Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills
to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.
As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients.
When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find
that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research
program.
Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit.
However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.
For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians
the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.
Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene.
Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast.
I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene, and it's an absolute pleasure to be talking with you today.
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode.
Today we're talking about what might be holding you back from your career advancement.
What might be holding you back from your career advancement?
This episode comes actually from a coaching session that we did earlier today in which
one of my clients was talking about this job opportunity that she saw.
It was an internal opportunity, and she thought, well, I want to go for it, but I'm not sure
I'm the right fit, and I'm not sure I have the right qualifications, but maybe I should
go talk to the director in this particular role or talk to the hiring manager and see
if I might be a good fit for the role.
So it was really important because I feel like that's so many of us in academia where
we're like, well, I think I want to do that, but I don't really know if I'm qualified.
Because we don't think we're qualified, we actually disqualify ourselves from the role.
It reminds me of a story in research for me where I had this great idea that I wanted
to move forward.
So instead of living for the idea, I actually was going around almost like on a parade asking
people their thoughts about my idea.
Hey, what do you think about this idea?
Do you think it's a great idea to move forward?
And people would say, hey, this is a great idea.
You should start moving forward with it.
And I'm like, oh, great.
Okay.
Then I would go to the next person and say, hey, you're a senior person.
What do you think about this idea?
And it's almost as if as I was going around from person to person, I was really looking
for permission because I wasn't sure it was a great idea.
I wasn't even sure how to do it.
I was a little bit like there were so many things holding me back.
And instead of trying to understand what those things were, I was looking to other people
to tell me whether my idea should move forward or not.
And I want to pause here and just let you know that it is not up to other people whether
your work moves forward or not.
It will always be up to you.
And in reality, your work exists in the context of other people's work.
It exists in the context of other people.
And so other people to some extent are relevant to your work, but they don't get to give you
permission to do what you need to do.
But we'll talk about that a little bit as we talk about what might be holding you back
from your advancement.
So I want to say that there are seven questions I want you to ask yourself when you are in
a situation like this where you're like, oh, that looks like a great idea, but I'm just
not sure I should do it.
I want you to ask yourself these seven questions.
The first thing I want you to ask when you find yourself hesitating from moving forward
is to stop and say, why?
What's happening here?
What's holding me back?
And it's a really important question.
And to be honest, many times this is why it's helpful to have a coach ask you those questions
because sometimes we don't even recognize that anything is holding us back.
We're just like, I'm not really sure.
I'm probably not qualified.
But it's like, wait a minute, you identified an opportunity that you thought might be a
good fit.
And then because you don't think you're qualified, you're holding yourself back, but you identified
an opportunity.
And so I want you to stop and ask what's going on here so that you can really stop and drill
down on the real reason behind the reason.
Many times they're like, oh, I'm not qualified, but is that really the issue?
Have you ever been qualified for anything?
I take that back.
You're eminently qualified.
Can I just be honest with you or can I just get real and say, when we started medical
school, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.
Yeah, we had the grades, but I wish someone had told us what was really behind the medical
school desk, right?
What was really there in medical school?
We had no idea.
And so in reality, you qualify into whatever you go into.
I mean, it's same for residency.
Yeah, you finished fourth year of medical school and you were like, I'm so hot.
I know medicine.
And then you start your intern year and you're like, actually, I know nothing.
And then if you do fellowship, you get to fellowship, the first year of fellowship,
and you're like, wow, I thought I knew a lot and somehow I don't.
So what I'm saying is that every time you've ever stepped up in your career as a trainee
and not even talking about yourself as a faculty member, you've actually not been qualified.
You've become qualified by the process of doing it.
And so this whole idea that am I qualified, am I not, it's kind of false because it's
like, well, are you interested?
If you're interested, then what does it take to become qualified for that role?
And that's an important way that I want you to think about it.
Don't ask, am I qualified?
Just ask, am I interested?
Because here's the thing about you as a physician who's done all these crazy things where you
deprived yourself in your 20s and maybe your 30s so that you could do this thing called
medicine.
You've already done like the impossible.
And so is there anything you can't do?
And so the only real requirement is interest because hey, how can you qualify yourself
to be the person who's going to grow into that job or who's going to be able to do that
role?
What support do you need?
