What Coaching Really Is in Healthcare:
The Five Roles Every Leader Needs, and Why Coaching Is Not Remediation

Transforming Healthcare Coaching Podcast — Episode 119: What Coaching Really Is in Healthcare. Hosted by Lillian Liang Emlet, MD MS CHSE CPC ELI-MP. Published July 27, 2026.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Coaching is really built for growth which is to build us into something different and something better. And so when we think about healthcare, coaching is not a fringe practice or something that's not already used in other industries. It's standard for high performers.

So somewhere in the building right now, someone just heard the words, "We're going to get you a coach," and their stomach dropped. In healthcare, we've quietly turned coaching into punishment, something that happens to people who are struggling, a box you might check before you manage someone out or you consider demoting them, and that's part of the problem.

That is not at all what coaching is. It's not even close, and the fact that most of us couldn't actually say or describe what is coaching or how it's different from mentoring or advising or therapy, this confusion is costing you your best people And so thank you everyone for tuning in to this week's Transforming Healthcare Coaching podcast, and you're used to seeing me as the host on this podcast.

And today is just going to be me, and this is going to be the first of many kinds of new episodes that we'll be running here on the podcast. Maybe a little bit shorter, a little bit more towards where we teach and go a deeper dive into certain topics that are relevant in the coaching field and in the personal development and professional development field for leaders.

Every conversation on this show, with different guests that we bring on, is about perspectives in healthcare where we can help you become the best version of yourself in some way, shape, or form. And so what we're hoping for in some of these new episodes that are going to be solo is to give you those content that we go over with our clients to talk about and make people more aware for what is coaching and what are the things that coaches think about.

And for those who have been coached to come on and explain sort of what that process of their development is. Because I think for a lot of people, the reason why they're uncertain or unwilling to go that way and spend the time, energy, and money to get a certified professional coach for themselves is because they're not really sure exactly what it does, what it looks like.

And we obviously with a privacy, don't talk about many of these things, and I think that's just like mental health. what we don't talk about, it's hard for others to imagine, and we actually make life worse for everyone. So stay with me to the end, and thank you for humoring me on my first solo episode.

And so I appreciate how far you can listen, because that really matters to me. so let's think about the fact of what in the world is coaching. when we think about why people are so confused about when you get a coach, what is it for, or we send someone to go get coached when that actually isn't the right solution to the problem.

Sometimes what people need is just an alignment to find the right sponsor to put their name forward and be given the opportunity to do a project well, and some space to be able to do that rather than be micromanaged. Sometimes you actually just need an advisor to come on and just give people the answer.

Sometimes it's really small technical tweaks where it might be related to, how they execute a project, and really a brief temporary advice that you can get. for example, for in financials or in a consultant perspective when you're trying to implement AI. And so the reality is a lot of times people aren't quite clear exactly what is the product and output of what coaching is.

And I think the other thing that has really served a disservice to coaching in the professional sector of healthcare is that some people have filed coaching in their brain as remediation rather than something that you normalize offering to, just like mental health services, that you normalize giving coaching as a normal part of every promotion.

So when you're assistant nurse manager, when you're associate program director, when you become division chief, when you become chair, that these are normal things that you should budget for and have a team of coaches on the ready for temporary support along that year-long process as people adjust into their new positions.

There are so many people who would benefit from coaching but are never offered it. And it's really interesting when you look at other sectors where as part of their compensation package and part of their benefit packages and part of the company culture is that you would, of course, have coaching, offered and personal development and professional development opportunities given as part of the reason why to come join this organization.

So much in healthcare that we as, clinicians, as we think about our career in a particular organization or group, we don't think about what is the organization giving to me? What, aside from a stable employment and place to do my CME, the, where, what else am I getting out of this experience? Why should I work for this hospital versus another hospital?

Sure, sometimes it is about the financial packages or the medical benefits and the stability of having those 401programs, but I would tell you that for a lot of people it's the family, it's the culture and the local aspect, and then it's also the opportunities for growth. The reality is we all grow in different ways, and so that growth may be nonlinear, that growth may or may not be within the organization, that growth may or may not even be within, the particular group.

