Why Healthcare Professionals Need a Personal Coach: The Benefits of One-on-One Coaching
In the demanding world of healthcare, professionals face unique challenges that can affect both their performance and wellbeing. From navigating complex organizational systems to managing high-stress situations, healthcare workers often find themselves needing personalized support to thrive. This is where having a personal coach for healthcare professionals can make a transformative difference.
What Makes a Personal Coach for Healthcare Professionals Different?
“There are so many different types of coaching programs out there,” explains Klaus Grim, an emergency medicine physician assistant and coach. “One-to-one coaching, that sometimes people call individual coaching… the beauty of it is you’re working confidentially with one coach as your partner to focus on your unique goals and your personalized roadmap.”
This customized approach sets personal coaching apart from other professional development methods. As Amy Bubser, a life transition and career coach, puts it: “It’s one size fits one. This is a really customized approach to what is going on with you and what your goals are.”
For healthcare professionals specifically, working with a coach who understands the healthcare environment adds another layer of value. “All of the clients that have come to us really have been relieved when they realize all of us are in healthcare,” notes Dr. Lillian Liang Emlet, founder of Transforming Healthcare Coaching. “They don’t really have to explain themselves or explain what the shifts are like or explain the issues that we have with staffing and charting.”
This shared understanding creates an immediate foundation of trust that allows coaching to progress more effectively.
When Healthcare Professionals Should Consider a Personal Coach
Healthcare professionals seek out one-on-one coaching for various reasons, often during key transition points in their careers:
1. During Career Transitions
“Whether you’re looking for a transition in your career, or you’re looking to advance yourself within your career, or looking for leadership positions,” Klaus explains, these are all situations where a personal coach can provide valuable guidance.
2. After Experiencing Burnout
The COVID-19 pandemic intensified already challenging working conditions for many healthcare professionals. “Many healthcare workers hit rock bottom during COVID,” Klaus notes. “A lot of people are ready to take change on… They’re ready to say, ‘Well, I need something different.'”
3. When Seeking Greater Work-Life Integration
“While everything’s unique, there are also similarities from client to client,” observes Gillian Faith, a coach with experience in rehabilitation services and HR management. “We can all be working in different professional fields, but we have a common theme of burnout or not enough time in the day, not spending enough time with family.”
4. When Taking on New Leadership Responsibilities
Healthcare professionals often rise to leadership positions based on clinical excellence, without adequate leadership development. A personal coach can help bridge this gap, providing support as they develop new skills and approaches.
5. When Feeling Stuck or Uncertain
“If therapy is looking back to heal about the trauma from the pandemic, and if a mentor and a sponsor really helps you advance in the career trajectory you already know about, a coach helps you take the leap,” Dr. Emlet explains. This is particularly valuable for healthcare professionals who know they need a change but aren’t sure what direction to take.
What to Expect When Working with a Personal Coach for Healthcare Professionals
If you’re considering working with a personal coach, understanding the typical process can help set appropriate expectations:
Initial Assessment and Goal Setting
Most coaching relationships begin with exploring where you are currently and where you want to go. “We typically get started with having the ELI, the Energy Leadership Index, and really figuring out where they’re showing up right now,” explains Grizelda Anguiano, a mental health pediatrician and coach.
This assessment creates a foundation for the coaching work to follow, helping both you and your coach understand your current energy patterns and areas for growth.
Regular Structured Sessions
A typical coaching engagement involves a series of sessions over several months. “We typically in the initial one-to-one coaching relationship do between six to nine sessions to really jumpstart these goals,” Klaus shares. “Usually we recommend within the first four or so sessions that you have them every week and then can spread them out to every other week.”
Client-Directed Focus
Unlike therapy or consulting, each coaching session begins with your priorities. “Our style of coaching is solution-focused, and we’re going to partner with what you’re bringing to the table today,” Grizelda explains. “Although your initial goal was to talk about a specific topic, something might have just come up with your organization or your family, and you feel that is really taking up your time.”
This flexibility ensures that coaching addresses what’s most relevant to you at each stage of the process.
Tools and Assessments
Personal coaches utilize various tools to deepen your self-awareness and clarify your path forward. “Sometimes we’re going to talk about using values, and so bring in a values assessment or different wheels to help illustrate where we are, where we want to be,” notes Grizelda.
Accountability Between Sessions
The coaching process extends beyond the scheduled sessions. “At the end of every session, we’ve tried to begin to think about what kind of clarity and also what kind of action that you’ll take between the sessions,” Dr. Emlet explains. “There is actually just as much work and accountability that happens in between the sessions, where you get to have the opportunity to actually go do the small wins.”
This accountability component is what many clients find most valuable about working with a personal coach for healthcare professionals. As Amy notes, “This is something that people really like with the coaching… they’ve set their things that they’re going to do, their goals from session to session, and then reviewing that the next time. So that helps people meet their goals.”
