“According to the nursing staff, and they keep careful records, on
February 18, you performed 11 surgeries. The last one was at 10 at night.
The staff was exhausted, and you were exhausted. Can this be this good
practice?”
She took a deep breath. “Sometimes, I just get going and can’t seem
to stop. But no, this is not good practice.”
“The staff also says there is often no downtime between surgeries.
They have to rush to get ready for the next one, without even time to sit
down.”
“Why haven’t they told me these things? Why is it all coming out
now?”
“They say you’ve been short tempered during the last two years and
basically unapproachable. You’ve been overstressed with all you’ve been
trying to do.”
This last statement made her tearful. “Yes, I have been stressed. But I
hate it that my wonderful family has been suffering because of me.” She
wiped her eyes and sat up straight. “We need to make some changes,”
she declared.
Weeks 6-7: Coaching Goals
Once they had illuminated her blind spots, Alice and Yelyuk were able
to move ahead rapidly on formulating her goals in three areas:
• leadership
• teamwork
• managing stress.
Leadership
Dr. Yelyuk had little concept of how to manage her staff. She called
them her “family,” and had developed close, interpersonal relationships
with them.
Remedies and homework included:
• Develop an understanding that she was the leader of her team
and they needed her management and guidance. This involved
an acknowledgment of the structure and her role in it, as well
as the culture she had created.
• Practice relating to her staff as a leader instead of as a family
member. This involved employing more professional language.
• Learn basic management skills like giving direction, delegating
responsibility, and including the staff in decision making. This
meant planning, coordinating, and communicating instead of
spewing off-the-cuff reactions.
Teamwork
Dr. Yelyuk tended to delegate by expecting people to read her mind.
She didn’t ask for enough input from her team, trusting that somehow
everything would magically fall into place.
Remedies and homework included:
• Redefine the different roles played by her team and get their
input. The nurses, for instance, knew how to arrange the best
timing and sequence of surgeries. Patients with severe dietary
restrictions or diabetes, for example, needed to be scheduled
first thing in the morning.
• Learn that part of being a good leader is not making
unreasonable demands on your team. This included scheduling
a reasonable number of surgeries and leaving time between
surgeries so that the team has a chance to rest and prepare for
the next one.
• Schedule same-day surgeries only in emergencies. This meant
learning how to say no to any colleagues who asked her to step
in immediately. It also meant that her staff would have time