It's not a ladder. And, so often now we're talking about the strategy for career development that we're... at least for me, I'm teaching that it is not a straight ladder up because a lot of people feel like it's a pyramid. But the reality is the career strategy may end up being looking more like a rock wall of climbing, that when you're trying to figure out what you need to do, how long do you spend in one particular spot, how long do you spend in one particular project, how long do you, put the time in to create a body of work, and to also be able to make culture change, to be able to make implementation a success and a win, those all vary depending on what roles and what roles you have on those different projects.

And so no matter who you are, whether you're an NP, a PA, a nurse, a physician, all of those strategies is really important to take holistically in your life, whether that be from your personal life perspective, also your interests, and also your, productivity, and what the organization values, right? I think we all have to recognize that different groups will value different things at different times, and that's totally normal.

and so being more clear and transparent about those opportunities, and also raising your hand whenever those opportunities come up, and also suggesting places where you would like to work is really important, so having that frank dialogue. And so it's often in these conversations that we're not exactly sure how in the world do we ask for support.

And the support can come in m- many different ways, right? So as a supervisor or as a leader, you often feel like so many things are being asked of you. But the reality is not everything has to be done by you, the actual person in charge with the title. Your job is to make sure that all the conversations, the resources, the connections, the encouragement, the positive, environment and ability for people to meet each other and do good work on behalf of the group, and also communicate back up to say, "Hey, I accomplished it."

So when you think about when you ask 10 different leaders to define what coaching is and what is the role of coaching within their life or other people's lives, you'll get sometimes 10 different answers Some people say it's giving advice. Some people say it's therapy for executives. Some people will say was what my old boss did for me.

and then some people actually have a much more negative view, where they feel like it's something that HR sets up when you're in trouble. And all of these things are not really accurate. And at the same time, coaching in medicine and academia may have become slightly a buzzword, meaning that lots of people with or without degrees or with or without certifications can also say that they are a coach.

I mean, lots of business coaches have, are highly successful, and they don't have a, they don't have a degree. So it gets very confusing. and so before we can really argue about whether coaching works, we have to be able to say what it is. And so I think what it's really important is to think about, like, what it is not.

So one person when we think about in our roles, as we think of our career, and who we want to have in our lives as we begin that journey of our entire, career in healthcare Is the sponsor. And so the sponsor is someone that we don't find immediately. The sponsor is someone when they'll say your name in rooms when you're not in them.

So meaning they know what things you're excited by, they know, what kinds of things that you're good at, they know what projects would excite you, they know that you're willing. And so sponsors are people who will stake their own reputation to suggest you on a project or a position, and the reality is sponsors act on behalf of you.

Sponsors are really hard to find. it's sort of interesting how when I watch the business world where sponsors and relationships and getting to know people is really important to understand sort of what they talk about, what they follow through, their integrity, and also be able to close the loop to say thanks for the introduction and here's someone who you might, like to work with.

And the more deep they make those diversity of relationships, the more you can sponsor and increase your network. And so business operates, operates so differently compared to sometimes certain healthcare systems or groups that are siloed into their own, discipline or into their own, operations.

Until you go outside of your own bubble, it's really hard to sort of see like these skills are everywhere. And so the sponsorship skill can occur at a regional level, within your organization level, at a national level. And so when you feel like you aren't getting what you need in your particular group, for example, like your direct supervisor, most people leave because of their direct supervisor.

And that's understandable. It's really hard to work in day in, day out with someone who doesn't support you. But your direct supervisor doesn't have to be your sponsor. In fact, usually those sponsors are at least two connections away, and it may just be people who can see what you're doing, can see what you're about, can see your integrity, and also offer you up for new opportunities.

Because you just never know when the new opportunity might be a gateway towards bigger, better things. So, this sponsor is someone who you couldn't access that position potentially yourself, and from their positions of power, they're able to tap in and recommend you The other person to have in your corner on your board of advisors is someone that I would say is like your advisor or your consultant.

They're very specific in what they'd like to advise about. And, the most classic example is the financial advisor, right? You need to have a financial advisor. I will also probably say you need to have a legal support, as a healthcare professional, making sure that our estates, our documents, and the way we want to run our household and our businesses and our relationships with potential employers with contracts is very important.

So I would say the two main advisors, I would say no matter who you are in healthcare, it's really nice to know great financial people and great lawyers. And I have to admit, there's so many people out there doing great work. it's a great place to be just to be able to diversify and always make relationships because you just never know.

