"Sure," I said. It was one of those answers where your heart feels confident, and says "yes," and then eventually your brain realizes what you have done, and says "Oh my, now what!" Perhaps that is how the impossible is processed, and then accomplished.

In India, the major cities have government hospitals for the poor. However outlying rural areas do not offer emergency hospitals or trauma surgery. At that time a trend was occurring; orthopedic surgeons were setting up satellite clinics in these rural areas, and getting rich off of poor farmers in extreme situations. When a farmer breaks his leg or looses a limb, in this emergency situation, he must go to one of these clinics. The price for emergency surgery was high - "Your life for all your land and cattle."

Dr. Ramana wanted to make a change. Eventually we came up with a five year plan, his vision, his goals. He would build his own hospital for the  poor. I told him I would visit his hospital after it was built. Two years ago, there was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Yasaswi Hospital. I will go there this May.

Sister Mother Teresa is a driving force behind Dr. Ramana and Dr. Prasanna. She is an inspiration to me, and this quote sums up exactly how I feel about the coaching work I do. "We do not do great things, we do small things with great love."

Thank you, for Dr. Ramana and Dr. Prasanna, for the work you do. (See the previous entry, for a press clip from back in the day about this amazing doctor couple.)

"HR chose a coach whose email stated, "we'll make him into a good person."

"My board wants me to go to an in-house psychiatric program. That seems a bit extreme since I am not impaired."

"I was told I was one of the Terrible Ten (Ten percent is the estimate of how many physicians in a hospital could be considered as having disruptive behavior); I find that offensive."

"I feel there is a witch hunt, now that the Joint Commission has a standard for disruptive physicians. I don't trust their chosen consultant will support my view of things.

"The CEO of our group wants me to see an in-house child psychologist. I am an adult and I want to learn some skills."

"I am uncomfortable talking with someone in-house about sensitive personal issues."

I am honored that physicians see something special in our programs.  After 10 years, it still surprises me there are HR or Administrators in the medical field who think medical or pathological intervention is what best serves a physician who has been labled with disruptive behavior. 

It takes tremendous courage for a physician to say I need help, and tremendous trust to put themselves into the hands of a coach. I respect and honor deeply who do so. 

The other day, I was fortunate to receive very positive feedback about my website from a former physician who labeled himself disruptive. We were having a collegial conversation about building business web sites. He seemed very disconnected in the conversation; most likely he was searching the web as we spoke. All the sudden he blurted out, "Your kindness and caring comes through in your website."

I sure hope so. For that is what we want to offer, a safe, caring space for someone who wants to make changes. After all, as the Dalai Lama said it first, "Kindness is my religion."

Thank you to all the physicians who put your trust in me.

"For the skeptic, there is no answer. For the intuitive, there is no question."

Thank you, anesthesiologist Mark. This has come in very handy at times.

"Why is this a miracle," you may ask?  Spirit, faith, calling...these words are emerging in our language with the most unusual of bed partners . . . management, work, business. Today we are seeing research conferences around the world, combining the arenas of work and spirit.  It’s old, yet it is so new - again.

Spirit, is now the new 'it' word, whose concept is spoken, in the erudite clandestine circles of professionals who provide leadership training and formation to businesses. Spirit is the newest word that must be covered, changed, renamed, Trojan horsed in, languaged . . . to make it palatable for the broader audience of administration. This reminds me of conversations about the word happy, held some 10 years ago within the circles of followers of the Father of Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman. "How do we make happiness acceptable to business?"  "What are more acceptable ways to phrase happy in the business world?" 

Just you wait and see, spirit is becoming less and less fearful  to business and management. We are turning the corner and one day soon, our whole self, which includes the spirit will be acknowledged and spoken about at work. I know this for sure, because. . .I believe in miracles.

To all those in health care who are called to do this work, thank you . . . thank you so much for being here on earth. We need you.

• Understand your own reactions and those of others
• Better regulate your emotions
• Better communicate your needs to others
• Make choices more suited to your own preferences

This is so important in our work environments where teams must collaborate to provide the optimal results. I believe this is especially so for the health care environments. Results there are related to patient outcomes. Creating a culture of no fear, priming, thinking how you think, appealing to the reward systems...these are the newest concepts and terms coming from neuroleadership. I have seen when these concepts are put into to practice, the team works like a charm. When they are not practiced, there is great and needless suffering. 

What can we do, to create a better culture of safety, where everyone is contributing thier best self, for the benefit of all? 

 At True North, we are going to start using the SCARF 360 assessment as our step in helping others be the positive change element in thier organizations. The SCARF 360 is an assessment created by David Rock which helps you to:

• Understand your own reactions and those of others
• Better regulate your emotions
• Better communicate your needs to others
• Make choices more suited to your own preferences

Let us be the change, the change we want to see and we know best serves all!

To be effective, take a pause, one deep breath, smile and enter the room with:

Hello Sir

Good Morning, Mam

How is my star patient

Our time will be short, but sweet

It is a pleasure to watch over you

Exit the room, with a smile and:

Blessings to you

It was a pleasure to serve you

Its that simple. Think of a few short phrases you could say that convey caring. Remeber "Peace Begins with a Smile."

Sara

TRUST

Often times in the coaching conversation the topic of trust will come up. Can I trust this person? Do I trust myself? What if trust is broken, can it be restored? And if so, how?

Trust is a critical part of healthy and successful inter-and intra-personal relationships. Three essential elements of trust are:

1.Competence

2.Sincerity

3. Reliably

How can you use these three elements to assist in your own discernment of trust the next time this issue comes up for you?

Periodically we send out a "mini-newsletter" on topics suggested by our readers.(Update 2013, we now use our blog to communicate rather than newsletters.) Since we are so excited about the Harvard Conference on Coaching in Medicine and Leadership, we will be blogging and featuring on most of the topics presented at the conference.  On the left-hand column are Harvard's topics, and the right-hand column are what True North will be addressing over the next few months. If you want to receive our "mini-newsletter" send me an email to sara@tncoaching.com with  "newsletter" in the subject line.

So here is the Fall line up. Stay tuned.

Harvard’s Medical School Coaching CME

True North’s  Coaching “CME”

Positive Psychology ‑ Science at the Heart of Coaching

The Evidence for Coaching

Positive Psychology – The Science of Happiness.

Overcoming the Immunity to Change (experiential workshop)

Research Report: Coaching and Lifestyle Change

Physician + Coach Collaboration on Exercise & Lifestyle

Navigating the Journey of Change: Lessons from ADD Coaching and Neuroscience

Building Efficacy and Resilience

Change – Using brain plasticity to survive (and thrive) in  today’s health care environment.

Authentic Leadership Workshop

Journey from Research to Practice ‑ Mindfulness & Time

Presence – How being in the “now” creates authenticity.

The Power of Communication   

Communication – the essential skill for building healthy teams.

Trust & Distrust: Issues in Leadership & Coaching

Diversity and Power Relations in Coaching

Trust – 3 essential elements to move a work environment from “it” to “us.”