how your career should be, and just collect ideas from all of them, and then 299 00:18:29,540 --> 00:18:35,520 synthesize it into one direction that really moves you forward in the way you want to move. 300 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,840 And so that ultimately at the end of your story, at the end of your journey, you're 301 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:45,920 shaping a career that's fully, wholly, 100% yours, not somebody else's, that's not a clone 302 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:49,160 of another person's career, it really is your career. 303 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,920 And you are learning and using so much from other people, from your mentors, from your 304 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:58,240 sponsors, that you're not recreating their careers, you're making your own. 305 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:02,320 And so it's been really awesome for me because I'm shaping a career that's mine, that's 306 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,880 not somebody else's, it's actually fully mine. 307 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:11,320 And yes, it's got components of other people's careers because I appreciate all the people 308 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:15,800 who are around me making waves and doing amazing things. 309 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:21,520 So I can take what they've learned and I can apply it to my career in a way that's fully 310 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:27,480 authentic and fully reasonable, like it's real for me. 311 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:32,080 So that's number four, it helps you shape a career that's fully yours. 312 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:37,320 Number five is that working with a coach helps you identify resources that help you move 313 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:38,320 forward. 314 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:42,800 And so you would say, well, this is the function of your mentor, and to some extent it is. 315 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:47,080 But again, I think your research mentor is really focused on you succeeding in the research 316 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:52,840 sphere and your whole life really is still in your hands, right? 317 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:58,080 Because research is one component of your multifaceted life, but it's all got to come 318 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:02,320 together to create the life you want. 319 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,880 And having a coach allows you, because your focus is not just on one aspect, like it's 320 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:10,840 not my research or nothing else, it's your whole life. 321 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:14,840 And because of that, you start to identify resources that are helpful to you. 322 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:22,000 For example, I once attended a coaching program where we had a say in who would be members 323 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:23,560 of our group coach. 324 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:28,840 And I looked at who would be members of our group coaching experience, and I looked at 325 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:34,160 my life and I thought, you know what one thing that's really, really big in my life right 326 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,400 now is the fact that I have young children, and young children kind of drive my experience. 327 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:39,600 I mean, it really does. 328 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:43,520 It changes how much work you can do when you're not at work, it changes how long you can be 329 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:47,760 at work, it changes how you can attend meetings early in the day, later in the day. 330 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:54,180 And so it felt like at the stage at which I was in my career, having other people, having 331 00:20:54,180 --> 00:21:00,320 other faculty members, other faculty peer mentors who are at the same stage is going 332 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:01,520 to be so important to me. 333 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:03,360 And so that's the request I made. 334 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:08,680 I said, I want to be in a coaching group with women who have young children. 335 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:10,480 And that's the coaching group that I was in. 336 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:16,740 And it was so awesome and so powerful because I didn't have to explain, I didn't have to 337 00:21:16,740 --> 00:21:21,200 explain why the fact that the baby wasn't sleeping at night was a big problem for my 338 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:22,200 research productivity. 339 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:23,440 I just didn't have to. 340 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:24,440 It was just a given. 341 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,240 It was just known. 342 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:30,760 And there's something about that experience where there's just a baseline level of what's 343 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,040 known and you can just build on that. 344 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:39,360 You don't have to spend time just creating context and helping people understand why 345 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:41,160 things are the way they are. 346 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:45,080 It's just lovely for everybody to just have the same frame of reference. 347 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,480 And it's been a real privilege. 348 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:52,800 At that time in my career, that was the biggest, biggest issue. 349 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:58,440 And allowing that to be front and center as part of my coaching experience helped me because 350 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:03,000 then I could be real about the real barriers to productivity. 351 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:08,880 And then when people gave me advice, when people coached me through these scenarios, 352 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:13,240 they could do it from the perspective of someone who's actually walked through this before 353 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,320 is currently walking through it at the same time. 354 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:21,520 And so that was really awesome because I could identify resources that maybe I wouldn't have 355 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:23,720 ordinarily been able to identify. 