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 things, can you still negotiate on your own terms?

In this episode, we talk about dealing with changes in your contract when they don't serve you.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- How to deal with a change the employer is allowed to make

Sometimes the employer's right to make a change is buried deep in your contract and seemingly innocuous. How do you make sure it doesn't come back to bite you?

- Two ways to deal with a proposed change

If a proposed change to your job is not to your liking, should you try to negotiate to keep things the same or should you just walk?

- How to advocate for yourself and your patients in a negotiation

Is it possible to align your employer's goal while preserving what you're comfortable with as the physician?

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 hours and pulling back a little can actually make us better doctors.

What are the benefits of schedule flexibility? How do you actually discuss an alternative schedule with your employer so that they see it as a good thing?

In this episode, I discuss the value of having a schedule that works for you, and how to go about getting it.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- Why working more leads to less productivity

In a negotiation, how do you frame an alternative schedule as a benefit to the employer?

- How to make physician work schedules more humane

With so many physicians opting out of clinical roles, could alternative schedules allow us to retain much-needed talent?

- How to find the right schedule for you

If there were no barriers and hurdles, what would your ideal work week look like?

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 a change.

So if you find yourself feeling a misalignment between you and your job, how do you deal with it so you can start liking where you work again.

In this episode, I talk about how to take action when your job feels out of alignment with who you are.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- How to identify a misalignment between you and your job

What are the tell-tale red flags that your job no longer aligns with you?

- If it's worth trying to changing your work environment

What happens if your attempt to change the culture gets met with resistance and even hostility?

- How to evaluate your next opportunity to avoid another toxic work environment

If you decide to exit your job, how can you make sure the next opportunity isn't toxic and out of alignment on the front end?

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.

What are some of the ways to further monetize our skills or even tap into our non-clinical hobbies? How do we create an escape hatch without seeming flighty or uncommitted?

In this episode, I talk about the power of career escape hatches, and how to use them to feel more empowered.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- The power of having a financial buffer or career backup

Why is it so important to have an escape plan, even if you love your job?

- How to create a non-clinical escape hatch

Our clinical skill set isn't the only thing we can monetize. What are some of the creative side hustles, businesses and ventures physicians have found success in outside of medicine?

- Why an escape hatch gives us the confidence to leave a bad situation

Why do toxic or unhealthy job situations weigh on us a lot more when we don't have other options in our back pockets?

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 healthcare landscape.

How you're perceived and how much you can earn is completely up to you, and if you think like the CEO of "You Inc" instead of an employee, you become unstoppable.

How do we milk the most out of every opportunity by changing how we see ourselves? Why is sales an essential part of any negotiation?

In this episode, I'm joined by an entrepreneur, physician, host of the EntreMD Podcast, and Founder of the EntreMD Business School, Dr. Una. She shares why physicians need to embrace entrepreneurship and how it positions you for success.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- The power of doing your homework and uncovering pain points ahead of time

If we want people to say yes to us, we have to position ourselves as a solution to their problems. How do we tap into the only frequency they care about?

- Why you need to act like the CEO of your own brand

Not embracing entrepreneurship isn't just limiting, it's dangerous. Why do we have to start seeing ourselves as business owners, especially right NOW.

- What makes people want to pay us what we're worth

How do we overwhelm our employers with value so they have no choice to keep us and pay us more?

Guest Bio

Dr. Una is an entrepreneur, physician, host of the EntreMD Podcast, and Founder of the EntreMD Business School. In the process of building her multi-site pediatric practice, Dr. Una developed a love for entrepreneurship and has since built other thriving businesses as well.

Over the years, she has learned that being a doctor and an entrepreneur do not have to be mutually exclusive. Now she is a better doctor and she has a greater impact on the healthcare industry because she is an entrepreneur.

Dr. Una helps other physicians and dentists build profitable businesses that give them the prestige, money and freedom they have worked so hard for.

For more information visit https://entremd.com and listen to the EntreMD podcast on your platform of choice.

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 negotiation tool?

In this episode, you'll learn how to improve your negotiating outcomes by deepening your connections in the industry, and where to begin if you've been in your own bubble.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- How to leverage your network

An important part of preparing for negotiation is gathering information, and understanding what the other side values. Why is this so much easier when you've been actively networking?

- Why networking builds up your reputation

How do we foster a pre-existing positive connotation through networking?

- How mentors and allies bring us closer to our goals

What are some of the creative ways to activate the reciprocity that will further your career?

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 necessity for grads and new attendings as it is for seasoned physicians with years of experience.

Today, I'm joined by a physician who is a shining example of why you don't have to settle just because you're new to the field. How was she able to shift her mindset and advocate for herself? Why do we need to stop seeing ourselves as less deserving of opportunity because we're new?