They have solved for the same thing and they're experts in that one particular perspective and the way they like to either, advise on, for example, health and fitness, finances, legal matters, and they're going to give you recommendations. You may want to shop around, you may want to also, ping them and they may tell you that actually that's not in their wheelhouse.

They're going to send you to a different lawyer or a different financial advisor or an accountant. So when you think about advisors and consultants, these are very specific to answer, a very specific problem. They're going to diagnose, they're going to prescribe it, they're going to fix it. and it's really important to have these people in your life, in your Rolodex somewhere.

And the great thing is, most times, asking for recommendations from friends is one way, but the reality is you'll have to do your own due diligence and look around as well. meeting new people, having conversations, getting educated yourself helps you make informed decisions that as you grow with your wealth or as you grow in your life experience and what you needed when you were, 20 is different going to be from what you need when you're 50.

And believe it or not, sometimes these people specialize just in the early career versus the later career. They tend to have a love or a tendency sometimes for those particular, areas and, life s- life stages. So finding great advisors and consultants, including people like fitness and, other ways to make your life easier, is a great, thing to consider adding to your wheelhouse.

Now, the most traditional, person to have on your board of directors is the mentor, Your mentor has walked your path and your career before and tells you what's worked for them. It's really an experience-based, advisory. It's usually long-term, at least a year or more, sometimes years. it's usually inside your own field, it's usually inside your own discipline.

It may even be inside your own specialty, and the energy flows bidirectionally, right? The reality is the mentee-mentor relationship, there's whole books, organizations, and I'll put a link in the show notes below for some of the better organizations, for how do we mentor with diversity? How do we support different generations?

it really is a bidirectional relationship that, honestly, as a mentor, I've gotten as m- much more, as much as from my mentees as hopefully I have given them. And so these build into collegiate relationships in the long term and really are focused around, a particular project, a particular defined body of work, area of interest, similar goals to be able to achieve together.

Because when one person wins in the relationship, the other person wins as well. So the mentee-mentor relationship is sort of, symbiotic, to, to many degrees, and also it's more traditional, right? It's related to what's actually happening in your discipline and your field. and it's really about someone who's got...

who's a little bit ahead of you to bring you along and to bring you along together. I will acknowledge, okay, so then there's the therapist, So the reality is life is, is challenging. And so often, there are things that hurt us. Trauma, whether emotional or physical, happens. and we need therapists.

the people who belong, in behavioral health and are in the psychological services, they work with the past, with the wounds, with how to, and also with diagnosed conditions, so that you can help people through those find better coping skills and also move forward. And so it, you reconcile in therapy and also provide emotional support for all of the emotions that happen, in life in general.

And It's very confusing oftentimes for some people, like what is the difference between a therapist versus a coach? That's probably the most common question I get most often. I just want to say that coaching is not a clinical, reimbursable, or, therapeutic, in the traditional medical, sick medical sort of sense.

I really want to honor and respect the years of training that psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, social workers, and behavioral health specialists and what they do for sitting with really hard emotions and making sure that we can find a way forward to heal and reconcile all of the past, and really it's a restorative process.

I would like to think that therapy really is about healing and reconciling. I will acknowledge that coaching does have many fundamental, underpinnings that are related to what we call positive psychology or motivational change and change management. So the reality is coaching really is about forward-looking.

The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as a partnership with a person that is thought-provoking and creative to help the individual maximize their own potential. And so there's no advice giving. It is not consulting. we as coaches assume you're ready, capable, resourceful, and the reality is our job and our goal is to reflect back what you're hearing and seeing and feeling, and to also ask the questions to help you see things that you may not be able to see without a conversation that's really meant to surface an answer that you already have inside you, but you can't actually verbalize or express.

And those can be obviously the thoughts, the feelings, the actions, the embodiment for what you need to do to change, to do something differently, to be able to take action. And so coaching really is very much about accountability, questioning, opening perspective, and moving into the unknown. and coaching gives clarity when you feel like you have already so many closed doors and unknowing way of moving forward, feeling stuck, that now you will have potentials of ways of dealing with things differently and an action plan to get there.

And so coaches really do focus on seeing things that may not even be in existence yet, and also help motivate change, help you keep accountable to change.

