Is it time to stop being a team player?

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills 2 00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260 to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 3 00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340 As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. 4 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380 When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find 5 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780 that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research 6 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,200 program. 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,480 Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. 8 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580 However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs. 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800 the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,240 Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. 12 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:03,840 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast. 13 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:08,160 I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is an absolute pleasure to be talking with you. 14 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:09,760 Thank you for listening. 15 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:14,920 I'm talking today about whether it is time to stop being a team player, and I recognize 16 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:18,960 that the title of this podcast episode seems a little controversial. 17 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:19,960 What do you mean? 18 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:22,840 I should stop being a team player. 19 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:28,600 I'd like to point out that the title of the podcast episode is, is it time to stop being 20 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:29,600 a team player? 21 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:30,600 That's a question. 22 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:32,040 It's a question you got to answer. 23 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:37,000 I did toy with calling it, you should stop being a team player, but you know, that is 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:38,600 more controversial than the question. 25 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:40,840 So I like the question because it's, you know, it's tentative. 26 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:42,000 You get to decide. 27 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:46,360 Perhaps the answer at the end of the podcast episode is, oh, definitely no, or maybe it's 28 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:47,360 yes. 29 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:48,360 Let's see. 30 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,880 Anyway, but the reason I want to bring this up is because it came up yesterday and it 31 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:57,000 came up in the context of a conversation I was having with an external invited speaker 32 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,800 who I was taking to the airport because it made sense for me to take her to the airport. 33 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,400 I was going to be able to connect with her and I didn't live too far from the airport. 34 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,960 So anyway, so we're conversing and the conversation turns to call. 35 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:16,500 So she has a specific, you know, makeup of her clinical work and she doesn't participate 36 00:02:16,500 --> 00:02:22,080 in a certain call and so I asked, oh, you have this number of providers in this area. 37 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:24,120 How do you manage call? 38 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,960 It's always a question that's interesting to me because what I find is as a hematologist, 39 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:29,840 they're not many hematologists. 40 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,360 And so let's say there are three or four at one institution. 41 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,880 It's like, wow, do you guys split, you know, the call three ways for the entire year? 42 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,180 I'm always curious to know how people do it. 43 00:02:39,180 --> 00:02:43,960 So what she said, she was like, well, I don't participate in that call because I have my 44 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,800 own call schedule that nobody else covers for me. 45 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,920 And she's like, but of course I'm a team player. 46 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:58,960 And that is the exact phrase that leads me to this podcast episode because I only hear 47 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:04,280 that team player term in the context of taking on more work. 48 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:09,960 And so here I am ready to talk about this episode and why I think it applies to clinicians 49 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,120 who are working to lead research programs. 50 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:15,760 What does it mean to be a team player? 51 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:20,920 Well, I will tell you that I was a kid who did sports in elementary school. 52 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:23,560 So I understand playing on a team. 53 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,400 I also now as a parent take my kids to play games. 54 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,640 I get being on the team. 55 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:34,440 And so I'd like to just lay out for you what I see as being on a team and being a team 56 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,840 player in the context of sports. 57 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,780 And then I want to bring it back to academic medicine and try to correlate it because I 58 00:03:41,780 --> 00:03:46,240 think there's a challenge in the way we're defining the game in academic medicine and 59 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:48,760 a way in which we're defining the team. 60 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:54,320 And I'd like to just offer some suggestions as to whether it truly is a team sport and 61 00:03:54,320 --> 00:04:00,120 to clarify your role as a player on this team and whether playing on the team is right for 62 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:03,600 you in the context of your academic career or not. 63 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:04,600 OK. 64 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:09,920 So let's take the game of basketball because now I am learning a lot about basketball because 65 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:11,640 my son plays basketball. 