Travelers as Leaders
Why and How Travelers can be Leaders
“Oh, you’re a Travel therapist…” – the words dripping with so much disrespect that they are bordering disdain. Plunk. We have been categorized and judged, dropped into the mental bucket labeled “just another traveler” and cast aside. This is the reception we receive at nearly every professional gathering since beginning our travel career.
The history of travel therapists has not necessarily been an illustrious one. Some of our predecessors did little to inspire confidence in our slice of the therapy workforce. Slinking around the country, scurrying from placement to placement, the greater physical therapy community has long perceived the traveler to be a sort of clinician in hiding. One whose clinical or social skills were such that they could never withstand the rigor and transparency involved in a “real” job.
Fortunately this pervasive preconception is fast eroding. Highly skilled therapists are making the move into travel in record numbers, as the promise of professional satisfaction in a permanent placement looks to be more illusion than reality.
But being an elite therapists is not enough. We, as a travel community, need to become leaders. Leaders amongst our community, but also leaders in our respective workplaces.
In this article we will discuss not only why we best suited to be leaders, but also how to lead when you are only present for a brief period of time.
Why travelers need to lead
We have discussed why there is a need for travel therapists a few times over the last few months. Quickly summarized they are; clinics growing too quickly, clinics in difficult locations, and clinics perpetually poorly run. In all three of these situations there is often a void of positive professional influence on the other staff members. Leadership is spread too thin or nonexistent. We have been in numerous jobs where the clinical practices of our colleagues were far below industry standard, let alone best practice, and it was not always their fault (entirely). They simply did not know there was a better way.
This is where the expert traveler can come in. Utilizing two key characteristics found in most therapists a traveler can leverage their abilities to establish a new standard of practice or even company culture, generating better outcomes and producing healthier patients.
- Travelers, by nature, tend to be organizationally minded yet creative in their problem solving. We must manage many moving pieces at once while fitting everything into a larger picture of an adventurous lifestyle. The most successful of us can quickly connect with colleagues and build professional and personal bonds that bridge cultural and often geographic boundaries.
- Clinical skills aside, travelers are in the unique position of being exposed to many different clinical organizations in a relatively brief period of time. Gleaning best practices from each, the traveler can acquire an immense data set of organizational or clinical strategies that can be applied as deemed necessary.
By combining these two key factors of the successful traveler, a highly effective leader can be born. The ability to make effective and efficient decisions that align with a larger overarching goal, and to establish impactful relationships quickly, make the traveler uniquely positioned for providing influence in their new and ever changing environment.
How to lead from the road
Being the same but different
At the risk of sounding sales-y I want to go into a couple of the most effective techniques we have found to bond and begin to lay the foundation for establishing influence.
First, be interested. Growing up we all told what to do by countless teachers and coaches. Do you remember each and every one of them? Of course not. But we all had that one teacher that took just a little more time only with you, or the mentor who met specially with you to hear your concerns and questions. We all remember those few people, not because they were especially brilliant (though they may have been), but because they took interest in you. Sure, you are going to be the strange new guy in town that everyone wants to get to know, but being known cannot be your primary objective. Learn about your coworkers. Care about their past, their family, their professional influences. Be earnest in your interest into their lives and motivations and soon they will take interest in you as well. As it is often said, “To be interesting, be interested.” If you do not concern yourself with others lives they will not have any concern for you.
Developing connection with your colleagues is important on many levels. We are social creatures craving connection. Growing genuine relationships is core to who we are as human beings. It keeps us sane. However, for the purposes of this post it is the obvious first step in establishing a leadership position. Our best, and only, hack for becoming a leader is to set yourself up, as early as possible, as being similar but different.
Our go to method for this nearly always involves going out with coworkers. Casual social situations are the best time to put out subtle social cues. Without going into too many nitty gritty details as to why this works (Read Power of Persuasion and Leaders Eat Last for more), we always pick up the tab, or at least the first round or two of drinks. That’s it. I told you it was subtle. Eeking out simple dominance cues such as providing the meal or drinks for the crowd begins to set you apart from the pack. Now, always buying everything or ordering the entire menu is flaunting, off-putting, and desperate. Your goal is to simply send out the message, “hey, Im the same as you all, and can provide value to the group.” Leaders are only effective as long as they can provide value to those that they hope to lead. Overbearing leaders rise to power in times of uncertainty when people feel scared or in danger (sound familiar). Philosopher leaders rise in times where the community is seeking direction but safety is not necessarily a concern. Each of these leaders are providing a unique value to the community. The simple act of picking up the tab for your crew has demonstrated, subtly, that you can provide (the food) and possibly can add value in other ways later on. (Other simple cues can include dressing slightly nicer than your coworkers, showing up a bit early and leaving a bit late, and volunteering for difficult side projects as they arise)
Know and show your WHY
In Simon Sinek’s now classic book Start With Why, he thoroughly breaks down how establishing first principles can be scaled and extrapolated out and into every aspect of ones professional life. Being able to clearly articulate the WHY of your therapy career serves as the engine that drives all of the other decisions further up the decision tree (what do you do, how do you do it, etc.).
During our years as travelers we have found that the most disheveled unorganized and borderline negligent companies/clinicians lack a guiding light type answer to the WHY question.
Defining your own why, and living by it as best you can, will be far more impactful that you can imagine. Just as a spotlight can spill a few rays over into the fringes, the guiding light of your practice will influence your fellow clinicians.
For me, demonstrating a steadfast drive to always do what is best for my patient, regardless of if it is convenient, easy, or billable, has yielded some interesting conversations with colleagues and other co-workers. The first interactions are just a trickle, but soon full on discussions about clinical practice or philosophies of care begin and I can begin to share my expertise more effectively.
It is time for travelers to not be afraid to take charge. True, we are only in each position temporarily, but we are uniquely skilled and equipped to influence our respective clinics. Elevating the national perception of what a travel therapist is, and elevating the quality of care patients receive long after we have moved on for adventures elsewhere.
Written by: Stephen Stockhausen PT, DPT, OCS
