Dr. Lee Sharma introduces microskills for managing conflict in medicine, where 85% of clinicians will face it. The tools include setting ego aside, pausing before reacting, and reframing competition as growth. Self-care and boundaries let doctors serve effectively without burning out.
Chapters
85% of us, 85%, and it's probably closer, it's probably a higher number than that, will encounter conflict at some point in our career. And that conflict isn't necessarily a big screaming match.
These microskills are additive and they go across skills.
And once you learn one microskill, you bring it with you to the next and they slowly build upon each other. So often when we get in these situations, it's our ego that's pushing us forward. If we can get our ego out of the way, We are much more likely to have a transformative solution. I think one of the great object lessons about pausing, which is so cool, is that conflict can be very emotional. And if we don't pause and our emotions start to take over, we can dig ourselves into deeper holes.
It is you versus you the day before. And are you doing just a bit better? It's always me versus me yesterday. And that's kind of the mindset I tell, like, the younger folks in medical school. I don't care what Joe Schmo is doing.
The idea that this is— we're— yes, we are fresh out of the classroom, but we've got to get out of that competitive mindset with somebody else. The greatest competition is I want to know more than I did yesterday.
There's no way that you can pour from an empty cup.
The reason I'm setting this boundary is because I want to be able to serve, help, do in a capacity that can benefit all of us. But to do that, I have to have it in such a form that I'm still getting fed so that I can feed you. Behind the white coat is a battlefield of values, emotions, and unspoken tension. I'm Dr. Lee Sharma, and this is Scalpel and Sword, a space for physicians to uncover the unseen conflicts in our careers and discover the tools that helped reclaim our voices. Let's begin.