66 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:12,640 OK. 67 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:16,920 There are, to my understanding, five players on each team. 68 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:23,840 And the five players on one team know that the goal is to get the ball in the hoop as 69 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:29,640 many times as possible over the course of the game so that at the end of the game there 70 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:35,440 are more hoops or more points to your team compared to the other team. 71 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:37,560 And that is how a win is defined. 72 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,920 And in the context of playing the game, there are things called fouls. 73 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,200 There are things you're not allowed to do. 74 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:49,200 And clearly the real goal ultimately is to score the basket. 75 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,640 And when you score a basket, you score as many as possible. 76 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,340 You prevent the other team from scoring a basket and you win. 77 00:04:56,340 --> 00:05:01,120 And if you win enough games over the course of a season, you end up with a championship 78 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,400 ring and a trophy. 79 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:04,400 OK. 80 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:06,200 That's the game of basketball. 81 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,640 If I've gotten it wrong, feel free to send me a DM and school me. 82 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:11,240 I would appreciate it. 83 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:12,400 OK. 84 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:14,080 Let's now come to academia. 85 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:15,080 Hmm. 86 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:19,360 Well, in academia, what is the game? 87 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:21,160 What is the game? 88 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:27,000 To my understanding, the game of academia is about excelling in scholarship. 89 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,560 The reason you excel in scholarship is because when you excel in scholarship, it brings you 90 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:33,280 reputation. 91 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:37,040 You are known as a scholar in X field. 92 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:42,480 Your growing reputation grows the reputation of your institution. 93 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:48,080 And so the more you're growing your scholarship and all of you on the team, the more you're 94 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:53,000 all doing it, all the faculty are growing scholarship, it increases the reputation of 95 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:59,920 the faculty on the scholarship and the institution increases its reputation, thus also continuing 96 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:03,560 to increase the reputation of faculty. 97 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:04,880 That's my understanding. 98 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,440 And if I'm wrong, this is also an opportunity to school me. 99 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,960 Now here's the challenge in academic medicine, especially for us clinicians. 100 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,840 It sounds like scholarship is not the only thing that we do. 101 00:06:14,840 --> 00:06:15,840 OK. 102 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:17,160 As clinicians, we take care of patients. 103 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:22,600 And if we define the game of taking care of patients, our goal is to take care of patients 104 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:27,760 safely and to help them be as healthy as possible. 105 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:34,000 If you work in the ICU, it feels as if your game is to not let patients die, maybe. 106 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,240 But anyway, our goal is patient care, right? 107 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:40,160 The overall health and well-being of the patient. 108 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:41,160 OK. 109 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,400 So that's the part that is patient care. 110 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:50,360 And then administration, the goal of an administrator is to make sure things run smoothly, is to 111 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,360 set the direction of the organization. 112 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:58,840 And OK, I forgot about another mission, the mission of education, which is different from 113 00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:03,840 the mission of scholarship, because scholarship is about research and it's about moving forward 114 00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:06,000 knowledge. 115 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:07,760 So then there's the part of education. 116 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:13,680 And the goal of education is to educate the mind, the mind of usually students in the 117 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:18,200 institution who bring in money to the institution through their tuition that they pay. 118 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,360 And that is the goal of education. 119 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:27,800 So for us, clinical faculty or academic clinical faculty, there's a little bit of confusion 120 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:29,760 because scholarship is part of our role. 121 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,640 Though for many of us, we really have more of a clinical role than we have a scholarship 122 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:35,120 role, yet we're still required. 123 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,400 We're still held to a scholarship standard. 124 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:42,040 However small that may be, there's still a scholarship standard. 125 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:46,240 And then there's also a need for teaching. 126 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:51,840 And so teaching, clinical care, and scholarship sometimes clash with each other. 