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Join emergency physicians Resa E. Lewiss and Adaira Landry as they delve into the power of collaboration in developing subject matter expertise. Discover how their monthly educator series led to unexpected opportunities, and learn valuable microskills that can make a lasting impact on your professional journey. Explore the challenges and benefits of working with others, whether you’re building your network within your office or connecting on a national and international scale.

Resa E. Lewiss and Adaira Landry are emergency physicians.

They discuss the KevinMD article, “Can collaboration build subject matter expertise? We think so.”

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Transcript

Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show. Subscribe at KevinMD.com/podcast, and get CME for this episode by clicking on the CME link in the show notes. Today we welcome Resa Lewiss and Adaira Landry. They’re both emergency physicians, and they’re going to talk about the KevinMD article “Can collaboration build subject matter expertise? We think so.” Resa and Adaira, welcome to the show.

Resa E. Lewiss: Thanks so much, Kevin. And for audience members that are wondering, is Resa like Reese’s peanut butter cups, but there’s no double e in the spelling.

So the origin story, I would say, of this article goes to the origin story of a book that Adaira and I are so proud to have published in April of this year. HarperCollins is publishing “MicroSkills: Small Actions, Big Impact.” And we specifically want to talk about the microskill of subject matter expertise.

In our book we talk about ways to be better at work, and there’s certain skills that people think are innate, or just born talent, or no one knows how to develop them. So in our book we break down some of these skills, no matter your industry, no matter who you are, they’re going to help you be better at work.

So developing subject matter expertise is one that, how do you become a subject matter expert? We can all identify people in our field that are that, but how do you do that, how do you become that? So this is exactly what we describe. And for the article we talked about the one way to do it, of many, which is collaboration.

Kevin Pho: How did you get interested in this topic?

Resa E. Lewiss: You want to take it first, Adaira?

Adaira Landry: Yeah, I’ll start. So Resa and I are both ultrasound trained emergency medicine physicians, and within this area of expertise it’s a small community. We get to know each other across the country, across the world actually.

And so that was probably my first understanding of that, within this niche, within this field, there are people who are truly key opinion leaders or thought leaders or subject matter experts who are always called upon. And I observed it, but I never understood how that came to be until I started asking them, like, how are you always giving keynotes? Why is it that you’re always consulting for these tech companies? They were the go-to people, and some of them weren’t much older than I was.

And I started to learn about the idea of really putting yourself out there and networking and collaborating, and taking a multimedia or multi-avenue approach. It’s not just publishing, it’s speaking, it is being part of national committees, it’s taking leadership roles. It’s all of these things together, really over time, builds that expertise.

Kevin Pho: And when you ask them these questions, Adaira, what are some of the things that they would say?

Adaira Landry: I think the most helpful thing that I got was to reach out to people outside of your immediate network.

And so what happened was, with that information, I had my understanding of my skill set, which was that I was trained in ultrasound, I had a master’s in education and technology and innovation through the graduate school here at Harvard, and I wasn’t really using that master’s to its fullest.

And so I took that sort of nugget of information, which was like, reach out to people beyond you. And I got this random email from a tech company that was just asking me to try out their product, like, as a customer, they wanted to sell me their product. And instead of scheduling time to demo, I said, actually, I would love to speak with you about becoming a consultant and working with you.

And so putting myself first, and my skill set first, was a great experience, because I got a lot of on the job training about being a consultant. I learned how to network with other people who are engineers, UX, UI, and designers, and really share my expertise with them.

Kevin Pho: So both of you wrote the KevinMD article you’re going to talk more about, “Can collaboration build subject matter expertise?” Now, for those who didn’t get a chance to read this article, Resa, tell us about it.

Resa E. Lewiss: Sure. So the article is a derivation of the book. And basically in the article I share a story.

I had finished training and I had my first real job, when I say real, like full-time, committed to more than nine months, in New York City. And everybody loves visiting New York City. And it’s almost like you go from sitting at the kids’ table to being at the adult table, and I was like, wow, I can invite my friends to come speak now. And these just weren’t random people, these were people that I really respected, their knowledge, their expertise.

