Celebrating Small Wins in Your Coaching Journey
Big Breakthroughs Are Rare -- Small Wins Keep You Going
When physicians start coaching, they often expect a single revelatory moment that changes everything. A light switch flips, and the career frustrations dissolve. I get it. But that is not how coaching momentum in academic medicine actually works. Real progress shows up in small wins -- a meeting you handled differently, a boundary you held, a conversation you did not avoid.
Celebrating progress as a physician means training yourself to notice these moments instead of waiting for the dramatic ones.
Why Small Wins Coaching Matters Over Months
Most coaching engagements I do with faculty last several months, sometimes longer. If you measure success only by whether you got the promotion or landed the leadership role, you will spend most of that time feeling like nothing is happening.
Karl Weick's classic article "Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems" in American Psychologist makes the case that large problems become manageable only when recast as a series of small, achievable outcomes. The same applies to your development as a leader. You do not overhaul your communication style in one week. You notice that you paused before reacting in a tense meeting. That is a small win, and it deserves acknowledgment.
What This Looks Like in Practice
I ask the physicians I coach to start each session by naming one thing that went better since we last talked. Not a grand achievement. Just something they noticed. It sounds like:
- "I delegated a task I would have hoarded last month."
- "I told my division chief what I actually needed instead of hinting."
- "I left work on time twice this week without guilt-spiraling."
These are not small because they lack importance. They are small because they are single steps. And single steps, acknowledged consistently, build the kind of coaching momentum that carries you through the harder stretches.
The Alternative Is Brutal
Think of a distance runner who only checks the clock at the finish line. Every mile marker just reminds them how far there is to go. But a runner who notices each split -- and registers when one goes well -- stays engaged with the race. If you refuse to celebrate progress until you reach some final destination, you will burn out on the process long before you arrive.
You Do Not Need Permission to Acknowledge Progress
Some faculty I work with feel uncomfortable celebrating small wins because it seems premature. It is not. Noticing progress is not the same as declaring victory. It is simply accurate accounting -- and accurate accounting is what keeps you coachable over the long haul, honest about what still needs work and honest about what is already shifting.
If you are in a coaching engagement and feeling stuck, try looking at the last month through a smaller lens. The movement is probably there. You just have not given yourself credit yet.
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