127 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:57,960 We try to do our clinical care in the context of education, but sometimes educating limits 128 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:01,000 our ability to do the clinical work well. 129 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:07,480 But we recognize that the benefits of educating the next generation far outweigh the drag 130 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:10,000 that it brings to our clinical work. 131 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,240 Because if you were running by yourself, it would be so much faster. 132 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:18,480 But if you're running with a trainee, it will be much more fun, though slow. 133 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:22,880 So we're able to integrate the concept of education within clinical care. 134 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:29,400 Okay, when it comes to clinical care though, and scholarship, how we can overlap them, 135 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:34,000 they don't always overlap, but how we can overlap them is to make the scholarship relevant 136 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,080 to the clinical care. 137 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:40,240 But in executing the scholarship, they really don't go well together. 138 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,840 So for example, you're in clinic, it makes it hard to write the paper. 139 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:45,800 It makes it hard to write the grant. 140 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,640 You have to finish with the clinic, dispense with the activities of the clinic before you 141 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,920 can go do all the other scholarship work. 142 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:57,720 But advancing scholarship is the goal of any academic institution. 143 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,800 And any academic institution that abandons its scholarly work to focus solely on all 144 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,880 its other work is no longer really an academic institution. 145 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:09,400 It's an institution, it's a hospital probably, but not an academic institution. 146 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,920 Okay, so now that's part of the challenge. 147 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:20,320 As academic physicians, academic clinicians, we've got a lot of roles, and sometimes they 148 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:22,480 don't overlap. 149 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:27,360 Sometimes your ability to provide what people say is excellent patient care, which usually 150 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:31,040 is seeing as many patients as possible, and that may or may not be excellent. 151 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,440 We can talk about that another day. 152 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:38,880 Just being able to do that does not allow you to move the scholarship forward. 153 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:44,320 And so then the question is, which do you choose? 154 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:48,180 And that's a challenging question, but we're not really here to talk about how you prioritize 155 00:09:48,180 --> 00:09:49,440 one over the other. 156 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:53,020 But I do think that our institutions do that for us, right? 157 00:09:53,020 --> 00:09:58,560 When we are coming into a faculty position, we're agreeing, I mean, 50% clinical and 50% 158 00:09:58,560 --> 00:09:59,560 research. 159 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:05,280 So agreeing at the split of our hours is between clinical and research. 160 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:07,240 Now obviously it's more complicated than that. 161 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:12,160 It's never exact, but you know, on paper, that's what it says. 162 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:17,480 And so, but whenever there is a need to kind of like overstep the boundary of your scholarship 163 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:22,220 and pull you in to do more clinical, let's say for example, there are five of you esteemed 164 00:10:22,220 --> 00:10:28,420 hematologists at the institution, and two people quit, all of a sudden there are three. 165 00:10:28,420 --> 00:10:32,440 My understanding is that being a team player means leaving everything else to make up for 166 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,080 the load of two more people. 167 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:39,760 And I think the question I would ask is, is that playing the right game? 168 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:46,180 Is it really being a team player to drop everything and pick up the load of two extra people? 169 00:10:46,180 --> 00:10:48,320 Is that really playing as a team? 170 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:51,720 And that's the context in which I keep hearing the term team player. 171 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:55,400 It's like, hey, leave all your work so that you can help the team. 172 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,600 But I think it's important to define the goal of the team. 173 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,120 I think it's also important to define who is included on the team. 174 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:10,000 Now when a championship team wins a championship, everybody celebrates the trophy together because 175 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,120 the trophy belongs to the team. 176 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:17,080 Now if you leave the team, you don't get to take the trophy because the trophy belongs 177 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:18,620 to the team. 178 00:11:18,620 --> 00:11:22,520 But in a championship game, everybody gets a championship ring. 179 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:27,600 And no matter where you go, the championship ring stays with you. 180 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:32,760 So in the context of playing on a team, it's important to recognize that only the members 181 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,540 of the team get to claim the reward of the team. 182 00:11:36,540 --> 00:11:42,280 If for whatever reason you are not a member of the team, when it comes to the time for 183 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:44,720 the reward, you don't get one. 184 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:50,980 For example, let's say you've been following this basketball team around for a while and 185 00:11:50,980 --> 00:11:56,560 you didn't know that all along you were actually just the janitor and they were