The Unique Benefits of One-on-One Coaching for Healthcare Professionals
Personal coaching offers several distinct advantages that make it particularly valuable for healthcare professionals:
1. A Confidential Space for Honest Reflection
“I like to think of it as a space that’s being held for a client,” Gillian explains. “It’s hard to find a confidential safe space like that in other areas of your life. We can talk to friends, we can talk to family, but the coaching relationship brings something different.”
This confidential space allows healthcare professionals to explore challenges and opportunities without concern for how their thoughts might be perceived within their organization.
2. Personalized Support for Unique Challenges
Every healthcare professional’s situation is unique, and personal coaching honors this individuality. “Even though we know what the healthcare professionals are going through, it’s still my life and my life is different. And I have a different path and I need different support,” reflects Grizelda.
This tailored approach ensures that coaching addresses your specific needs and goals rather than offering generic advice.
3. A Trusted Partner in Your Corner
“It’s that you have a partner. It’s almost like you have this person that you can, almost like a therapist, divulge everything to,” Klaus shares. “And you can say, that’s my accountability partner. I can spill everything that I need to and constantly move forward in such a positive way with somebody.”
This partnership aspect creates momentum that can be difficult to generate on your own.
4. Recognition of Your Strengths and Potential
“The thing that people also underestimate with the unique challenges in healthcare is also the unique strengths,” Dr. Emlet observes. “We are very caring, mission-driven, heart-centered, intelligent people who are very resilient. You just have to be reminded of that sometimes with a coach.”
Personal coaches help healthcare professionals reconnect with their inherent strengths and use them to overcome challenges.
5. A Catalyst for Transformation
As Gillian describes it, a personal coach serves “as a trusted partner and also as a catalyst, because we get to know our clients so well and we really can help be the force behind the change that our clients are looking for.”
This catalytic effect can accelerate progress toward goals that might otherwise take years to achieve—or never be realized at all.
How Organizations Benefit from Providing Personal Coaches
While individual healthcare professionals certainly benefit from coaching, healthcare organizations also see significant returns when they invest in personal coaches for key team members:
Alignment of Individual and Organizational Goals
“If I’m working with a healthcare leader, I would always want to understand their personal goals, but also the goals of their division and ultimately of the healthcare organization,” Gillian explains. “And when the goals are all aligned and we help remove any barriers to success, then the results overall can be far greater.”
Improved Team Dynamics
Personal coaching often addresses relationship challenges that affect team performance. “Sometimes some of the barriers with achieving goals are things like relationships. Maybe we don’t get along with somebody on our team or our leader,” Gillian notes. “As coaches, we can help with making relationships more productive, dealing with conflict and any other barriers that may come along.”
External Perspective
As Dr. Emlet points out, external coaches bring a fresh viewpoint: “We, as external coaches, give a sort of a breath of fresh air. We’re a different perspective. And because of the diversity of our team, we actually can maybe give a different lens through which you might be able to find the solution that you’re looking for as a healthcare leader.”
Strategic Investment in Key Players
“By investing in just a one-on-one for a few key players inside your organization, it can sometimes be the jumpstart that you need for what you need to do internally as an organization,” Dr. Emlet explains. This targeted approach can create ripple effects throughout the organization.
Finding the Right Personal Coach for Healthcare Professionals
If you’re considering working with a personal coach, here are some factors to consider in making your selection:
Look for Healthcare Experience
A coach who understands healthcare environments will be better equipped to understand your specific challenges and opportunities. This shared context creates immediate rapport and allows for more efficient progress.
Consider Coaching Style and Approach
Different coaches have different styles and methodologies. Some are more directive, while others are more facilitative. Consider what approach would work best for your personality and goals.
Assess Chemistry and Trust
The relationship between coach and client is fundamental to success. Most coaches offer initial consultations, which provide an opportunity to assess whether there’s a good fit before committing to a coaching engagement.
Clarify Logistics and Expectations
Understand the practical aspects of working together, including session frequency, duration, between-session support, and anticipated timeframe for the coaching relationship.
The Transformative Power of a Personal Coach
At its core, working with a personal coach for healthcare professionals is about creating space for authentic growth and development. As Amy beautifully summarizes: “Really witnessing and being there… sometimes they’re saying things they’ve never said to anyone. And then not because it’s even such a secret, they didn’t even realize it. So really having that time and space to allow people to hit the pause button and just start to live their life versus react. And make choices in a new way.”
Dr. Emlet adds that through coaching, healthcare professionals can “tap into themselves, to find who they are, all the many roles, responsibilities, but most importantly, their identity and values. And through that celebration of themselves and becoming more powerful and authentic in that space, then you actually can have diversity. You can be okay with each other and you can actually be curious about each other.”
In a healthcare landscape that continues to evolve and challenge those within it, a personal coach can be the partner you need to not just survive but thrive—both professionally and personally.
For healthcare professionals interested in exploring one-on-one coaching, book a free discovery call to learn more about working with coaches who understand the unique demands of healthcare work.