So the reality is all of these people are necessary in life to really have a thriving, busy leadership life in healthcare. and so none of these are best, meaning like you can't just go through life with just one. There will be different people that come in and out of your life as a leader in healthcare, to be able to serve in these roles.

and I have to admit, for me, my most favorite things, when I-- as I've gone through my career is to be able to be a sponsor, to suggest somebody into a position or a project, to be able to be their mentor, to be the mentee, to be the coach. sometimes it is just advice-giving. Oftentimes in national organizations, you just want to ping someone for an idea for like, "Hey," more advice the better because you get greater, feedback on your projects that you're having.

So a lot of us have, "Can you just give me a little bit of feedback on this particular paper or a project or initiative that I'm doing?" Just free advice. And so The reality is great leaders have an entire team behind them, and it's really hard sometimes to figure out... I remember when I was younger, it was really hard to figure out, well, who is this going to be, this personal board of directors?

Who are going to be all of these different pieces? Some of these are formalized. Some of these are said out loud. Some of these feel loosey-goosey. Some of these, you never actually truly said that they are your sponsor or your mentor. and most people really assemble this by accident, if at all, and most people are missing a couple seats at all times.

And so some things to know that, know are that having a sponsor, for example, women clinicians in general tend to be, I would say over-mentored and under-sponsored, meaning that, a lot of times you have lots of mentors, but then sometimes there is not someone who's going to open the door and offer your name at the table.

and the reality is we all do know that you need to have all of these people on your side to be able to make incremental progress with strategy for where you want to go in your career. And so a q- better question you should ask yourself right now is not about who can give me advice on something, but where are the seats at my board maybe empty or no one really fulfills that role, and where can I go find them?

Where can I search around, both... I mean, obviously you're here on YouTube and on the internet or listening on Apple, or Spotify. As you're listening and you're exploring and you're figuring out for yourself what else is out there, and that's really the most important skill. What else is out there? There are tons of other resources and opportunities to be able to get those people into your, sphere of influence.

And so the other distinction is how do we use coaching in general? So while we've covered a little bit about on the board of directors all the different roles and responsibilities of people who help shape, guide, and help you have a successful balance of personal and professional life, the reality is for those of you who are leaders or leaders in development- There's two ways that you can use coaching.

One is that coaching is a skill, and then two is coaching is a profession. So I'm choosing to make coaching my profession. However, I would say that just like one of our previous guests, Helene Terlt, has really thought about deeply for clinicians, the coach approach is really important as part of the skills that every clinician, and I'll argue that every leader, should have and can develop.

So coaching is a primary skill. We often have never really named it, but what are coaching skills? What are the things I went back to school for nine months for and got audio taped and video taped to see whether I can do these things in our coaching engagements? So I'll list a couple different things that are coaching skills, and you'll probably find that you do some of these.

So first is active listening without rushing to fix the situation. Another is asking a question instead of giving out an answer or tend giving advice. Resisting the reflex to solve the problem for the person so that the person in front of you builds the muscle to solve it themselves. These are all learnable skills, to ask better questions, to be a better listener, to be a better enabler of allowing other people to learn and support them along the way with the thoughts, feelings, and actions they need in order to get there.

You don't need a credential to stop interrupting somebody. You don't need a credential, or additional time to be a better listener and seeing between the lines of what's being said. And instead, asking things like, "What have you already considered?" Or, "What else are you worried about?" and also reflect back actively what you're being given are all great communication skills that are in the coaching domain.

So often, even as a mentor or an educator, we often do these things where we're coaching people to see how they might find solutions themselves. I know sometimes it does feel like your students or your mentees really just want you when they're talking with you. Like, they're, th- they feel like they're either just venting or they are, wanting you to give...

tell them what to do. And so I'll suggest to you that there is a third way out that is not necessarily about just being a sounding board. That's just a lot of time spent just for emotional support. That's more on the therapy side. Instead, finding great questions, suggestions, and reflections actively to help that person be able to see a way forward is probably the most generous thing that we can do as mentors, educators, and leaders.

I think when we are leading people, people want to feel that they're heard and acknowledged, and so those active listening skills are so important. And every leader who defaults to telling someone what to do is potentially opening themselves up for being perceived in a certain way, not only by, one, taking away the agency for the people below you, but also not empowering them to be able to maybe find an even better solution than you're suggesting.

