I was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Osteopathic Foundation, a wonderful honor indeed! I spent some time reflecting on the people I wanted to thank, a compilation much too long to list from the stage during my thank-you remarks. It was a fun exercise, however, to remember those who helped me along the way.
As I often do, I started classifying those individuals by the types of roles they played and continue to play in my life. The categorization was not difficult, as I frequently speak on leadership and career development. I teach that there are four categories of people who aid you along the way, each in a different role. And every leader needs people in all those four categories: role models, mentors, coaches, and sponsors.
Role Models
First, we each have role models, people we watch to learn what to do and what not to do. There is more learning to be gained by watching people make a mess of the task at hand than by watching someone do the same task well. The skilled person makes the task look easy because of their experience. The unskilled person who stumbles, in leading a meeting, for example, makes it very clear where the “crunch” points are and shows how not to handle the issue. Without a doubt, role models are crucial for developing leadership skills.
The other advantage of a role model is that there is no need to ask a person to be a role model; the novice leader just watches! I still watch my role models and continue to learn. When I was entering the practice of medicine, most of my role models were men, because there were so few women physicians.
Mentors
Second, we all need mentors. The mentor gives feedback, asks questions, and provides guidance. Unlike the role model, who is merely observed, the mentor must be asked to take on that role.
Most people agree to serve as a mentor, but not every person will. It’s important to assess the person’s level of busyness, their level of collaboration, and the potential natural connection with the desired mentor. Ideally, the mentor works closely enough with the novice leader to observe them in action. Even if that interaction is not part of the picture, the mentor can still reflect on the novice leader’s perception of their performance. The difficulty lies in accurately describing the situation to be analyzed.
A micro-mentor is a person who has a discrete time-limited specific interaction/observation with the novice leader. For example, when a novice leader is a committee chair and one of the committee members is an extremely experienced individual, the novice committee chair pulls this veteran member aside after the meeting and asks for specific feedback about their functioning as chair.
Coaches
Coaches are trained in the coaching process and are paid for offering their expertise. There is a set schedule of coaching sessions, a set agenda, and a time-limited engagement.
I had two coaches during my tenure as dean of Midwestern University/Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, and each had a different approach.
The first was an executive coach. She did not have medical education experience, so I describe her as a “process” coach. She began by providing an assessment for me to complete that would help paint a picture of my leadership approach. Then she conducted a 360-degree assessment of my leadership skills, sending assessment tools to my supervisors, peers, and my dean’s team. She shared that information with me in a kind yet forthright manner. I have to say, neither of those processes was great fun, but they were both critically important to my development.
We then had monthly meetings where we discussed specific items I needed to address. She also followed me around at work for an entire day. She gave me valuable advice about functional issues, such as “you bring a pile of notes and shuffle through them during the entire meeting. You look completely unorganized, when I know for a fact that you are well organized.” Great guidance. Our interaction spanned nine months.
My second experience was with a person I call a “content” coach. She had been a dean and a provost. Our interaction was always by phone, as we lived far apart. Our monthly call started with me describing issues I was dealing with. She would ask questions, probe the details of the situation, and conduct a careful analysis of the problem. Then, she would make suggestions, recommend articles or books, and sometimes email me a specific article. Our engagement lasted about a year. Fortunately, I had both a process coach and a content coach, the two approaches that complement each other.
Sponsors
Finally, we can all benefit from sponsors, who are much rarer than role models or mentors. A sponsor is a person who is well-established in the organization at a higher level in the hierarchy than the novice leader.
The sponsor has a more formal hierarchical relationship with the novice leader than either the role model or mentor. The role model/mentor can be a confidant of the novice leader; the sponsor does not have such a close connection. The novice leader may approach the sponsor regarding a possible position, or the sponsor may reach out first.
It is essential to recognize that the sponsor is taking a risk by putting their reputation on the line when recommending a novice leader for a position, whether it is employment or leadership.
I had a sponsor when I went into private practice in internal medicine. I was invited to join a physician who had completed the same residency one year before me and had been well-received in his first year in practice.
