STORIES

Jay Shah, MD
Chief of Staff, Stanford Health Care
Associate Professor, Department of Urology
Stanford University School of Medicine

Reason for Attending
If I’m going to do something, I always want to do it to the best of my ability. As a leader, I was informally coaching people, but I wasn’t sure I was doing it well. I wanted to learn what it means to be a coach and how to do it effectively so I could be more useful to the people that I serve.

Why Core Skills for Coaching: Academic Medical Centers
As I was talking with a physician colleague, I mentioned that people came to me frequently in my Chief of Staff role and I was coaching them, but I wasn’t officially trained. He said, “Jay, you should get trained. I just attended Core Skills for Coaching and it is perfect for you. You would get a lot out of it.”

Impact
My colleague was right. Core Skills for Coaching provided me with a simple coaching framework I could immediately apply, and it produced powerful results.

In the past, I believed that I was there to solve people’s problems when they sought my help. However, the program completely changed my perspective. As a coach, my role is to act as a mirror and help people understand their issues more clearly and find their own solutions. Initially, this came as a surprise to me. In my clinical role as a cancer surgeon, I am sought out as a world expert, and people often approach me for answers. But now in my leadership role, I’ve learned to listen and ask questions, instead of immediately providing answers. Interestingly, I thought people would think I’m less helpful, but I’ve found the opposite to be true. I’m frequently told ‘thank you, that was so helpful’ after a coaching conversation.

The program also helped me become a better listener. Now, I’m able to listen patiently, without solving others’ problems and without interrupting. When I think I’m finished listening I listen some more. In fact, even in my clinical role, now I ask my patients to repeat what we’ve discussed—one of the listening skills— and I am constantly amazed at how often there is a large gap between what I think we’ve discussed and what the patient has understood. This realization allows me to clarify things for the patient in the moment and ensures that they leave with a better understanding of their situation.

What I’ve learned from Core Skills for Coaching is that coaching is not a just skillset that you turn on and off, it is a philosophy of life that prioritizes open-mindedness and humility in the service of others.