The Coaching Habit of Reflection: Building Time to Think
I work with a lot of physician leaders who show up to coaching sessions ready to go. They are engaged, thoughtful, and willing to do hard work in the moment. But here is the pattern I see too often: the session ends, the week takes over, and the next time they think deeply about what we discussed is when they sit down for the following session.
That gap is where a lot of potential growth quietly slips away.
Why Reflection Coaching Matters for Physician Leaders
Coaching is not a one-hour-every-few-weeks event. The real work happens in between, in the moments when you pause long enough to notice what is actually going on. Building thinking time into your routine is what turns a good coaching conversation into lasting change.
Nancy Kline makes this case powerfully in her book Time to Think. She argues that the quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first. For physicians who spend their days reacting to one demand after another, that idea can feel almost radical. But it is exactly why reflective practice matters so much for physician leaders who want to grow.
Simple Ways to Build Thinking Time in Medicine
You do not need a journaling habit or a meditation retreat. You need five minutes and a single question. Here are a few approaches I have seen work well:
- The drive-home question. Pick one question and sit with it on the commute. Something like, "What did I avoid today, and why?"
- The Friday review. Before you close your laptop for the week, spend five minutes asking yourself what you learned and what you want to do differently next week.
- The pre-session scan. In the fifteen minutes before your next coaching session, jot down what has been on your mind since the last one. Even a few bullet points changes the quality of the conversation.
Reflection Is a Skill, Not a Personality Trait
Some people assume that reflective practice comes naturally to certain types of people. It does not. It is a habit, and like any habit, it takes repetition to stick. Think of it the way a basketball player thinks about free throws. The game-time performance matters, but it is the hundreds of quiet reps in practice that build the consistency.
The physicians I work with who get the most from coaching are not necessarily the most naturally introspective. They are the ones who build small, repeatable moments of reflection into their weeks. Over time, those moments compound.
You do not have to do this perfectly. You just have to do it on purpose.
If you'd like to learn more, contact us to schedule a time to chat.