giving you 186 00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:03,200 a suit to wear and you were not allowed to play and nobody told you you were not on the 187 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:04,200 team. 188 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,360 But they were doing some weird shady things that make you think, am I really on this team 189 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:09,680 or not? 190 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:15,040 When it came to time to collect the championship ring, it became clear who was on the team 191 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:17,840 and who was not on the team. 192 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:19,740 OK. 193 00:12:19,740 --> 00:12:23,960 And so that's one of the things that comes up, especially for people who are underrepresented 194 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:30,600 in academia, is a question of who is really on the team and are you counted as an equal 195 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:33,320 and respected member of the team? 196 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:38,000 I think this is something that's important to clarify because it defines your role on 197 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:39,000 the team. 198 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:44,480 Are you actually there as a true player that is respected for their contributions to making 199 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:46,580 the team advance? 200 00:12:46,580 --> 00:12:50,080 And so the two components, it's like, what's the game that's being played? 201 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:51,720 How do we know we win? 202 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:54,920 And who is a true member of the team? 203 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,600 So I say all that to set the stage for the points that I'm going to raise. 204 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,080 Number one is that the game of academia is confusing. 205 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:08,180 It's confusing because, you know, in a regular game of basketball, the rule is very clear. 206 00:13:08,180 --> 00:13:13,000 You're trying to get your baskets and then your shots in the basket and you're trying 207 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:17,680 to do it and prevent the other team from doing it so that at the end you have more shots 208 00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:20,400 in your basket than the other person. 209 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:25,520 In academia, the game can be confusing because it's not always clear exactly what that game 210 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:26,520 is. 211 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:30,520 But I would argue that if we're in academic medicine, if we're in an academic institution, 212 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:36,840 then scholarship is the win because scholarship is what makes the academic institution academic. 213 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,480 And everything else really rests on the foundation of scholarship. 214 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,880 And I get that patient care is the foundation of our institutions because we must care for 215 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:49,520 the person, but we care for the person in the context of scholarship and we don't get 216 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:53,400 to really advance patient care until we can advance scholarship. 217 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:58,760 So really, scholarship and patient care are integral and one should not have to suffer 218 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:00,160 at the expense of the other. 219 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,920 And I believe it's possible that both can move forward together. 220 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:08,400 But academia can be confusing because sometimes what I see people saying is that, no, no, 221 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:10,960 no, clinical care matters more than scholarship. 222 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:17,320 And I think the reality is that scholarship and clinical care must move forward and sometimes 223 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:21,120 scholarship is critical to advance clinical care. 224 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:25,800 And so the game of academia is confusing and that's why it's important to clarify, hey, 225 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,960 if we're talking about being a team player, let's clarify the game we're playing and 226 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:31,880 what the rules of the game are. 227 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:32,920 Okay. 228 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,880 Number two is that academia is about excelling in scholarship, right? 229 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,720 I'm here to excel in scholarship. 230 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:45,600 If I was here only to excel in clinical care, I wouldn't be here because I'm at an academic 231 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:50,620 institution because there's an academic focus to my clinical care. 232 00:14:50,620 --> 00:14:55,880 So I would like to argue that academia is about excelling in scholarship within the 233 00:14:55,880 --> 00:15:00,440 context of patient care and within the context of learner education. 234 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:01,440 Okay. 235 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:11,200 Number three is that taking on more academic work can hurt your scholarship. 236 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:16,840 Because in order for you to do scholarship within the context of an academic institution, 237 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:21,240 you do need to have space created for the scholarship. 238 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:28,340 And whenever, number one, you're not given space to do the scholarship or your time for 239 00:15:28,340 --> 00:15:36,200 scholarship is taken away in favor of another task, no matter what the task is, then it 240 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,600 hurts your scholarship. 241 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:47,040 If I take on more non-academic work, it hurts my scholarship and therefore in the grand 242 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,920 scheme of things, it hurts the team and we don't win in the way we're supposed to win 243 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:53,400 in scholarship. 244 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:54,400 Okay. 245 00:15:54,400 --> 00:16:00,760 Number four is that when people ask you to be a team player, they're not saying, hey, 246 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:01,760 you should be a team player. 