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Tap
Into Your
Potential
A
Physician's Advice on Career
Fulfillment
An
interview with
Francine
R. Gaillour, MD, MBA,
FACPE,
founder and director of
Creative Strategies
in Physician
Leadership, an
executive coaching
resource for physicians.
Q:
When physicians
decide they want
to broaden
their careers what
do you
advise them
to think about
first?
A:
I use
a model
I call "The
Three Dimensions
of Professional Fulfillment"
to help them
focus on
what they want
to do.
The
first dimension
is purpose,
passion, and values. That
is, what
is that essence
or quality
about you, what are
those unique
gifts that you
may have
had since you
were 3
or 4
years old?
What is it
you're into? What
do you
care about? What's the
most exciting
thing you do
now? What
really gets you
jazzed? What's that pipe
dream you've
been thinking about?
Almost everybody
has one.
The
second dimension
is skills.
Physicians have very deep
skills, but
they are
very narrow
in focus. So
we help them recognize their own inventory of skills:
What have you done, either in or outside your clinical
practice, that
shows you have
skills that
are transferable?
For
example, a
lot of
physicians have done things
with their
church or nonprofit
organizations [or]
they've coached Little League.
Maybe they've
remodeled their house
— that demonstrates they can
do project management.
We
also look
at what
kind of skills
are going
to be important
to develop
in order to
be successful
in another arena: What
skills will
be helpful if
you want
to go into
a specific
domain such as
medical management or
develop a
consulting firm? Things like
how to
put together
a business plan,
how to
engage a
client.
Q:
And the
third dimension?
A:
The third
dimension is
the economic
engine. That is,
how will
society value what
you bring
to the table? This
helps physicians
do an exploration
of industries and
think creatively
and openly about
all the areas out
there. There's a specialty society for so many things and those
are great resources and great places to network. A lot of
physicians are petrified of networking or they just don't know
how to do it.
So
when you
have those three dimensions
aligned — passion,
skills, and
the economic
engine — the sweet
spot in
the middle
is career fulfillment.
Q:
What sorts
of different
things can physicians
do with their
careers?
A:
There are
physicians who
are consultants
for architectural firms
or who
have a
space planning
service to help
hospitals or clinics design
the flow
of their space.
One physician
I know is
now working for
a foundation
that's part of his
hospital and
he does
full-time
fundraising. Several
have entered the Internet
arena. There
are physicians who
work with
online services offering
second opinions and
e-mail
consultations, and
of course
there are physicians
who check or
create content
for healthcare
portals.
Q:
When physicians
enter the business
world, what
is the most
difficult change
for them?
A:
One of
the most
challenging areas for
physicians, and
it sounds
trite, is learning
how to
participate in a team
of peers where you are contributing and not just sitting back
and throwing out your opinion.
There's
a healthy
give-and-take
that requires
respectful communication.
In the
business world, physicians are going to meet a lot of smart people like
them. The way people interact in the business world
is by
creating something from nothing
— creating something
from ideas. The
way that's
done is in a
team environment
and through communication.
The sooner they
can learn
that, the more
effective they'll be
and the
faster they'll advance.
Q:
Talk about
your own
career change.
How did you
get to
where you
are today?
A:
I was
in clinical
practice for 10
years and
had a
very full,
enjoyable practice. But
I was
ready for
the next thing.
I enjoyed
the part
of my
practice where I was
building it
and once
it was fulfilled,
I thought,
'What's
the next
challenge?'
I knew
I didn't want
to be on
the traditional
medical-director-in-a-hospital
track. I
was on
a couple
of hospital committees and
had participated
in that, but
I had
a feeling
I wanted to
be in
business.
So
I worked
for a
couple of technology companies
as their
medical director and
that's where
I cut my
teeth and learned
about business, how
to be
a team
player, how to
change ideas
into a product.
That introduced me
to dozens
of healthcare
organizations across the country
— so I
don't feel like I
have ever left
healthcare. I was and
am still
completely immersed in
healthcare
— not one-on-one patient
care, but I know
that what
I'm doing is
affecting patient
care and helping
to transform
healthcare.
One
of the
first things I tell
physicians to
do is
to write
an intention statement.
It's an intention
of where they
want to
go. So
my intention
statement was: 'I want
to work
for a healthcare
technology or medical device
company and
be a
liaison between
the developers and
the users
of the product.'
I would
repeat
that to people and
it opened
doors; someone heard
me say
that at
a party
and said, 'The
company
I
work for
might be interested in
talking to
you.'
Even
so, I'll
always be a doctor.
I was
actually seeing
patients part-time
until last
year. I still
have my
license and I have
yet to
give it
up completely.
Q:
What has
been most
enjoyable — and most
difficult
— in your
move to the
business world?
A:
I am
a very
creative and strategic
person so
I was
in heaven
coming up with
ideas, being
part of a
design team, giving
talks, and supplying
a lot
of the
ideas that
went into becoming
a product.
The other part that
was enjoyable
was the autonomy
and the
flexibility. As
a young
mother, I found
that much
more amenable to a
family life,
even when I
was traveling.
What
I found
difficult was learning to
communicate respectfully.
I don't think
I had
an attitude
problem, but I
had to
learn a whole level
of advanced
communication that is
different from
patient interaction, where
the patient
is always
kind of a subordinate.
Being part of
a team,
everyone's battling for their
ideas, and there's
a way
to do
it that's
respectful.
Q:
What about those physicians who simply want to continue
practicing medicine, but are finding it
