IDSA Leadership Institute Leadership Bolus

Dr. Hartzell is a member of the faculty for the IDSA Leadership Institute. He is a board-certified internist and infectious diseases physician. He served 25 years in the United States Army, including a deployment to Afghanistan as a battalion surgeon with the 82nd Airborne Division, before retiring in 2023. He has held multiple academic roles including assistant dean for faculty development at the Uniformed Services University and program director for the National Capital Consortium Internal Medicine Residency. He completed a Master of Science in Health Professions Education at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, where he continues to teach leadership development. Dr. Hartzell’s current academic interests include leader and faculty development to empower leaders to create positive change in their spheres of influence at work, home and communities.   

Greetings everyone!

How about an icebreaker to start? How do you feel about icebreakers? Like most things in life, there is a time and place for these. That said, we know that connection matters and that getting people talking at the start of a meeting or talk can be important to fueling more in-depth conversation later. I thought this was a great article by Amber Johnson related to icebreakers.  It reviews when you should and should not use icebreakers. It also provides information about how to use them and specific questions to ask. There is a list of 20 questions you can consider.

Two additional ones I like:
 

• Tell me one thing I would be surprised to know about you?
• What are you famous or infamous for in your family? (Taught to me by Colleen Christmas, MD)
   

Something I have started doing with some of the people I lead is using icebreakers in our individual meetings. These serve as a way for me to get to know them. I don’t use them every meeting, but occasionally I will start a meeting with one. It is a little more personal and unique than, “How have you been?”
 
Feedback and accountability continue to be topics that I am asked about most frequently. I recently listened to “Mastering Feedback for Leaders With Dr. Michael Nevarez” on the Do Good to Lead Well podcast with Craig Dowden. The episode had several key lessons on feedback, including that it should be a discussion. It is a “push and pull” between the giver and receiver. The most interesting thing I took away was related to accountability. Dr. Nevarez said accountability should be centered around three agreed-upon items:

1. Was the expectation clear?
2. Was it achievable?
3. Did you agree upon them?

When you are setting expectations, ask yourself: Are they clear, achievable and agreed-upon? If you are about to give feedback, were the expectations defined this way? This framework helps us better establish expectations. Often, I have seen leaders think they have established expectations — yet, they were not clear or agreed-upon. Give this approach a try!
 

Seeking feedback!

I wanted to share this recent Journal of Graduate Medical Education article, “Where to Help: Appreciative Inquiry Workshops Improve Resident Communication and Psychological Safety Perceptions,” by Kathryn Burtson, MD, MHPE, et al. The article outlines how a residency program used appreciative inquiry to foster feedback to help the program improve.

“A key element of these workshops is resident participation in enhancing their experience by reflecting on successes, identifying key areas for improvement, collaborating with leadership to develop solutions and planning change management strategies to effectively implement those solutions.”

If you are looking for ideas on how to create an environment to encourage useful feedback, consider this approach. While done in a residency program, this could be applied to other settings.  

Lead well, my friends!
 
Josh

Julie Trivedi, MD, CPCC, FIDSA, is a board-certified infectious diseases physician, mom of two girls and a certified professional Co-Active Coach. She is actively involved with the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and is currently serving as an elected councilor on the Board. She has completed the Co-Active Training Institute Leadership Experience, was part of the IDSA Leadership Institute Community of Leaders program in 2022 and serves as the lead coach for the Rising Leaders Program. She actively coaches women and physicians in medicine away from burnout and overwhelm and toward fulfillment and joy. Dr. Trivedi’s interests include faculty and leader development through mentorship and professional coaching.

A. Celebrations

“Every big accomplishment is a series of little accomplishments.”
—David Joseph Schwartz

 
It is time to celebrate. Celebrating Mother’s Day! Celebrating high school graduates (including my own!) and college graduates! Celebrating Memorial Day! Celebrating Father’s Day! Celebrating all our students and trainees who are finishing one phase of their medical journey as they embark upon the next. 
 
I start each coaching call with my clients with the following question: “What are you celebrating?” 

Inevitably, everyone starts by sharing their big wins. 