356 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:28,800 I don't know about you, but many of my mentors are men who have a different experience when 357 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:37,560 it comes to childcare and when it comes to the bulk of the work in the house. 358 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:42,040 I think in general, people who identify as men tend to have a different experience from 359 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,880 people who identify as women or are the primary caregivers. 360 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:55,280 And so it is helpful to have coaching experiences in which I can really seek the resources that 361 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:59,900 I want and identify resources that help me move forward. 362 00:22:59,900 --> 00:23:06,280 So those are five reasons why you should consider engaging a coach alongside you as you are 363 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,240 building a research career. 364 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,000 And I'll just summarize those five things. 365 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,200 Number one, it helps you develop clarity of purpose. 366 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:15,280 Number two, it really helps you bring your whole self to the table. 367 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:18,640 Number three, it allows you to learn to trust yourself. 368 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,360 And before, it helps you shape a career that is fully yours. 369 00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:26,080 And number five, it helps you identify resources that moves you forward. 370 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:31,200 And this is a great point for me to say, if you are considering working with a coach, 371 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:37,320 especially as you move forward your career as a research scientist, as a clinical scientist, 372 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:38,740 consider working with me. 373 00:23:38,740 --> 00:23:41,240 I invite you to work with me. 374 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:46,540 Now you can go to our website, coicoach.com and get on the wait list or you can direct 375 00:23:46,540 --> 00:23:53,760 message me and we can work out a one-on-one coaching experience or you can be part of 376 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:55,640 our group coaching as well. 377 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,080 I'm open to doing both at this time. 378 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:04,560 I have some slots for individual coaching, but I want to just invite you to really consider 379 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:09,520 building your career alongside working with a coach and think about the fact that when 380 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,200 we think about coaching, coaching kind of comes from the business world, but before 381 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:17,160 the business world, it came really from the sporting world. 382 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:21,360 And coaches really don't work for their clients, right? 383 00:24:21,360 --> 00:24:24,220 They don't do the work for their clients. 384 00:24:24,220 --> 00:24:27,960 Their clients do the work for themselves, but the coach helps them really identify strategies 385 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:29,760 to help them be the best that they can be. 386 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,600 And when you think about it, in sports, the best players have coaches. 387 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:35,320 All the best players have coaches. 388 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:42,360 And I think in our work as clinicians, as clinician scientists, as scientists, wow, 389 00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:47,720 if we're really going to be at the top of our game and really have an optimal experience, 390 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:53,960 I think that we would be best served as other professionals are by working with coaches. 391 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:58,480 So I invite you to think about who are coaches that you can identify in your life that you 392 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:03,520 can work with right now, even if you're not necessarily available or open to working with 393 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:09,640 me, who can you work with that helps make you the center of your career, not somebody 394 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:16,640 else's expertise, but makes you the center of your career and allows you to lead from 395 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:22,720 the center and discover what resources you need or want to access and allows you to help 396 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:29,240 and helps you do that, helps you really build the career that's totally 100% completely 397 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:30,240 and fully yours. 398 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:31,240 All right. 399 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:33,440 Somebody else needs to hear this podcast. 400 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:34,440 Please share it with them. 401 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:39,280 And if you have insights that you want to share, please leave us a voicemail on our 402 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,400 podcast website, clinicianresearcherpodcast.com. 403 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:49,200 Again, that's clinicianresearcherpodcast.com and share with us how we can create an episode 404 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,280 that's especially tailored to a question that you have. 405 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:56,160 I look forward to playing your voicemail on a future podcast episode. 406 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:57,160 All right. 407 00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,160 It's been a pleasure talking with you today. 408 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:00,920 Thank you for listening. 409 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:01,920 Take care and goodbye. 410 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:15,360 Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic 411 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:20,680 clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they 412 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:22,160 have a mentor. 413 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:28,260 If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself. 414 00:26:28,260 --> 00:26:30,000 Someone else needs to hear it. 415 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,040 So take a minute right now and share it. 416 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:39,520 As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation 417 00:26:39,520 --> 00:27:00,560 of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.