Negotiation #7: Negotiate Your Team

Teams Matter

If you’re a clinician, you’ve never practiced alone. From intern year to your current role, you’ve always had a team—residents, nurses, medical assistants, administrators, billers, schedulers. Even if you see patients “by yourself,” there’s always a team behind you.

As you transition into an academic role, your team may look different, and at first, it may not be the one you want. But you will always have a team. Success depends on recognizing, building, and negotiating that team.

Five Principles for Negotiating Your Team

1. Ask “Who, Not How”

When you face a task outside your expertise, the instinct is often to learn how to do it yourself. You can—you’ve mastered learning. But it will take longer and distract you from your highest-value work. Instead, ask: Who already knows how to do this? Find them. Invest in the right “who” rather than trying to master every “how.” This frees you to focus on the work only you can do.

2. Identify Your Team

Your team is broader than you may think. It includes colleagues and staff at work—assistants, schedulers, division chiefs, department chairs—as well as people in your personal life, from your partner to your children to the person who cleans your home.

They are all members of Team You. Recognizing them as such helps you engage them more intentionally.

3. Ask Your Team For Help

Once you’ve identified your team, ask them to help you. That’s why they’re there. Administrative staff, assistants, and leaders all have defined roles. Use them. Delegating appropriately is not a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of leadership.

4. Let Go of Team Members Who Don’t Support You

Not everyone will be reliable. Some team members drag their feet, resist helping, or outright refuse to engage. Don’t spend energy trying to force them into alignment.

When someone shows you they won’t support you, let them go and make space for someone else who will. Holding on to the wrong team member blocks the right one from stepping in.

5. Seek Collaborators Who Enhance You

Your team isn’t limited to those in your immediate environment. Conferences, workshops, and professional networks are opportunities to find collaborators who energize and expand your work. Choose collaborators who align with your vision, enhance your impact, and make the work enjoyable. Let go of those who drain or diminish you, no matter how impressive their CV may be.

Teams Drive Impact

No clinician scientist succeeds alone. Your team—formal and informal, personal and professional—is the vehicle that carries your work forward. By asking “who,” identifying your team, leveraging their roles, letting go of poor fits, and seeking energizing collaborators, you build a team that amplifies your mission.

What’s Next: Negotiating the 80%

Your team helps you focus on what matters. Next, we’ll talk about negotiating the 80%—how to structure your effort and protect your most valuable time.

Reflection Questions

• Who are the members of “Team You” that you’ve never thought of as team members before?

• What tasks are you currently trying to do yourself that you should instead delegate to a “who”?

• Are there team members you need to let go of—or collaborators you need to seek out—to strengthen your work?

• How can you better engage your current team so they can support your highest-value contributions?