Coaching Demonstration: Talking About Time for Healthcare Professionals
Ever wonder what a coaching demonstration talking about time for healthcare professionals looks like? If you’re a healthcare provider struggling with time management, this coaching demonstration offers valuable insights into how coaching can help you regain control of your schedule and reduce stress. In this special episode of the Transforming Healthcare Coaching podcast, we pull back the curtain on a real coaching conversation focused on time management for healthcare professionals between hosts Lillian Liang Emlet and Klaus Grim.
Coaching Demonstration: Talking About Time for Healthcare Professionals
Ever wonder what a professional coaching session looks like? If you’re a healthcare professional struggling with time management, this demonstration offers valuable insights into how coaching can help you regain control of your schedule and reduce stress. In this special episode of the Transforming Healthcare Coaching podcast, we pull back the curtain on a real coaching conversation between hosts Lillian Liang Emlet and Klaus Grim.
What to Expect in a Coaching Demonstration for Healthcare Professionals
Before diving into the coaching demonstration, Lillian explains that typical coaching sessions are:
- Usually 60 minutes long (though this demonstration is condensed)
- Completely confidential
- Tailored to the individual’s specific goals
- Designed to expand perspectives
The session begins with three centering breaths—a simple but powerful technique to help shift from the busy world of healthcare into a more reflective mindset. This brief mindfulness practice sets the tone for the coaching conversation that follows.
Time Management Challenges Revealed in This Coaching Demonstration
Klaus, an emergency medicine physician assistant, shares a common struggle among healthcare professionals: balancing work demands with personal goals while managing limited time. His specific challenges include:
- Shifting priorities: “If I work at 11 a.m., oftentimes I’ll have a plan to wake up a couple hours early before my shift and do some form of workout. Then if it doesn’t happen, my plan is to do that after work.”
- Cascading disruptions: “I get delayed or something else shows up. Now I have too much on my mind that I don’t end up doing the things that I originally had planned for.”
- End-of-day anxiety: “When it starts to get later in the day, when it’s rubbing towards bedtime, it gets really anxiety-provoking to say, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t do the things that I want to do.'”
These challenges aren’t unique to Klaus. Many healthcare professionals find themselves caught in similar cycles, where careful plans collapse under the unpredictable nature of clinical work and life’s responsibilities.
Exploring Current Strategies
Through thoughtful questioning, Lillian helps Klaus examine what he’s already tried:
- Creating lists: “I have one giant list where I start to categorize things, but then I’ll create a smaller list within that day.”
- Mindfulness techniques: “Centering sometimes helps… when I start to get really hyped up and anxious that this list is not being crossed off, sometimes that centering exercise helps me take a deep breath.”
This exploration reveals that Klaus already has some effective tools but may not be deploying them consistently or strategically enough to provide relief from time pressure.
The Breakthrough Moment
In what becomes a pivotal moment in the session, Klaus realizes: “It took me actually talking it out loud right now to remember… Mindfulness techniques that I used to employ more often were actually huge.”
This insight demonstrates a key benefit of coaching—creating space for self-discovery. Often, we already know what works for us but have stopped implementing it consistently. A coach helps reconnect us with our own wisdom.
Transition Awareness: A New Perspective
Lillian introduces a powerful reframe of Klaus’s situation by highlighting the concept of role transitions:
“You toggle between different roles, responsibilities, identities in any given day… You wake up and you’re just Klaus. You also might just be dog dad, partner… Then you’re a commuter… Then you’re a physician assistant…”
This perspective helps Klaus see that his day naturally contains moments of transition between roles—opportunities for brief mindfulness practices that could help reset his mental state. He recognizes: “There is a huge transition with the roles and identity… recognizing the shifts, I think, would be huge for me.”
From Lists to Intentions
Another significant shift comes when they discuss moving away from task-oriented lists to day-oriented intentions:
“I’m wondering if I’m being much more intentional… instead of saying ‘laundry, take dogs for a walk, vacuum, reach out to this client,’ maybe just ‘…this day is for dogs and house.'”
Klaus’s reaction to this idea is immediate: “Just thinking about it… it’s freeing just to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, if I’m not worried about this and I’m not seeing this list… it’s definitely tension-relieving.”
Lillian reinforces this insight with some science: “We have a lot of cognitive task switching issues… time blocking is one of the productivity hacks to try to streamline yourself from task switching.”
Action Steps from This Coaching Demonstration on Time Management
By the end of the session, Klaus has identified three specific actions:
- Recognize transitions as opportunities: “Say I finished up clinically… that’s a transition that I can now say, ‘Let’s go outside of the ambulance bay, let’s take those few deep breaths.'”
- Conduct a time audit: “It’s something that’s always been in the back of my mind, it’s just something I haven’t actually fully invested in.”
- Set intentions instead of lists: “Putting intentions instead of lists and giving that a try.”
The Value of Reflection
Perhaps the most powerful moment comes near the end when Klaus reflects on what he’s learned about himself:
“I am doing the things that I have made some great changes over the past years… I’m learning to be more forgiving with myself… it’s a journey. We’re learning, and as long as you’re learning and reflecting and taking into practice and adopting the things that did work, that’s a win to me.”
This statement captures the essence of coaching—not just finding new solutions, but recognizing our growth, celebrating our successes, and committing to continued learning.
How This Coaching Demonstration About Time Management Applies to You
If you’re a healthcare professional struggling with time management, consider these takeaways from this coaching demonstration talking about time for healthcare professionals:
- Mindful transitions: Identify the natural transition points in your day (entering/leaving work, between patients, during breaks) and use these as opportunities for brief mindfulness practices.
- Intentions over tasks: Consider organizing your days around themes or intentions rather than exhaustive to-do lists.
- Audit your time: Take a week to track where your time actually goes—you might find unexpected opportunities for reclaiming minutes or hours.
- Practice self-compassion: Recognize that perfect time management doesn’t exist, especially in healthcare. Learning and adapting is part of the journey.
Experience a Coaching Demonstration Talking About Time for Yourself
If you found value in this coaching demonstration talking about time for healthcare professionals, imagine what a full 60-minute session customized to your specific challenges could provide. At Transforming Healthcare Coaching, our coaches understand the unique pressures of healthcare because we’ve lived them ourselves.
Whether you’re struggling with time management, professional burnout, leadership challenges, or career transitions, coaching offers a structured approach to finding clarity and taking action.
To learn more about one-on-one coaching or our medTHRIVE community for healthcare professionals, book a free discovery call.
Together, we can transform healthcare, one professional at a time.
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