247 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,400 You need to continue to advance scholarship. 248 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,800 They're saying, hey, you need to be a team player. 249 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:11,300 You should do less scholarship so that you can take on these non-scholarship tasks because 250 00:16:11,300 --> 00:16:13,840 these non-scholarship tasks make you a team player. 251 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,120 But do they really? 252 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:21,080 If we are down two physicians in a practice that needs five physicians, then it means 253 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:25,660 we don't have capacity as a team to take care of the patients we have and then we have to 254 00:16:25,660 --> 00:16:26,880 decrease our capacity. 255 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:27,880 Right? 256 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:33,360 So if we are working in a factory and one of the machines breaks down, then it means, 257 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,120 okay, well, we're not able to fulfill our quota today. 258 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:41,120 But if we say, well, the machine is down, therefore I'm going to try to work like a 259 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:46,960 machine, I might break in the process and that's a problem as well. 260 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:53,560 Now, as institutions, we are responsible for making sure that the people who are working 261 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:55,840 with us do not break in the process. 262 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,040 Let's go back to the sports analogy. 263 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:05,220 A player is playing and gets hit on the head, has a concussion, the game stops. 264 00:17:05,220 --> 00:17:09,720 The game stops long enough for the player to be carried out, usually on a stretcher, 265 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:16,960 to be attended to because a hurt player in the game is no benefit to himself or herself 266 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:19,960 and is not a benefit to the team. 267 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:25,720 Why is it in academic medicine that we allow people who are hurt to continue to play, they're 268 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:31,680 getting more hurt while the game is going on and the institution of the team is suffering? 269 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:33,700 That's not being a team player. 270 00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:39,200 So somebody is saying, hey, I'm not going to give you any extra support or any extra 271 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:45,080 effort or any extra time for taking on additional work, which I know is actually stressful to 272 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:54,120 you and your life outside of academia, then they're not really playing a game that is 273 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:59,720 a good game and that game doesn't lead anybody to win. 274 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:07,160 Playing with a team full of players who are hurt does not lead the team to a win. 275 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:13,360 Playing with players who are overstretched beyond their capacity does not lead to a win 276 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:17,420 for anybody. 277 00:18:17,420 --> 00:18:23,280 So this concept of asking people to become team players by taking on more tasks that 278 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:30,920 do not enhance their scholarship or the scholarship of the institution is suspect. 279 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:36,680 Point number five is that when women and people who are underrepresented in medicine are asked 280 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,760 to be team players, they're usually being guilted into taking on projects that may not 281 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:43,240 advance them. 282 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:45,240 Hey, be a team player. 283 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:47,440 Will you take on this task? 284 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:49,320 It's a guilt strategy. 285 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:50,640 I've noticed it. 286 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:52,620 I've noticed it. 287 00:18:52,620 --> 00:18:54,920 It's a guilt strategy. 288 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:59,640 Or I should say it's a strategy of inducing guilt. 289 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:01,880 Oh, be a team player. 290 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:03,240 Take on this project. 291 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,600 But that project may not advance you. 292 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:10,580 And if it doesn't advance the player, that means it doesn't advance the team. 293 00:19:10,580 --> 00:19:13,400 Any strategy that doesn't advance the player doesn't advance the team. 294 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:17,120 OK, let me go back to the basketball analogy. 295 00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:21,120 So this last game I went to play, I went to see my son didn't play in the game the whole 296 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:23,120 time. 297 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:26,560 So he didn't get play time, but that's fine. 298 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,240 Play time is not the only time that you get to play. 299 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,520 You get to play also when you're practicing. 300 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:32,880 You get to enhance your skills. 301 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:35,280 Your skills are enhanced the more you play. 302 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:38,600 But I could see that it was a tough game. 303 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:42,840 And I could see that in that game, they only wanted to field their very, very best players. 304 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,520 So literally the same five kids played the entire time. 305 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:46,520 I got it. 306 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:47,520 It was a really tough game. 307 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:48,520 I was a little worried. 308 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:50,720 I was like, wow, never seen elementary school. 