Coaching Skills and Physician Burnout: Connection and Community

Physician burnout is a significant threat to career longevity and a well-functioning organization. While much of the conversation focuses on systemic change—and rightfully so—there’s also something profoundly powerful we can do within our physician circles: build connection and community through coaching.

We believe coaching skills are not just for professional coaches. They’re for any physician looking to support colleagues and reconnect with their passion for medicine.

What Is Physician Burnout?

Burnout is far more than being tired or overworked. Christina Maslach, a leading researcher on the topic, defines burnout as a psychological syndrome caused by chronic interpersonal stressors on the job in three key dimensions:

1. Emotional exhaustion
2. Depersonalization or cynicism
3. A reduced sense of personal accomplishment

Importantly, burnout affects physicians who care the most because we go the extra mile for others, often neglecting ourselves in the process. We stay late for the system at the expense of our families. We give everything we have without taking time to recharge. That deep sense of care can lead to depletion when we don’t have the space to reflect, reset, and reconnect.

Coaching Creates Space for Connection

In the Physician Coach Training community, we often hear physicians say how powerful it is to simply be in conversation with others who “get it.” Coaching is one of the few professional spaces where we can show up without performance pressure. Where no one is trying to fix us. Where we’re not told to “suck it up” or “just deal with it.”

Instead, coaching invites us to slow down, reflect, and speak honestly with someone who listens without trying to give us quick fixes. That kind of connection is rare in medicine. And it's deeply healing.

Coaching Skills Impact Burnout 

Learning coaching skills allows us to show up differently for everyone around us, including our families, colleagues, patients, and even ourselves. 

Coaching skills and the coaching mindset foster:

• Active listening with curiosity 
• Reflective questioning for clarity and insight
• Emotional awareness and self-advocacy
• Supportive peer relationships
• A focus on values, goals, and boundaries

Learning coaching skills empowers us to engage more thoughtfully and effectively with others and ourselves. It promotes a positive shift in our mindset that encourages us to act differently.

Reconnecting with Why We Chose Medicine

One of the most beautiful outcomes of learning coaching is the chance to rediscover why we went into medicine in the first place. When we reconnect with meaning—and do so in community with others—it becomes easier to see a sustainable path forward.

Burnout can be isolating, but it doesn’t have to be. Coaching is a pathway to community, clarity, and system change. 

Whether you’re curious about coaching or ready to deepen your skills, we invite you to explore what’s possible when we connect, reflect, and grow together.