So you're qualified, but if you're hesitating, stop and ask yourself what's going on.
Okay.
The second question I want you to ask yourself is what is actually pulling me towards this
opportunity?
There are many opportunities, but you don't say to every one of them, oh, I want to apply
for that one.
You don't do that.
You actually are discriminating.
There are some opportunities that you're reaching out to or reaching out for, and then there's
some that you're like, eh, I don't think so.
That means there's a reason you're drawn toward this opportunity.
There's a reason why you want this specific promotion or this particular role.
There is a reason.
And so what I want you to stop and do is to ask yourself, well, what's the pull here?
And that's so important because in life, oh, that we were pulled more than we were pushed.
And so we're pushed a lot.
We do things because we have to, because we feel obligated to.
But the moment you have an experience where you actually feel pulled, you don't feel like
you have to, you feel like I would like to, you pay attention to that.
And you should recognize what is the pull?
What is it about the role that makes you feel like you might want to do it?
You want to pay attention to that so that you can make an informed decision about what
that tells you about what you like, what that tells you about what you value, what that
tells you about the season of life that you're in currently.
So ask yourself, what is pulling you towards this opportunity?
The third question I want you to ask yourself is what's your vision for yourself in this
role?
Because here you are, maybe focused on the qualification piece, am I qualified?
But the question is, what do you see when you look at this role and you look at yourself
in this role?
What do you see?
What's your vision for this role?
And in this particular conversation I referenced with my client, she stops and she delays
out this amazing vision.
It is so amazing.
And who cares whether you're qualified or not?
Clearly you know where this thing should go and it shows.
It shows that you have great understanding of what needs to happen in this space.
And so lay out the vision.
How do you see it moving forward?
It's the kind of the partner to the pull.
It's like something is pulling you.
What is that?
Lay out the vision and make it clear how you're going to really contribute to this role.
And it's so important for you, but it's also important as you interview for this role,
as you go for the role, as you try to make this advancement so that you also are able
to communicate to others what it is about this role that fits you, what it is about
this role that you're going to come in and do and make it yours.
And so understanding your vision for yourself in this role helps you and it helps others
as well to see how you fit.
Okay.
The fourth question I want you to ask yourself is what will this opportunity do for me?
Ask yourself, what will this opportunity do for me?
What benefit will it bring me?
You already know there's a pull.
You already have a sense of what you want to do, but it's like, what will it give you
that you don't already have?
This is really important because many times sometimes we go to roles where it feels like
a lateral move.
It's like, yeah, I was doing that before and now I'm doing this again.
It's like, what does this role give you that you don't already have?
It's really important.
And that's a great place to really think about it because sometimes what you might figure
out is that, you know what?
It just makes me feel better maybe.
Or maybe I'm fulfilling an obligation to my program director or yeah, my mentor will know
that I took her seriously and applied.
I wasn't really interested, right?
You want to understand.
But maybe it's like, well, you know, I haven't been able to be creative in the space that
I'm in, but this role is going to help me be more creative.
You want to know how it benefits you.
You want to know how to count your win when you finally take on this role.
Because if you're not clear on the win, on what you win when you get this role and you're
in the role and you are not fulfilled, you're not satisfied because it's not clear what
the win is.
And it also helps you establish, are you doing this just to check a box?
Are you doing this because it's something you really want to do?
Because as I encourage, your life should not be about no more.
No more should your life be about doing what you have to do.
That was medical school.
That was residency.
That was fellowship.
From now on, do what you want to do because you're so much better at it.
You have a greater attitude about it.
You produce more in that way.
So you want to know, am I just checking a box?
Is there a real benefit?
Was it a box checking benefit?
And maybe the box checking is the benefit.
Maybe you're going out for promotion and someone says, well, if you don't have a position that's
a leadership position, they may not really take you seriously.
You're like, okay, let's check that box.
And sometimes you do what you have to do to move forward in the way you have to move forward
where you want to move forward.
But recognize that you don't have to.
And I want to invite you to think about doing things that you want to, especially because
of the energy that comes from that space and how it allows you really to move that space
forward because of how excited you are about the work.
All right.
So you ask yourself, what would this opportunity do for me?
The fifth question is, what more information do you need to apply?
So sometimes we're like in analysis paralysis.