“I cleared out my inbox.” 
“I finally finished all of my notes.” 
“I accepted the job offer.”

Me: “What else?” 

“We celebrated my daughter’s birthday.”

Me: “What else?”

“I planted some flowers in the garden.”

“What else?”

Silence…

“This is hard.”

Me: “What is hard about this?”

“I don’t know. I don’t feel like I accomplished as much as I was hoping to. I’m not where I want to be.”

Me: “What would you like to acknowledge about who you are becoming on this journey?”

This is my question to each one of you. When we pause to reflect on our journeys, acknowledging our accomplishments as accepted by the outside world seems easy in comparison to recognizing and realizing who we are in this journey of life. Acknowledging the ways we have grown when things didn’t unfold as planned. Identifying what we have learned about ourselves as we navigate challenges is just as important as celebrating our wins. 
The real reason for acknowledging all that we are celebrating is that we overlook the series of little accomplishments along the way. 

B. Embodying success

“It’s not the goal that matters. It’s who you become in pursuit of the goal that matters.”
Olympic athletes aren’t born. They are made. Highly skilled surgeons aren’t born. They are created. Anything worth doing requires dedication, commitment and perseverance along with a mindset—set of beliefs and actions that are consistently in service of the goal. 
I encourage you to set aside 15-20 minutes and reflect on the following questions with a goal you have in mind:  
 

1. What are the beliefs of someone who has successfully achieved that goal?
2. What thoughts do they have every day when they encounter challenges along the way?
3. What do they remind themselves when things are not going according to plan?
4. What are the emotions of someone who has successfully achieved their goal?
5. How does one who has successfully achieved their goal feel inside? 
    

This is the way to embody the state — mental, physical, emotional and spiritual — of someone who has accomplished said goal. When we are at the energetic frequency of success, gratitude and accomplishment, we attract that which we are.  

C. Uncertainty!
 

“Uncertainty is where things happen.  It is where the opportunities — for success, for happiness, for really living — are waiting.”
—Oliver Burkeman

 
Suffice it to say that most physicians have a non-working relationship with uncertainty. For most of our lives, we have planned, coordinated, scheduled, organized and excelled at everything we put our minds to. We have been rewarded, handsomely, for our efforts, our dedication, commitment and perseverance. We have found immense value in the external validation of our talents and strengths. And yet. And yet, many struggle with internal validation — acknowledging that our accomplishments are not the sole defining factor of our worth and our value. Many struggle with recognizing who we are in this journey and reflecting upon ourselves through the lens of self-compassion and kindness. 
 
“It’s not whether we fall or fail, it’s what we do in the moments afterwards that define our future."
 
This summer, I was planning to participate in a humanitarian medical camp in the rural town of Jinja, Uganda, near the mouth of the Nile. In addition to the provision of medical care, the goal was to provide education on hand hygiene, and the prevention of malaria and of diarrheal diseases. This medical camp had been in the works for some time and was originally scheduled for 2025 — at which time it was cancelled due to cases of Ebola in the country. It was then rescheduled for this year. The organization coordinating the camp was focused on establishing a computer lab for the school, distributing mosquito nets to prevent malaria and providing education on the aforementioned topics. Due to another Ebola outbreak recognized in DRC and western Uganda, the decision was made to indefinitely postpone the camp out of concern for the safety of all the volunteers. 
 
And so, it’s time to pivot. My plan? Take an impromptu solo road trip in the U.S. exploring states I haven’t been to without planning the whole journey. The hesitation and the discomfort I feel inside? I am looking at it as a sign of an opportunity to grow into trust and faith and to have a healthy relationship with uncertainty. A relationship in which I trust in my resourcefulness and my resilience, where I can loosen my grip of “having everything all figured out” and “having things be just right before committing.” These are symptoms of perfectionism, and I am choosing to consciously break down that pattern. 
 
What is your relationship with uncertainty? How comfortable are you with spontaneity and figuring things out as you go along — especially in areas of your life that matter? 
Wishing you a beautiful summer! Hope you take some time to celebrate yourselves and the beautiful journey you are on!
 
Best,
Julie