Simply Worth It: Physician Negotiations with Dr. Linda Street

Our employers are not past trying to change the rules of our contracts out of nowhere. It can feel like the rug has been pulled out from under us, but there is an opportunity to advocate to keep things the same, and show how that can benefit them.    How do you find a solution that meets their goals but honors your values? If you find out that your employer has a unilateral ability to change thing...

For many physicians, a flexible schedule beats a great salary as the most important piece of a negotiation. Whether you want a four-day work week, a compressed schedule or more flexibility, embracing alternative schedules is a critical cultural shift that needs to be prioritized in clinical medicine.    There's so much guilt and shame around working a truncated schedule, but working more humane ho...

A job that aligns with your integrity is just as important as a job that pays you what you're worth, and makes you feel valued. What happens when you realize that your current job isn't quite as aligned with you as you'd like?    If participating in the culture of an organization compromises your integrity, that's a steep price to pay in the name of being employed, and you have every right to make...

If 2020 taught us anything, it's that we can't control what happens in our day jobs.    Our leverage is only as strong as our next best alternative. Building options and creative escape hatches into our lives gives us more confidence, freedom and a cushion in case things go wrong. There are many ways to create alternative sources of income and employment so that we never feel stuck or limited.   ...

At the negotiating table, we aren't just physicians - we also have to be entrepreneurs. Even with the most excellent care and clinical skills, we have to be able to articulate the value we provide to the employer.    If you want to show up better, sway people to your opinion, and get paid what you're worth - thinking like an entrepreneur is critical - in fact, we can't afford not to in today's hea...

In a successful negotiation, you need goodwill, relationships and positive bias working in your favor, but you can't build those things overnight.    They are the fruits of deliberate networking and relationship-building.    We're more likely to get great opportunities when we foster and strengthen connections with other physicians on a consistent basis.    What makes networking such a powerful ne...

When you're hunting for a job straight out of training you're taught to be grateful for whatever opportunity is on the table, and sign on the dotted line, no questions asked. Why ruffle feathers when you're lucky to be getting hired at all?   It's a flawed mindset, but one that's very common in medicine, and holds us back from getting a job that serves us.   The truth is: negotiation is as much a...

Reciprocity is a social construct that goes back centuries, and it's so innate in us that it feels like second nature.    It's also a powerful tool in a negotiation.    When someone gives us something, this built-in need for us to do something for them in return is triggered, and it makes it easier to come to an agreement that satisfies both sides of a negotiation.    Behaviorally, how does recipr...

As female physicians, negotiation is a process that stirs up some uncertainty, hesitation and even intimidation. It feels like something only businesspeople do, and that advocating for ourselves is the opposite of what a "good doctor" should do.    This is reflective of the socialization we've received, and we need to do a hard reset to our mindset to get comfortable with negotiation, and actually...

It may not seem like it at first glance, but intimacy and salary negotiations actually have a lot in common for women. The struggle to advocate for yourself doesn't just show up at work, it also shows up in the bedroom.    Finding our voices is important in every area of our lives, and when it comes to sex and intimacy, it feels even harder than asking to get paid what we're worth. Why is intimacy...

Following on from last week's episode, we're going to continue our deep dive into influence, and why it's exceptionally important in a negotiation.    Having influence in the moment may get you what you want immediately. Maintaining influence in the long run makes it more likely that your requests will be granted, and sometimes without even having to ask.    What are the benefits of deliberately w...

In many ways, influence is a big part of being a physician, from getting our patients to follow our treatment plans, to negotiating a package that reflects our worth. Actually, influence is key to communicating in just about every area of our lives, but how do we foster and develop it?   There's a range of outcomes that can happen for you in a negotiation, and you want to end up in the space that'...

In a perfect world, our jobs will move and progress along with us. In reality, when we grow as people, it's natural to realize that the job has not kept up.  When your job feels like it's out of alignment with your priorities and your values, there are many options to course correct. We owe it to ourselves to advocate for change on our behalf. How do we check in with ourselves and uncover misalign...

Human beings have a knack for telling ourselves stories about what we're capable of, and very often, these stories are so concrete they start to feel an awful lot like truth.    As real as they feel, doubt-filled and self-defeatist beliefs are NOT indisputable truths. Until we separate the two and challenge the stories, we'll get tripped up by them, and struggle to nail our negotiations.   How do...

To get paid what we're worth, we often have to renegotiate our current salary and ask for a raise, but how do you even bring it up and start that conversation?    It's natural to feel a bit unsure and even nervous about approaching your employer to discuss compensation, but if you elegantly lay the groundwork, you can bring yourself closer to the outcome you want.    What is the right (and wrong)...

When a physician quits their job, it's usually not as simple as handing in your resignation letter and riding off into the sunset. Most of us are contractually obligated to stay for up to 180 days. That's a REALLY long time to work while you wait for your exit, so how do you make it bearable?     Your notice period can be your worst nightmare, or an opportunity to close a chapter on your own terms...

The oppressive structures in our world don't just just exist on a societal level. They also show up in medicine, and oftentimes, we unknowingly internalize them.   When parts of our identity differ from the society's assumption of what a doctor looks like, going to bat for ourselves can be an uphill battle.    How do we identify ours and others internalized biases? Why does this become a hurdle to...

In the career trajectory of female physicians, we constantly feel the need to do more to be successful. Whether that's seeing more patients, having more on our daily agenda, or working harder for an equal salary. But what if all this extra work is coming at the expense of much needed, well-deserved rest?    If we don't actively prioritize periods of rest, and we don't take pauses, we're setting ou...

In coaching, there's a concept known as 'The Manual' - an unspoken set of rules we hold other people to without their knowledge.  In a negotiation scenario, this line of thinking can be problematic, counter-productive and destructive to our ability to really advocate for ourselves. Our employers aren't automatically aware of the specific core values we bring to an organization. Expecting them to "...

Negotiation can either be an antagonistic, competitive tug-of-war, or a relationship-building process where two sides come together in an agreement based on value.    Even though it sounds contradictory, the greatest barrier to a successful negotiation is the fear of conflict, and if we want to sharpen our agreement-making skills, getting comfortable with it is essential.    How do we fully advoca...

The pandemic brought on a lot of changes that directly affected physicians, but as we slowly start to recover from the crisis, data around the real impact is starting to emerge.    Thanks to the latest MGMA DataDive, we have a ton of interesting and even promising trends to consider and work with.    There was a collective concern around how badly compensation would backslide because of the global...

Human beings are programmed to see the world in A or B options, and this fosters a dichotomous way of thinking that works against us.    When we show up to a negotiation with this mentality in tow, we risk leaving massive wins on the table. In a negotiation, it's not just option A or option B - there's an entire alphabet available to us, and we can access it if we shift our thinking.    How do we...

As the survival instinct of the pandemic fades and more people start considering if their jobs are really serving them, the resignation of at least 30% of the workforce is anticipated.    But before we make any move, we have to make sure the things that weren't serving us in our last job don't follow us to the next one. If we have an unhealthy relationship with our work, no job change will bring u...

In any negotiation, we're better equipped and poised for success when we prepare for all the ways our requests could be shot down before the conversation even begins.    Walking into a negotiation unprepared puts us at an immediate disadvantage - and in the worst position to advocate for ourselves. By deliberately and strategically crafting our responses ahead of time, we're more likely to get the...

Women have been conditioned to believe that wanting a salary that reflects our value is an act of greed . This is not a mindset built for optimizing your success .     While there are societal constructs that hold us back, carrying around beliefs that don't serve us is a huge barrier too.    We have enough barriers to contend with already so taking our self doubt off the list makes the path to wha...