When I arrived in town and joined my residency mate, he sent a letter to all the referring doctors, advising them that it didn’t matter which of us was ordered to do the hospital consult; he and I would be alternating nights and weekends. We worked together for three years — the first when I was an intern and then during the two years we overlapped in the residency.
He knew well what my skills were; still, he was taking a chance that I could function in a practice, take good care of patients, work with the referring docs, and pull my weight at the hospital. And with the help of role models and mentors, I did.
Compiling Your CASE
As I mentioned above, upon receiving notification of the AOF Lifetime Achievement Award, I began compiling a list of people I wanted to thank. Of course, family, friends, and the Foundation led the list. Then I moved through role models, mentors, coaches, and sponsors to flesh out my list. Even if I didn’t mention all of them in the appreciation speech, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank them personally.
Then an interesting thing happened. As I thought back over the years, I kept coming up with more people whom I needed to thank, and it became apparent that some of them didn’t fit into any of those four categories described above.
So I added to the list other individuals who assisted me along the way, categorizing their type of contribution as I moved through and analyzed the experiences. Ultimately, I developed a complementary classification system, the CASE.
CASE stands for Champions, Advocates, Supporters, Endorsers. These individuals contributed significantly to my career development in different, yet complementary ways, from those four categories described above.
Champions
One example of a champion in my life is the doctor in my residency program who had a reputation for loudly commenting about the inadvisability of selecting women to be medical students and ultimately residents and physicians. His perspectives were boisterously proclaimed to everyone in the area.
So, I decided I would schedule my first rotation as a resident on his service. I worked hard to perform with excellence and was treated fairly. He acknowledged the quality of my work and subsequently nominated me for several positions in the professional osteopathic medical organizations, which I was not even aware of. He certainly watched out for me and was my champion.
Years later, I was elected and soon to be inaugurated as the president of the American Osteopathic Association. I called him and asked his permission to share the story of our interactions. He readily agreed. Then I couldn’t help myself. I said, “So, have you changed your mind about women physicians?” He paused a moment and replied, “No, but you’re the exception!” Note: I know I’m NOT the exception, but that was his opinion.
Advocates
A significant advocate in my career was the chief pathologist in the lab where I served as chief technologist in a 250-bed hospital, overseeing 60 employees. I had a degree in medical technology in the days before automated lab equipment. The technologists had to develop the procedures to test blood, serum, urine, and CSF.
I had been in the position of chief technologist for about five years when, at the end of our usual weekly meeting, the chief pathologist kicked back his chair and said, “You know, if there were anyone I would recommend to go to medical school, it would be you.”
I was stunned. I had never thought about becoming a doctor. And he had no role or influence in any medical school, so the application process and subsequent outcome were totally up to me. Nevertheless, I don’t know if I would have ever pursued a career as a physician otherwise. He was my advocate!
Supporters
An impactful supporter in my career is a friend who graduated from medical school the same year as I did, but from a different institution. Our careers came together and drifted apart over the years. We both moved from private practice and eventually into medical education, ultimately each becoming deans.
As my supporter, she recommended me time and again for speaking engagements and for positions in medical organizations. We were always at the same hierarchical status, so she wasn’t a sponsor. I was the one who talked her into moving into medical education, so I guess you could say I was also her supporter.
Endorsers
The final category of the CASE is the endorser. For me, the best example of this category is illustrated by the situation when the ACGME Single GME system was under development, and the AOA and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine were selecting nominees for two positions on the ACGME Board.
I was appointed the chair of the AOA selection committee. As soon as I launched the committee meeting, one of the committee members said, “We don’t want you on this committee!” Needless to say, that comment was a surprise to me. When I asked why, my endorser said, “Because we are going to nominate you!”
REMEMBER YOUR CASE
In conclusion, we all need role models, mentors, coaches, and sponsors. I posit that we also need champions, advocates, supporters, and endorsers! Remember your CASE!