When we empower those below us to be able to do things for themselves, that's the most important thing because then, we can actually find different ways and increase engagement for our teams. And this version of coaching as a primary skill belongs to everyone in every specialty at all times. And I'll tell you for teaching small workshops on how clinicians can use coaching within their teaching skills and coaching within their academic practice, it's not easy.

Most of us just want to be the one to tell people what to do. And I'll tell you now that, spending time to unlearn those habits and taking pause and figuring out how to be more an active reflective listener, is going to make your leadership career, much more flexible and adaptable and engaging.

So that's the first way. The second way, of course, is what I'm trying to do with transforming, though all of us have spent the time, the energy to really think about coaching as a profession. And so a professional coach is trained and credentialed through bodies such as the International Coaching Federation.

There's also a European International, Organization and also a Health and Wellbeing Coaching, Organization, that provides some kind of standardization for how coaches are trained against this defined set of core competencies and held to a code of ethics. It takes structured training. It takes mentor coaching.

There are recorded sessions. You're assessed by evaluators. There are teachers of coaches. It takes, client, work, log hours. there's also coaching supervision, which is, similar in the therapy world, debriefing and understanding the relationship and the countertransference of, like, difficult coaching situations about are there different ways to handle it and what does it trigger in the coach themselves.

So the coaching process itself for the maintenance of the certification and the credentialing, is a whole process and is highly regulated as well. coach is an unregulated word and anyone can print this on a business card. so credentials help you understand that they all follow a similar discipline and ethics that have been guided from international, boards, for, self-regulation of the practice.

And these professionals tend to hold a structured, sustained, confidential process over time, which includes, maintenance of cer- certification, includes, CEUs, and, it takes just like continuing the practice of healthcare, whether you're a nurse or a physician, you have ongoing modules, you have tests you have to take, similar kinds of things.

And both are valuable, right? And so the reality is having coaching skills and having a coach yourself are different. and it really does help to have an external person come in and help provide that support for you And so our particular process here at Transforming, the way we inform how we coach is really foundational in how we, how I think about, cognitive science, learning, professional development, and the embodiment for what data loop is necessary to really make the habit of change.

And so my framework is awareness, new action, and deliberate practice. And, generally speaking, I believe that the, in the wheel of life and all the different identities that you hold, there are so many things that you are, and to only focus on one is not only not realistic, it's also not your reality.

And so awareness of where you are as a whole person, and also awareness of how you're being perceived, and what your strengths are, and what your personalities are, and what your energy leadership style is, all of these things, the more aware we are in understanding of ourself and accepting of ourself is the first step.

Because when you can see the lens that you are operating from, the sunglasses that you're wearing right now, then you can consciously choose to flex to a different trait or flex to a different sunglass so that you can work with those who have differences or who are different, or to flex into a new identity The second step of our coaching process is new action, right?

So almost always, in order to get rid of imposter syndrome or in order to gain confidence, you need to take action. It's going to be learning, doing, trying something deliberately. It's the same way you get better from playing tennis, going down a ski slope, learning the piano. New action with the process of a coach is the way you get to confidence and becoming who you're meant to be with the understanding of all the things that you are and all the skills that you have.

And then the last is deliberate practice. From a teacher perspective, we know that deliberately practicing small things, repeating it, and having someone hold the mirror and show it again and refine that skill is what's necessary to make that skill a habit. And so in our coaching process, we do these arcs, in general.

And so none of this is remedial. Coaching is really built for growth, which is to, build us into something different and something better. And so when we think about healthcare, coaching is not, a fringe practice or something that's not already used in other industries. It's standard for high performers.

And while some people in healthcare believe that it's remedial in some way, the reality is executive coaching is standard practice in corporate leadership development, even though it's still far from universal. Stanford found that about two-thirds of CEOs get no outside coaching at all. There are rigorous meta-analyses within, healthcare where there is ability to provide coaching for leaders and have improved, with different populations within the healthcare sector, nurses, women physicians, for example, in terms of reducing burnout scores, improving leadership, and improving outcomes.