So they liked it because they got a trip to New York City, we had the social time together to hang out as friends, they would come to our ultrasound section meeting, and my section members would get the shared expertise, grow their network, my friend could add a line item to their resume.

But so much more happened in those interactions. All of a sudden there were extended collaborations. I just invited them to speak, they started inviting me to speak. Or the section was so fun and kind and eager to learn that all of a sudden we had writing projects that we were doing together, or the person needed help with writing on national policy, or they were going to be running an ultrasound workshop in six months in another part of the country and we all would get invited to go be part of that education conference.

So all these opportunities came up just by that collaboration of inviting a friend to come speak with our group.

Kevin Pho: Resa, it sounds like collaboration like that story that you just told, it also brings those physicians outside of their comfort zones. Because sometimes we feel like we’re a little bit siloed and all we know is what we do in the emergency department, or what I do in primary care. And sometimes these collaborations, it sounds like they can spark things outside their comfort zone, or things that they ordinarily wouldn’t do.

Resa E. Lewiss: 100 percent. And we have written for Harvard Business Review. We like quoting Harvard Business Review articles because they talk about industries, not medicine, but everything they teach in terms of leadership, people management, communication, it’s very relevant to what we do in the hospital.

And so some of my best collaborations have been with people that are not physicians, are not ultrasound. So for example, architects or graphic designers. Diverse teams are productive teams with higher returns on investment, better morale, et cetera, et cetera. So I am full on board with that concept. So I love having people outside of my area join my team for the mutual learning.

Kevin Pho: Adaira, you mentioned earlier on that putting yourself out there was one of the key steps in terms of finding opportunities that ordinarily you wouldn’t find, and you mentioned your story about how you had those consulting opportunities. What about those physicians who may be a little bit more introverted, and putting themselves out there maybe a little bit difficult with them? What kind of advice do you have for those physicians where that doesn’t come naturally to them?

Adaira Landry: You can start small. You can start really small, and you can start with people you trust, people who you feel safe around, and ask them, how did you get X? And start to learn that, hey, this is not as bad.

And yes, maybe there’s going to be a lot of nos or no answers. There’s a common phrase that the worst that can happen is they say no. I actually think there’s something worse, which is that you never asked at all and they would have said yes.

And so I think putting yourself out there, it can be a simple email saying, hey, I’m just interested in a 15 minute chat to discuss how I might be able to add to this project. I think identifying collaborators, people you could work together with, and perhaps that person takes the lead and you’re in second position, so you’re just learning how this is occurring, and sort of desensitizing yourself from whatever fear or anxiety or discomfort you may have with reaching out, is a good first step as well.

I have found a lot of communities of practice. So my biggest interest is really writing. At this point it’s writing and probably secondary at speaking. But I’m in a lot of communities of practice for writing, and I hear from other people very often how they pitch articles or books. And so you learn from them, oh, all they did was just send this email. I asked for templates, what was the template you used, do you mind sharing? And so if you’re in a really safe space, asking these questions will feel welcomed.

Kevin Pho: One of the themes that I have on KevinMD that you probably notice is that I believe that physicians are certainly more than our degrees. And both of you obviously, you wrote the book, you write, speak. So Adaira, specifically with your writing and speaking, tell us how that moved the needle for you professionally.

Adaira Landry: Oh my gosh. I think Resa will attest to this. When it comes to subject matter expertise, showcasing your skill set via writing and speaking, it scales tremendously, as opposed to just showcasing it one-on-one within your own department.

So A, it adds line items to your CV. That’s the most objective measurable outcome that I think academia, or your workplace perhaps, cares about.

But I think beyond that, it’s a source of income, that’s for sure. For writing the book, for some speaking events, there’s an honorarium that can be attached to it. So I think it’s a revenue stream for your audience. I believe there might be some element of burnout, I’ve read a lot of your articles actually, and so I think I can resonate with a lot of people who are looking for additional sources of income just to sort of offload some of the clinical load. So speaking and writing is one of those opportunities.