309 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:52,480 Actually, they were not elementary age. 310 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:53,480 They're middle school. 311 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:54,480 They really played. 312 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,960 It was one of those really important fights. 313 00:19:57,960 --> 00:19:59,400 Or I should say it was a game. 314 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:00,760 It was a really important game. 315 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,920 But anyway, so he didn't play on the game, but that's fine. 316 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,960 As part of the team, we expect that throughout the season, there are games that he's going 317 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:10,360 to be able to play. 318 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:13,000 And there might be games where he may not play as much. 319 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:18,240 But at the end of the day, there is development of the player that comes every time the player 320 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,840 is asked to play. 321 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:24,760 If a player is not asked to play throughout the season, then they're not being developed. 322 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:27,320 And that means the team is not being developed. 323 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:31,540 And if any of those five players have major injury and none of the other players have 324 00:20:31,540 --> 00:20:36,200 been developed, then that means that the team doesn't really get to move forward in the 325 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:37,200 same way. 326 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:44,360 So I think I'm saying all of this to say that any game that does not benefit players and 327 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:50,320 benefit players by helping them advance and grow is not a good game for either the team 328 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:55,720 or the players, as long as these team members are actually part of the team. 329 00:20:55,720 --> 00:21:02,800 So any game that says some people don't get support to advance doesn't actually advance 330 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:04,320 the whole team. 331 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:10,440 Any game that says some people are the only ones responsible for X, Y, Z, whatever that 332 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:17,800 may be, is not really a game that's good for the team or for the player. 333 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:24,160 So what I want to say with my point number six is that when people ask you to be a team 334 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:28,600 player, I'd like to ask you to pause. 335 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:36,380 Ask them to define the game, ask them to define the win, and help clarify that you're actually 336 00:21:36,380 --> 00:21:38,040 a member of the team. 337 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:42,200 And this is important because I think what we're seeing in academia is that there are 338 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,280 a couple of games being played at the same time. 339 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,400 It's not all a cohesive game that clearly leads to a win. 340 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:49,400 And that's okay. 341 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:53,040 You know, you think about a basketball season, there are several games being played all on 342 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:55,040 the way to the championship game. 343 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:56,520 And so it's fine. 344 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:58,120 But you want to be clear. 345 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:02,920 When someone says, hey, be a team player, say, hey, what's this game? 346 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:04,960 And how do we know that we win? 347 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,000 And am I a member of the team? 348 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:08,000 Am I? 349 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:13,320 Am I a member of the team such that when the win happens, I am also part of the win? 350 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:18,160 And this is the point at which I want to stop and recognize this concept of Simone's Maxims. 351 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:19,760 I don't know if you've heard of them. 352 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:23,200 Dr. Simone is a guy who wrote an article. 353 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,560 Actually, he did a lot more than write that article. 354 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,640 But that article anyway was introduced to me by a colleague. 355 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,400 And he would always bring up the article whenever we got upset with the institution. 356 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:35,160 Like I can't believe this happened to me. 357 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,400 It's like the institution doesn't love you back in Simone's Maxims. 358 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,040 So I think there are like maybe seven to 10 Maxims. 359 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,720 And it just reminds you of how you and the institution are different. 360 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:50,240 For example, it talks about how the institution has a long time horizon. 361 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,520 And so you can't be comparing yourself to the institution. 362 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:57,320 The institution will be here long after you get back and long after you're done. 363 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:01,440 And so you want to be clear that your time horizon is different from the institution's 364 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:02,440 horizons. 365 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:07,640 One of the favorite things, one of the favorite pieces of advice from that article my colleague 366 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,720 would bring up each time is that the institution doesn't love you back. 367 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:15,200 This is important because sometimes there's this sense that as clinicians, our job is 368 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:20,480 to sacrifice ourselves on behalf or on the platform of the institution, which is not 369 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,040 appropriate. 