And the return on coaching is higher when it's aimed at, obviously, at high potential leaders than it used to use remediate chronic underperformance. That's an entirely different process. And so the data really does say that coaching works best on your strongest people. And so we really need to th- think about how are we going to develop, use coaching strategically to develop people so that you have at all of those levels of leadership so that people stay, so that people grow, so that people don't accidentally cause some of the turnover that's happening at the front lines And I know for some people, they really say, "Well, this is like really super corporate of you what you're saying.

This is very business-like. This is not medicine." Yes and no. The reality is the provision of healthcare in most private practices or corporate, care really does need to have a mindset of how are we going to make everyone be all in and growing and learning together. There are some randomized control trials at least in physicians.

So there, was a Mayo Clinic study, where physicians received coaching sessions and they saw their emotional exhaustion drop. and so while the control group rose. there's been other peer coaching trials where coaches were trained and then they just peer coached each other, and that even with that kind of group, which is obviously a lighter training than having external, professional coaches come in, that professional fulfillment in the coached group went up about 11%, while the control arm didn't change at all, and their overall burnout scores dropped about 22%

And then there also was a, three-arm RCT that compared small group coaching to one-on-one, as small group coaching produced a 29% reduction in burnout, and it did that at about 60% less cost per person than the one-on-one, though the two formats didn't actually separate from each other statistically. And what's interesting about that one is that sometimes maybe the group and the connection itself and knowing that you're not alone is an additional other factor.

and c- being in connection with others is also part of the mechanism for how that reduced burnout. And so offering coaching, getting a coach on your own, Really, the reality is that's really the best investment that you can have for yourself. And that, it's sort of the same way where people who get a personal trainer or they invest in a financial advisor, when you pay the fee, you do the work, you reap the benefits.

And the reality is, quite, healthcare is finally coming along the way. people more and more are asking for executive coaches as part of their promotion packages. There's a time limit of about a year where you're going to get a coach to help you through that transition. If anyone thinks the transition is easy, they're sorely mistaken.

Obviously, there are lots of career coaches out there who market themselves as career coaches because we all know that changing disciplines, fields, or jobs is a highly stressful time. So remarketing yourself, finding the motivation, messaging and branding yourself, getting through that time of transition is really important to have support.

And the reality is you're not going to have a mentor in that transition time. And so it really is going to be important to have someone, who's on your side. and the reality is the evidence for fulfillment exhaustion really isn't, about what profession or discipline you are. Coaching is going to work for everyone, whether it's a physician, a nurse, NP, PA, PT, or OT.

our particular coaching team really also focuses not just on individuals of all professions, but also the team. And so we also know this interprofessional and divisions and departmental level can benefit from group coaching in order to be more unified and more, able to provide the organization better outcomes so that everyone is rowing in the same direction So hopefully I have debunked some of the most common myths for you, during this particular, episode about what is coaching, what is not, and this is what I want to leave you with.

It's not advice, it's not therapy, it's not the thing you do to people before you let them go. It's a partnership to build, to grow the people you believe in the most, and it belongs for every single profession inside our healthcare system. And, if you're interested in finding out more, please continue to follow us.

we also have an area called medTHRIVE Connect, where we do quarterly leadership non-fiction book clubs. We invite authors in to come have a chat about their books. We actually are launching other programs here in the fall. They're mostly related to leadership development. We know that sometimes people don't feel they get the support they need in their home organizations, whether it be regional or national organizations.

And so I say, give us a try. The reality is the world is your oyster in terms of education and opportunities. And when you don't see something that you have, go find what you need, and a coach helps you find that way. So thanks everyone for listening for my very first solo episodes. hoping that you found some benefit from this, and hopefully it debunked for you what exactly is coaching.

And so what I ask for you now is please email me at hello@transforminghealthcarecoaching.com. Help me tackle challenges and problems that you're having, and let me do an episode on the problems you're facing at work, how to approach it, how to think differently. Let this be a open learning lab because your questions that you pose to me for me to unpack and find a different perspective and coach through that process on these podcast episodes will be a way that you can actually give to somebody else.

I know that for every single situation that our coachees or our clients have provided us, it's not the first time that we have heard, some of these challenges. So you would do a lot of benefit by providing ideas, topics, questions, concerns, hello@transforminghealthcarecoaching.com. Please like, subscribe, and share with a friend, and offer me up to your leadership.

The reality is leaders need to know that they actually have an opportunity to develop their coaching skills and also to get coached themselves. Makes everyone's lives better. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you next time