Coaching Corner is a collaboration between the Canadian Physician Coaches Network and the Canadian Society of Physician Leaders to highlight the value of coaching for physician leaders, including how they may effectively use coaching skills in their own interactions. In this first article of the series, we begin the journey of a physician leader as they explore how non-directive coaching differs from other resources that can support them in navigating the challenges of their new leadership role.

KEY WORDS: physician leaders, coaching, mentoring, professional development

Tsai E. What is coaching? Can J Physician Leadersh 2026;12(1): 43-47. https://doi.org/10.37964/cr24805

Dr. Vargas recently became chair of the orthopedics department at a large community hospital. The department has gone through significant upheaval. Two of the surgeons left the hospital last year because of dissatisfaction with changes to operating room allocation and call schedule distribution. They have been replaced by three recent graduates who have been openly critical of the surgical techniques of their more senior colleagues. The operating room has seen significant staff turnover, which began during the COVID pandemic, and vacant positions remain to be filled. Dr. Vargas has been in the department for 15 years and is well respected for their surgical and interpersonal skills. Dr. Vargas is excited about this leadership opportunity and has registered for a few leadership development workshops. However, Dr. Vargas feels very unsure about how to best prioritize and navigate the specific issues at their hospital.

The CanMEDS role of Leader indicates that all physicians should be engaged in shared decision-making for the operation and ongoing evolution of the health care system, noting that physicians function “as individual care providers, as members of teams, and as participants and leaders in the health care system locally, regionally, nationally, and globally.”¹ Yet despite these expectations, competencies related to the Leader role generally receive less attention during postgraduate training than those related to other CanMEDS roles such as Medical Expert and Collaborator.²

A qualitative study by Lüchinger and colleagues³ explored physicians’ perceptions and experiences regarding leadership. They found that participants ascribed their negative reactions toward leadership and management “to the fact that they felt ill-prepared to endorse such roles and had little or no training in this field, regardless of their level of hierarchy or clinical experience.” Chairpersons especially expressed “the feeling of being between a rock and a hard place between higher governance and their team.”

What resources are available to physicians when they take on formal leadership opportunities?

The maxim “see one, do one, teach one” in clinical medicine, which has largely been set aside with the development of competency-based educational frameworks, seems equally inadequate in the context of physician leadership. However, given that many new physician leaders lack formal training when they first take on leadership responsibilities, they often end up relying on guidance from their own role models or they learn through a process of “trial and error.”

Dr. Vargas speaks to one of their colleagues, who suggests reaching out to a senior leader to see if they would be willing to act as a mentor. Dr. Vargas had heard about peer coaching for surgeons and is wondering how leadership coaching is different from peer coaching, mentorship, and consulting (Table 1).