Coaching Process

“Jim provided executive training to our senior faculty. He hit the mark which had an immediate, positive impact for our team at MGH.”

“Jim McKenna has been a tremendous asset to our heart and vascular institute. His ability to coach and mentor our physician leaders has been transformative to our organization. The way in which he enables our physicians to realize their potential, and then achieve that potential, is nothing short of amazing. As a physician leader in a busy health care system, I cannot devote the necessary time, nor do I have the requisite expertise, to facilitate leadership development at this level. His services have been a huge help, and I would consider them indispensable…thank you Jim!”

“Jim provided coaching for the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Board of Trustees (BOT) and for trustees individually. He strengthened our team dynamics, identified strategies for enhancing interpersonal interactions, and lead our pursuit of healthy conflict. His insights into my personal leadership strengths and opportunities for growth were immensely helpful in my role as ACC BOT member and tangentially in my role at HFHS (Henry Ford HealthSystem). Highly recommended him for individuals/team that understand the value of coaching and acknowledge latitude for development.”

“Everyone thought it went well. Kudos to you; great job with a tough group!”

“When you have executives, moved to the extent of directly, immediately reaching out to you personally to share what they are committed to doing differently, based on a roundtable session led by Jim, you know you are working with a professional. Don’t let Jim’s understated way fool you; he is dealing impactful straight talk, straight from his heart to yours. You will be absorbed into listening to what he says, and excited to follow the suggestions he invokes.”

“Many thanks to Jim McKenna for his wonderful presentation to our hospital medicine group on recognizing and addressing burnout! His depth of experience, warmth, good humor and empathy were on full display. The process helped us notice where we were doing a good job organization-wise, and where we have opportunities to support staff better/differently. We learned so much that is valuable to our group and our leadership, plus had a bit of fun and enjoyed ourselves. During the interactive workshop, the participants’ collegiality came out often, which we recognize as a vital part of our future wellness success.“

“Great having you Jim, coaching up our early career leaders.”

“Jim McKenna provided outstanding leadership coaching for members of the American College of Cardiology Board of Trustees. I was a fortunate recipient of such coaching, which was done in a personalized, effective, and enjoyable manner. His coaching helped me develop new personal and professional insights and I would recommend him every time for anyone interested in this important exercise.”

“James McKenna has an incredible ability to recognize personal strengths and foster their growth. More specifically, Jim has an ability to identify valued characteristics that can improve professional and personal interactions… To summarize, Jim has been a huge asset for our organization.”

“As a healthcare provider and advisor of public healthcare policy, I feel that having a leadership coach like Jim is paramount to success. Jim’s collaborative coaching style is founded on self-honesty. He utilizes direct methods to achieve the ‘best practice of medicine’ that facilitates undaunted courage to redirect outcomes for the common good. There is a lot to be said for a team (coach-client) approach”.

“I believe in Jim’s Patient Centeredness program, and I have never seen such a reward/recognition/thanking environment that has been created due to these concepts. We, nurses, techs, physician providers, case managers, social workers, etc., have really gotten to know each other on a more personal level, thanked each other with Shining Star recognition cards, and the collaborative relationships are fantastic. Thank you goes a long way, and I feel that we, as a team are more comfortable reaching out to each other to let each other know that a great job was done.”

“When I was part of the Hospitalist team at Medstar Montgomery Medical Center, we had a very good team of physicians, but our overall doctor communication patient satisfaction scores were low. Jim supported the entire team of hospitalists by working with us collectively and individually. As a result, the team score improved, and it stayed high after he left. I think Jim helped us see things differently from the patient’s point of view. We were very happy with the improvement.”

“It was a pleasure to have Jim in our midst; he worked with our hospitalist group to improve customer satisfaction. He sensitized our group to the value of patient satisfaction (beyond the obvious financial incentives) and his coaching has helped us come up with new ideas to meet patient expectations. To sum up, we were able to progress from delivering ‘good service’ (something that we already did) to doing a ‘great job’.”

“I had the great opportunity to work with Jim through the Irish Cardiology Society. He provided excellent career and leadership coaching to several Specialist Registrars through webinars and workshops. He taught me how to reflect on my own stressors and develop resilience strategies to prevent burn out. He has a great way of making you feel relaxed, is a great listener and communicator. Jim taught us to look after ourselves and inspired us to strive for healthy, happy and successful careers.”

“We all have skills that are under-appreciated, and others can learn from. An important lesson learnt in the BCS Emerging Leaders Program. Special thanks to @JLMcKenna13 for his coaching.”

“Our cardiovascular service line had Jim McKenna work with physician and administrative leaders to help develop and align our leadership team. We got the results we wanted, and it was a very enjoyable process. Jim’s professionalism and expertise yielded some great initial results, and we are now able to work from that foundation to continue our progress as a more well aligned and synchronized team. His coaching included “big picture” thinking as well as practical tips that helped build our leaders confidence, collaborative abilities and ability to productively work through conflict. Gaining physician trust is not an easy task- but Jim makes it appear effortless. I highly recommend Jim McKenna for both his group and 1:1 coaching/leadership development.“

“The Hospitalist Leadership team engaged Jim as a professional coach to take their group to the next level of performance around improving their HCAHPS scores and overall professional presence across a 330 bed facility. Building esprit de corp, accountability and getting results became palpable attributes of his work with this team. Jim possesses the rare gift of drawing out what is best in the professional provider along with providing the coaching around how to hardwire this behavior to sustain meaningful change… Jim was highly respected not only by the physicians he worked with but by every member of the executive team. In Jim the core skills of knowledge and the ability to connect with professional providers intersect gracefully.”

“It has been a pleasure to work with James over the past twelve months developing a wellbeing and resilience program for cardiology trainees in Ireland. James’s knowledge and insights on these topics coupled with his inclusive approach, facilitated the trainee group as they explored, developed and implemented a program driven by needs identified by themselves. His ability to guide both group and one to one session is very impressive and the Irish cardiology trainee group have benefited greatly from working with James and having exposure to his expertise.”

“Jim, as I have always appreciated, I am inspired by the way you walk in a room full of physicians who are known for their big egos and spark a discussion which helps us improve, whether we consciously admit it or not.”

“Jim knows who he is in the most understated way. His audiences identify with him almost immediately because he deals directly from his heart. He engages his clients with ease. He has a knack for teaching his clients how to build a solid foundation and why collaboration brings teams together. He certainly accomplished that for us. Jim is driven by his concern for human values. I have witnessed how he gets his audience to strive for success. The results are easy to measure. He diagnoses problems like a physician. Then he helps you build sustainable solutions. The result? A healthy company.”

“He tenido el honor de formar parte del Board of Trustees del American College of Cardiology en los últimos 3 años. Formar parte de este Board es un gran desafío particularmente para un miembro del ACC no basado en USA. Jim McKenna me ayudó a identificar las fortalezas a aprovechar y las debilidades a corregir. Jim tiene una clara visión de la dinámica del liderazgo en el campo de la medicina y del fortalecimiento de estructuras colegiadas como el Board of Trustees. Mi relación profesional y personal con Jim McKenna ha sido muy enriquecedora y gratificante.”

“Jim is a national leader in patient experience and leadership development in healthcare. He has a deep understanding of clinical operations in Emergency Medicine and Hospital Medicine. This knowledge gives him credibility with the physicians and healthcare teams he serves. Our group of physicians has had the pleasure to work with Jim and we’ve seen significant improvements each time we work with him.”