The Power of Strategic Communication

I have something to share! 🥁 🥁 🥁 

A fellow PT and I, Alex Bendersky, PT, DPT, started a new podcast called The Future Proof PT Podcast. We are building it in public from the start. 🏗️ 

The inaugural episode has no intro or outro, and we just added light edits to fix some glaring audio issues. We’ll improve a little each week. Here it is, and it can be found on Spotify and a few other platforms, too. Video podcast to come!👇️ 

Here’s what I wanted to share with you this week.

Participating in work beyond your typical job responsibilities, cultivating an authentic and meaningful “work sponsor” relationship, and committing to a strategic communication routine can be valuable ways to advance your career beyond direct patient care.

Here’s why 👇️ 

As a healthcare professional looking for career growth, your clinical expertise is both your superpower and just your the starting point. The path to career advancement often lies in your ability to showcase leadership potential through non-clinical opportunities with your present employer.

Let’s first explore how non-clinical project and committee participation can position you as the go-to person for non patient-facing career opportunities.

Then we’ll also cover some non-clinical communication basics: the “four-bullet update” and the “Friday update.”

Let’s dive in! 🤿 

Why Projects and Committees Matter

Projects, committees, and any other non-clinical activities that add work to your already packed schedule may seem like a burden on the surface. But they are huge career growth opportunities in disguise.

First, the obvious. Most don’t want or aren’t willing to volunteer for work that’s additive to their patient caseload to get “nothing” in return.

But not you! You realize that these are actually gifts. 🎁 🎁 

They Provide Visibility Beyond Your Clinical Role

Much of what healthcare professionals need to do to transition out of patient-facing roles is “squooshy.” You probably know what I mean. There’s not an exact “formula” for success that you can study and pass a test and you achieve it.

But the good part is that good clinicians are also wonderful problem-solvers. Let’s make this make sense.

You want to be a part of activities that requires preparation, collaboration, strong and effective communication, and a chance to show that you can add value to your company’s business. You want a chance to be viewed in a different way. Think of this like an ongoing job interview within your company.

The truth is, workplace internal role transfers are on the rise! Upskilling, reskilling, and new-skilling (that last one was a new term for me) are simple ways to improve employee satisfaction and improve retention, and human resources know this. It’s a great time in healthcare employment to understand that if you can demonstrate key transferrable skills that you have developed and nurtured, and know how they are valuable to your employer’s business, you can set yourself up for internal mobility.

Here are some top skills workplaces are thinking about as they hire and transfer employees to new roles: leadership skills, problem-solving skills, communication skills, and technical skills.

So if you are a clinician who wants to be seen as an obvious, internal candidate for non-clinical roles, create chances for serendipity to do its thing by being invited to places where non-clinical leaders and other stakeholders are.

They Give You an Opportunity to Meet and Connect with a Potential “Sponsor”

A professional sponsor is someone in a senior position who actively advocates for your career advancement. This isn’t a synonym for a “mentor,” although I would argue one individual could eventually serve both roles, depending on the circumstances.

I met my sponsor and eventual mentor through a committee participation. She helped change the whole trajectory of my career 😃 

Sponsors use their influence and connections internally to help create opportunities for your professional growth and support your advancement within your organization. As a healthcare provider or clinician working in a clinical role, it’s usually the easier path to a transition out of direct patient care within your own organization.

I watched this short TED Talk on sponsors many years ago and never forgot it. Now, of course, it’s in my second brain!

Demonstrate to individuals with whom you connect on projects, committees, volunteer work and more that you have unique value to add and are happy to share it liberally.

Follow-up on a conversation you had with a great podcast about the topic, or an article you like, with a very brief summary on email.

Take a recommendation from them or something they shared and learn more, then share that back in a helpful way.

Be creative and most of all, authentic. You are looking for nothing in return but to build rapport with those you connect with.

Communication Fridays

For any project-based, knowledge-based roles, or for non-clinical projects or committees you are working on, there’s a best practice that some follow that many managers greatly appreciate. If you are on a committee or project, you should volunteer to do work on those projects for the good of the group and then be sure to effectively and succinctly communicate updates to either the group leader or the whole group.

The “Four Bullet Update”

On Fridays, share this project update in an email to your manager or the project lead:

1. Here’s what you asked me to do/our group was asked to do

2. Here’s what I did/here’s the progress I or we made

3. Here are risks or blockers to completion

4. With more time, here’s what I/we can accomplish

The “Friday Update”

This is a more comprehensive overview for typically your manager.

I read this on Ben Meer’s site last year and found it in my trusted—you guessed it—second brain so I could offer a link to you! If you want to check out a basic template for a Friday update email that includes the below elements, the author provides that, too.

Ben Meer suggests sending a Friday afternoon email to your manager each week.

(Make it a concise, well-formatted email, of course.)

Here’s what he says to include:

First, the week’s highlights:

• Big tasks completed

• People you networked with

• Extracurriculars (affinity groups, coalitions, etc.)

Second, share what’s upcoming for next week:

• Forward-looking big tasks and activities

Jade Bonacolta offers a different twist and credits this practice as a major contributor to her rapid career advancement. She prepped similar content for her weekly 1:1 with her manager.

Note: for clinicians in full-time clinical roles, this may be less applicable. I don’t remember weekly syncs with my manager when I was a staff clinician, but I know things change. Here’s her framework 👇️ 

These strategic, predictable strategies for sharing your wins, obtaining targeted input, and providing visibility into your work may be simple, but they are standout actions.

Will you try them?