Frequently Asked Questions

Healthcare professionals, including doctors, will often experience career ‘decisions – transitions – positions’ over the course of their careers. The professional skills required to secure a position in a training program, take on a leadership role or overcome unhelpful beliefs when preparing for an exam isn’t usually something taught at university. Finding the time and the headspace, the will and the skill, to be the best version of yourself, to build the non-clinical confidence and know-how, and to reflect and develop new approaches to improving your performance every day and under pressure is not always easy to do alone.

That is why Capstan Partners provide Leadership, Performance and Well-being Coaching Programs. And sometimes high performing healthcare professionals have a hard time asking for help. Coaching, complementing mentoring and training, can be incredibly useful. Professional coaching provides you with a psychologically safe and dedicated time to create practical solutions and a non-judgemental relationship hold you accountable to make the changes you may have  trouble doing on your own.

Yes, in fact it is really useful for a variety of reasons so please get in touch. BOOK NOW.

A 30 minute virtual call is helpful to assess whether coaching can be a useful solution for what you are aiming to achieve, whether particular assessments may add value, the timing of your coaching and program and to chat about your potential coach. As you decide whether you are possibly interested in coaching, you will introduced to your potential coach, to meet virtually for up to 15 mins, where you can gain a sense of connection and understand each other’s style and needs. A coaching agreement outlining all the terms and conditions will be sent to you for your review, feedback and/or signature should you wish to proceed. 

All this occurs at no cost and with no obligation.

Done well, both coaching and mentoring may help you to see the ‘big picture’,  validate strengths, identify weaknesses, leap creatively towards opportunities and insightfully mitigate threats that may have otherwise been missed. Both learning modalities can help you develop and implement strategies to achieve personal and professional goals more purposefully and confidently (and with less stress and anxiety) than doing the work alone.

Mentoring is based on advice-giving to mentees from personal, clinical, academic and professional skills, knowledge and experiences, and is a well-recognised learning modality across the health sector. Mentors are experienced, senior and highly regarded experts in their field and/or specialty. It is most helpful if you want to be told what to do and gain specific information and advice to address specific needs.

Coaching however, is based on you being asked questions in a non-judgemental relationship and a psychologically safe space to help you identify and improve a chosen development area(s),  take focused next steps that you decide are important to help you get moving or unstuck, hold accountability for change and improve your confidence and competence in a way that works for you. A coach may or may not have the same clinical experience or qualifications as you (in fact we suggest that they don’t)  however at Capstan Partners, all coaches have coach-specific training, expertise and experience in the psychology and cognitive-behavioural evidence-based science and art of coaching. Some will have accreditation at the Associate or Professional Certified Coaching (ACC or PCC) level with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), one of the world’s best recognised accrediting body within the coaching industry.

Focus areas or coaching goals are determined by you, the coachee, not the coach. Examples of the most common focus areas clinicians bring to coaching include and are not limited to

• Having difficult conversations
• Influencing others
• Leading change
• Prioritising workload tasks
• Setting expectations
• Self-care and anxiety management
• Exam and interview preparation
• Career options and progression
• Setting boundaries
• Working efficiently

Yes they are. Confidentiality is of utmost importance to us, and no information from any coaching program is available to any third party unless explicitly agreed to by both parties, and in rare circumstances where decreed by law. Coaches abide by the International Coach Federation Ethics Pledge and AHPRA’s  guidelines for mandatory notifications.

All programs at Capstan Partners include pre- and post- psychometric assessments. This data gives you and your coach some baseline psychological measures,  and demonstrates changes/improvements where they arise. Standardised assessments include Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), WHO-Wellbeing 5, Flourishing Scale and Solution Focussed Thinking.

Programs are tailored to suit your needs and your development goals.

Coaching sessions are one-to-one conversations, usually conducted virtually. A basic Performance Coaching program offers a minimum of three hours of coaching. Wellbeing or Leadership programs offer eight to ten hours of coaching usually at three week intervals over a period of several months. You will identify and work towards goals that you decide is important in each session, in service of improving what is important to you at the time.

Other assessments considered useful in coaching may include a values or strengths-based survey, for career transitions a Motives, Values and Preferences Inventory,  for leadership coaching 360 assessment or pre- and mid- program three way meetings with you, your manager and coach.

Between session reflection and preparation activities enable you to reflect on what has been helpful and unhelpful about your thinking and doing to help hold you accountable for embedding improved and sustainable ways of working, and asks you to think about the goal or challenge you might like to bring to your upcoming coaching session.

And at the end of your program, you will be invited to complete an evaluation survey. We are interested to understand more about your coaching experience and your feedback is appreciated.

Coaching sessions are one-to-one conversations, usually conducted virtually, to help you to stand above your stories and your habits that are no longer serving you well and to expand, change or let them go. You set the agenda for the coaching session.  Your coach will invite you to explore your challenge or gaol, will ask you powerful questions to help you discover insights and remove these often invisible barriers to success. The semi-structured conversations are future-orientated and solution-focused. Your coach will be compassion and non-judgmental whilst holding a safe space to help you see your challenge differently, connect (or re-connect) you with your strengths and values, and help you create a vision, plan and accountability for you to see, believe and be the change you wish to enjoy. Sometimes there is silence and difficult or uncomfortable questions to be answered. Sometimes there are life-changing insights and learning that make it easier for you to change unhelpful habits, start new ones and clear the path to a better way of working. And there will often be warmth and laughs along the way.

Psychometric assessments are used by Capstan Partners in all our professional coaching programs to gain insights about the wellbeing of our program participants. Pre- and post-program assessments including a Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), Flourishing, WHO-Wellbeing 5 and Solution Focused Thinking, are a standard part of our programs. Your results will be debriefed to you in the first and last session and where relevant it is expected you will disclose past or present psychological or psychiatric conditions. Professional coaching is not therapy and doesn’t aim to treat psychological problems. If such issues present during coaching they will be treated with absolute confidentiality and you may be referred to an appropriately qualified specialist.

Other reliable and validated psychometric assessments are available to gain additional information including insights and competencies about leadership behaviours, personality, motivation, interests and values. Your results will be debriefed by your coach and your coaching goal can then be tailored with appropriate development plans.

In short, we use psychometric assessment results to help accelerate your professional and personal development, job satisfaction and high performance. Armed with evidence healthcare professionals gain useful self-insights to more quickly identify constructive development opportunities and validate strengths.

Virtual coaching sessions can be arranged from 07:30 to 18:00 AEST, Monday to Thursday, 07:30 to 16:00 AEST Friday. Coaching sessions  on Saturday mornings and outside of these hours may be available on request. Session dates and times can be rescheduled with more than 48 hours’ notice or else the session may be forfeited. Adjustments are made for time zones globally.

Results observed in a study by Di Stefano et al (2014) describe how fifteen minutes of reflective practice increased productivity and effectiveness in one work group more so than a comparative work group who did no reflective practice but worked fifteen minutes longer. Coaching helps hold individuals accountable for reflective practice, self-directed goals and creates thinking time that enables sustainable behaviour to change over months of intentional effort towards improved performance.

Professional coaching is provided by an experienced, credentialed coaching panel including doctors who are coaches. Our coaches are trained in and offer a range of evidence-based coaching knowledge, tools and techniques. Coaches will draw upon their various coach-specific bodies of knowledge in fields like positive psychology, mindfulness based cognitive approaches, adult development theory, complexity and systems theory and compassion focused approaches, and other coaching tools and techniques, experience and skills to make your coaching experience meaningful for you.