In this continuation of myth-dispelling posts about Surgical Coaching, we take on the misconception that coaching is punitive. The idea that only “bad” surgeons need a coach is particularly perplexing to me, given the easy-to-make but not-entirely-accurate association I’ve observed between surgical coaching and sports coaching.
In sports, all athletes have a coach, not just struggling individuals. It goes without saying, then, that the best athletes also work with a coach. Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Tom Brady, Mia Hamm, Roger Federer… all had or still have coaches throughout their careers.
And it’s not that these superstars only worked with a coach occasionally. To the contrary, their coach was an integral part of every day on the job. None of these elite professionals said, “Well, I already get better every day, so I probably don’t need a coach.” In fact, they’d be at a competitive disadvantage if they didn’t have a coach.
The best performers, like Serena Williams, have coaches throughout their careers. Source: Chris Trotman/Getty Images North America, 2017, https://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/11/tennis/patrick-mouratoglou-serena-williams-pregnancy-wimbledon/index.html
Similarly, top performers in many fields outside of sports have a coach to help them push the limits of their performance. Business executives work with coaches to improve their leadership skills and better position their companies for growth. Vocalists and dancers such as Beyoncé can attribute at least part of their worldwide successes to coaching. Elite violinists like Itzhak Perlman appreciate the distinct advantage they have when an external ear lends critical feedback on their performance.
Teachers, like surgeons, have complex and unpredictable jobs that directly affect human lives. Instructional coaching has taken off recently to help teachers improve their classroom instruction for students. Many schools and entire school districts have embraced this concept and hired coaches specifically to support teachers in serving their students’ needs as best they can.
If elite performers in athletics, business, and music have coaches, and if everyday teachers get coaching to improve their performance, why wouldn’t surgeons do the same when the health and lives of patients are at stake? Surely, we surgeons want to get better for our own sake, but as competitive individuals by nature, don’t we also want to get a leg up on that practice down the road? The benefits of coaching on your practice are countless. Surgical coaching is not punitive; in fact, it should feel like punishment to not have a Surgical Coach.
I welcome responses of support or challenge to this myth about surgical coaching. Contact us to inquire further! We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Jason
Jason C. Pradarelli, MD, MS
Medical Director | Academy for Surgical Coaching
One of the biggest challenges we encounter at the Academy for Surgical Coaching is overcoming misperceptions of what a Surgical Coach actually does. Without having the right expectations, you’re at risk of disappointment if you’re a surgeon looking to work with a Surgical Coach.
Misunderstandings of what a Surgical Coach does commonly fall into the following themes:
For the purpose of you having a great experience that matches your expectations, I am writing a series of posts to dispel myths about surgical coaching.
For many surgeons, the first image that comes to mind when they hear the word “coach” is an athletics coach. And that’s not just the image of a random person. Frequently there is a vivid image of a man yelling at players from the sidelines, neck veins bulging. This stereotype of a coach drawing up plays on a clipboard, blowing a whistle at practice, and barking instructions at players is an effect of the availability heuristic.
This is NOT how Surgical Coaches are expected to coach. Source: Gary Mook/ALLSPORT/Getty Images, 2018, https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/23017830/bob-knight-indiana-hoosiers-firing-lesson-college-coaches
According to the Decision Lab, a behavioral science research firm, the availability heuristic describes our tendency to use information that comes to mind quickly and easily when making decisions about the future. The ease of drawing on this image of a yelling coach comes from widely televised sporting events, media coverage of coaches with extravagant post-game interviews, and perhaps your own experiences with your children’s or your former youth soccer coaches.
For example, a common adage we encounter over the course of surgical training is that “surgery is a team sport.” While another stereotype that doesn’t apply to everyone, many surgeons are competitive individuals, and this personality trait often stems from a personal history of playing sports. Because of the frequency of images crossing our screens and the familiarity with our prior experiences, it is easy to erroneously associate all types of coaches with an athletics coach.
But this mental shortcut may lead you astray when you work with a Surgical Coach. Coaches in surgery don’t carry clipboards and whistles. They don’t yell at the surgeons with whom they work. They don’t simply tell you what to do. And they aren’t stereotypically men.
Surgical Coaches, on the other hand, are closer to professional coaches in business, education, or music. An effective Surgical Coach is a masterful communicator who asks insightful questions to understand your motivations and maximize your potential as a professional. Unlike the yelling coach on the sidelines, a coach in surgery creates a welcoming space for you to reflect on your practice away from the heat of the moment in the operating room. This approach creates the space necessary for genuine, adult learning.
Because of these fundamental differences, your Surgical Coach should be pleasantly different from a traditional sports coach.
I welcome responses of support or challenge to this myth about surgical coaching. Contact us to inquire further! We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Jason
Jason C. Pradarelli, MD, MS
Medical Director | Academy for Surgical Coaching
© 2024 The Academy for Surgical Coaching. All rights reserved.