370 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:27,160 Because if we burn ourselves in the process of trying to bring light to the world, then 371 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:33,080 at the end, there is no light and we're still gone. 372 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:38,640 And so when people ask you to be a team player, you want to be clear, what is this game that 373 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:40,120 we're playing? 374 00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:42,960 Because not every game is a good game. 375 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:47,600 Not every game leaves everyone in the team with a win at the end. 376 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:53,120 Not every game is considering all team members to be equivalent, equal, respected members 377 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:54,800 of the team. 378 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:59,840 So especially if you are underrepresented in the academy, you want to be clear when 379 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:05,920 people ask you to be a team player that you understand the game, understand the win, and 380 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:10,520 to clarify that you are a respected team player who's going to be part of the win when the 381 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,120 win is announced. 382 00:24:13,120 --> 00:24:20,020 So my very final point to you is that you should ask these questions so that you can 383 00:24:20,020 --> 00:24:26,080 decide for yourself if it is in fact a game you want to play. 384 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:32,280 You should decide for yourself if it is in fact a game that you want to play. 385 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:37,280 I will say that every game is not a game to be played. 386 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:38,280 It's like the Hunger Games. 387 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:39,640 It's like, oh, these are games. 388 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,560 But at the end of the game, some people die. 389 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:44,240 Is this the game you want to play? 390 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,920 You got to decide that. 391 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:54,000 And so my call to action this week is to ask yourself if the game you're playing is the 392 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,800 one you want to play. 393 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:02,760 And I'm going to ask you, if you're not clear what game it is you're playing to go clarify, 394 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:10,280 please don't play a game where at the end you burn up as part of the games being played. 395 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,440 Don't play it. 396 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:14,520 But if you're going to play it, you want to play it intentionally. 397 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:18,360 You want to know that, oh, OK, this is the game I play where at the end I'm sacrificed 398 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:19,360 at the end of the game. 399 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:20,360 You want to know. 400 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:23,600 Because if you want to do that, you should do that. 401 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:25,140 That's called being in the military. 402 00:25:25,140 --> 00:25:28,680 It's like I am serving on behalf of my nation. 403 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,700 And if I die in the process, this is the price I choose to pay. 404 00:25:32,700 --> 00:25:35,800 It's serving the military, but it's not playing a basketball game. 405 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:39,160 Playing a game is not the same as serving the military. 406 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,640 But what I want you to do is to clarify what you're doing, what game you're playing when 407 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:50,280 people ask you to be a team player so that you can decide, is it time? 408 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,640 Is it time to stop being a team player? 409 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:54,360 All right. 410 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:56,960 I am glad to have brought you that episode. 411 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,040 Clearly, I have a lot of thoughts in my mind surrounding that episode. 412 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,080 I'd like to hear your thoughts. 413 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:06,360 And I also want to invite you to consider coaching, because I think it transforms your 414 00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:10,880 life as a clinician, especially a clinician who's trying to build a research program, 415 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,620 when you might not actually have the support to do that. 416 00:26:13,620 --> 00:26:20,120 So let's talk about how I can help you shape the career that you actually want to have. 417 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:23,660 For everyone else, I invite you to please share this episode with somebody else who 418 00:26:23,660 --> 00:26:30,480 needs to hear it, because it's important that we are playing games that we want to play, 419 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:35,040 and that at the end of our sacrifice, at the end of our really pulling, we know that the 420 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,520 award that's coming to the team is also coming to us. 421 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,760 And I invite you to please share it with someone else who needs to hear it today. 422 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:42,760 All right. 423 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:43,760 Thank you for listening. 424 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:55,880 I look forward to talking with you again the next time. 425 00:26:55,880 --> 00:27:01,240 Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic 426 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:06,480 clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they 427 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,040 have a mentor. 428 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:14,120 If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself. 429 00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:15,880 Someone else needs to hear it. 430 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,920 So take a minute right now and share it. 431 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:25,400 As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation 432 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:38,280 of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.