In this episode, Dr. Janeeka Benoit shares the negotiation wins she has had because of a dramatic change in mindset.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- Why you don't have to settle because you're a new attending

When you're fresh out of training, it's easy to think that you lack the experience and clinical acumen to negotiate for yourself. How can you flip what you see as a weakness into a strength?

- How to approach negotiation with an abundance mindset

You are more than your clinical acumen. Why do we need to focus on the unique and valuable things you bring as a human in addition to your skills and training?

- Why we shouldn't expect the first job to be perfect

How can new grads experience flexibility and autonomy by taking a different career path?

Guest Bio

Dr. Janeeka Benoit is a Board Certified Internal Medicine & Sports Medicine Physician. She is passionate about caring for not only the athletic population, but also passionate about teaching the general population on how to live healthier lives by restoring and maintaining their physical function through exercise.

To learn more about Dr. Benoit's mission to help patients use exercise as medicine, follow her on Instagram @medfitdo. https://www.instagram.com/medfitdo/

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 reciprocity lay the groundwork for a successful negotiation? How do we prepare for a negotiation with reciprocity in mind?

In this episode, I talk about how one social construct can impact your ability to get a deal that reflects your value.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- Why reciprocity makes us kinder and more more considerate

How does reciprocity make human beings more friendly and cooperative?

- How to use reciprocity to get a deal you're thrilled with

The law of reciprocity presents the perfect opportunity to stretch what we're asking for, but how do we make sure that stretch goal isn't too unreasonable?

- How to create more harmony in a negotiation

If we're focused on reciprocity, it's easier for both sides to find common ground and shrink areas of disagreement. What strategies can we use to zone in on the areas where our needs intersect?

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 feel confident about it.

In today's episode, I'm joined by a physician who went from being afraid of negotiation to straight up killing it at the negotiating table, and today she shares her secrets!

What pivotal moments made the shift possible? How did she start seeing the merits of negotiation? In today's episode, Board Certified Sleep Physician, Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine expert, life planner, and founder of Dare to Dream Physician, Weili Gray reveals how she changed her mindset on negotiation.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- The mindset block that makes negotiating difficult

As physicians, we're taught to show up and make everyone's lives easier, so negotiating feels like stirring up unnecessary trouble. Why does this hold us back from getting what we deserve?

- How a physician realized that negotiation is a good thing

Life has a way of reminding us what our priorities are. What are the life-altering moments that put Weili Gray on the path to advocating for herself?

- Why you should own what you bring to the table

Even on your first day out of training, you already offer a tremendous amount of value. How can you actually start believing that?

Guest Bio

Dr. Weili Gray is a Board Certified Sleep Physician, and an Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine expert, and a life planner. She is the founder of Dare to Dream Physician.

Many physicians today are feeling overwhelmed and unfulfilled living a busy life based on someone else's terms and expectations.

Dr. Gray helps physicians figure out what they really want out of life and how to make their dream life come true sooner than they ever imagined.

Life Planning with Dare to Dream Physician visit https://daretodreamphysician.com/. Follow @dreamphysician on IG: https://www.instagram.com/dreamphysician/and FB: https://www.facebook.com/daretodreamphysician/

Listen to the Dare to Dream Physician Podcast. https://daretodreamphysician.buzzsprout.com/

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 a challenging subject for so many women? How do you put forth the effort to advocate for yourself in every area of our lives?

In today's episode, I'm joined by pediatric radiologist turned sex coach extraordinaire, Dr. Sonia Wright. She talks about how she's helping women own their intimacy and get more of what they want.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

How to change your intimacy equation

If you're chronically undervaluing your intimacy, how do you find your voice?

The pleasure gap

Women aren't just dealing with the gender pay gap, we're also grappling with the pleasure gap. How does this gap actually show up in our sex lives?

How to create the zone of sexual safetyTalking about intimacy can feel really awkward. How do we create a high trust environment that allows us to find common ground with our partners?

Guest Bio

Dr. Sonia Wright is a board-certified radiologist, a sexual counselor, a certified life coach and host of the Midlife Sex Coach. I've received my education from Stanford University, the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, the Mayo Clinic and the University of Michigan. I've completed my life coach training from Brooke Castillo's The Life Coach School and from Learning Journeys.

Sonia is on a mission to help women embrace their sexuality as well as end the emotional pain and isolation associated with sexual difficulties. She believes wholeheartedly that all women deserve to experience pleasurable sexual intimacy.

For more information, to listen to Sonia's podcast or sign up for her course, visit https://soniawrightmd.com, and to download The Busy Woman Physician's Guide to More Pleasurable Sexual Intimacy https://soniawrightmd.com/physician.