We're like, oh, yeah, I need to talk to that person and talk to that person and then talk
to that person and then talk to that person's person.
You have all these roadblocks you're setting up for yourself.
And the real question is, what information do you need?
You know the opportunities available.
You know you want to do it.
You understand what benefits it will bring you.
What more information is needed?
And this is so important because sometimes you realize that you're looking for permission.
You're looking for someone to say, hey, you can go apply.
I think you'll be a good fit for the role.
You don't need that permission.
You just need to know that it's your desire.
And so sometimes in going around from person to person to ask for their opinion, are you
getting information or are you just looking for someone to approve you?
If it's information, great.
How will you respond to information?
What if you find out that maybe, oh, it doesn't pay as great as you thought.
How does that change your thinking about the role?
So you want to make sure that if you're talking to people that it's actually going to give
you information that's actionable.
Maybe you say, I don't care what the salary is.
The opportunity is so great.
I want to do it.
Even if I just do it for a year.
Great.
Then you know there's no need to have any conversations with anybody because you're
like, okay, you're ready to go.
What I'm saying is that you want to be informed, but you don't want to go to people asking
for approval.
You want to make sure and distinguish your need for information from an unhealthy desire
for approval before you feel like you can advance.
Okay.
And I want to say this applies to many of us who are writing grants.
We're like, I've written a lot of career development awards.
I now want to write the R01, but we're looking for someone to give us permission or to tell
us that our idea is good enough to do the R01.
It's like, wait, if you want to do it, go for it.
Find out the information you need.
How do you parlay the preliminary data you have already to write an effective R01?
Go find that information out.
But don't go around asking, should I be writing an R01?
Because if you're thinking you should, then you absolutely should.
Okay.
The next thing is to ask yourself, how can I, oh, how will the information change my
decision, right?
We kind of talked about it earlier, but how will the information change my decision?
And if the information is not going to change your decision, then maybe you don't need the
information.
If the information is only going to just support your decision, then get the information, but
don't wait.
Don't wait to go after the opportunity.
Go after the opportunity and then ask for information.
Because sometimes what happens is we're waiting for information, we're procrastinating and
the opportunity may be passing by.
And I believe that opportunities never truly leave.
So people say opportunity knocks, but once opportunity is always knocking.
But what you don't want to do is procrastinate because of fear, information gathering, and
then you don't actually get to the opportunity.
So you don't want to do that.
All right.
Number seven is, if you're concerned about your qualifications, ask yourself not, am
I qualified, but how can I emphasize my qualifications?
Because you know what?
You're always qualified.
And it may be, they wrote something in the job description.
A job description is just a job description.
Often doesn't really capture what's needed, but it needs to be written and it should be
written.
But it may be that the thing you think you're not qualified in may not even really be the
most important thing for the job.
But look at yourself not as someone who's missing items, but as someone who has the
potential to gain whatever may be missing.
And so say, how can you demonstrate your qualifications through what you already have in this role?
All right.
So these are seven items that I want you to think about some questions so that you can
continue your advancement.
I'm going to summarize.
When you find yourself hesitating or moving forward towards a particular role, ask yourself
why.
Ask yourself what things are pulling you towards the opportunity so that you understand why
you want to do it.
Ask yourself what is your vision for yourself in this role.
Clarify that for yourself so you can clarify that for others.
Ask yourself what would this opportunity do for me so you really know it's a win-win for
you.
You want to ask yourself what more information do I need and what actions will I take on
the basis of that information?
How will it change my decision?
And finally, ask yourself if you're feeling unqualified, how can I emphasize the qualifications
I already have?
So the next time an opportunity comes in front of you, I want you to focus not on your qualifications,
not on how qualified you are, but on your desire.
Do you want to do it?
Is it something you really want to do?
Well, if it is, then you should absolutely go for it.
Imagine what your career would be like if you stopped looking for approval and instead
just went for what you want every time.
Because you know what?
You probably won't get all of them, but you'll get some.
And wouldn't it be amazing to see how your career is being shaped by you continually
moving towards the things that you like every single time?
All right, it's been a pleasure talking with you today.
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All right, it's been a pleasure talking with you today.
I look forward to talking with you again the next time on the Clinician Researcher Podcast.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic
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