And I think the networking part, the branding part, like, you’re known for this, can be more visible when you write about that topic and when you speak about that topic, versus if you were to just do local work, small programs at your institution, that again don’t get picked up and no one knows about it, because you’re just doing the programmatic work but it’s not being published or amplified beyond that.

Kevin Pho: Resa, in the article there’s mention about micro skills and how they may contribute to building subject matter expertise. So talk more about that. What are micro skills?

Resa E. Lewiss: Thanks for that question, Kevin. So it’s the basis of how we built the book. And we believe that large goals, large projects, large tasks, even character traits or habits that some people just think are innate, somehow you have it or you don’t, we sort of debunk that. And we really think that all these big things that seem overwhelming can be broken down into small, digestible steps, tasks, skills.

And so the way we illustrate this is, we start with a story, and then we explain to the reader why we think the skill is important. And then, we are human, we are by no means perfect, and we don’t take a holier than thou, we got this. We basically say, listen, we acknowledge why this is hard, or maybe you haven’t incorporated it, or you have felt that you can’t do this, but here are some critical actions. And so we actually illustrate how someone can learn this microskill with critical actions.

And the beauty is, the way the book is, you don’t have to read it cover to cover. You can actually go into a specific skill, or specific challenge you’re having, or something you want to read up on, whether it’s communication, a difficult relationship, navigating for your next job. And those skills build upon each other, they’re additive.

And we think it’s something that works. We all feel overwhelmed at some point by something, and it’s a way of approaching that we think is translatable for many, many instances.

Kevin Pho: So Resa, tell us a story, give us a scenario example where a physician may have learned these micro skills and really built themselves up into a subject matter expertise that perhaps was new to them.

Resa E. Lewiss: Sure. So I found myself completing emergency medicine residency, completing ultrasound fellowship. And one of the reasons why I wrote this book is, we felt like there’s a playbook of how to do things, how to navigate work, that we weren’t given, for different reasons and for some very overlapping reasons.

So I found myself as an instructor, assistant professor, early career physician, not knowing how to get opportunities, not knowing how to gain expertise. I wasn’t getting invited to speak. The one time I got invited to speak, I was invited to give the pelvic ultrasound lecture, which I thought, I was the only woman speaking and so someone assigned me the pelvic ultrasound because only women can speak about pelvises, I guess, I don’t know. But I was really not sure how to start gaining expertise through opportunities.

And so I called one of my friends who is a chair of emergency medicine, and I asked her, I said, people my age and stage are getting invited to give grand rounds and being invited to lecture, what should I be doing, what should I do? And she said, oh, do you want to come be grand rounds at our institution? Yeah, I’ll have my admin reach out to you. And just like that.

I’m a big book person, and so I had around that time read a book called “Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide.” And this does not speak to everybody, but this book spoke to me, because I had not learned to ask. And what I started practicing and doing was asking, and always ready for a no, or maybe even a maybe, but I wouldn’t have the regret, as Adaira just shared, of not asking and I would have gotten the yes.

So in that reach out to my friend for coaching, input, advice, next thing I knew I had a grand rounds opportunity. And so that concept of building expertise through asking, letting people know you’re interested, cannot be undervalued.

Kevin Pho: Adaira, how can one look for opportunities to collaborate? How can they spot opportunities where collaboration would really bring out some of the positive scenarios that you guys talked about here in this episode?

Adaira Landry: So the best way I have done it is via social media, and I know that’s not for everyone. I am on social media not for the purpose of sharing pictures of avocado toast or my kids. I am on it because it is the best and easiest way where I can meet people across the country, across the globe, without having to schedule a meeting, without having to get on a plane and wait for the annual conference.

And so for me it’s been the lowest barrier, the lowest point of entry, to finding people who are like-minded. And so I’m on all sorts of platforms, and I might not post often, but I’m like all in the DMs. And I know being in the DMs feels like a stigmatized, taboo language, but that is where the connections really occur.

And so I commonly will reach out to people and message them saying, hey, I read your post, or I read your article, or I saw that you got this leadership opportunity, or you’re part of this leadership development course. And then I’ll ask them a question. I’m curious, did you like it, how did you get it, is this an annual thing, do you recommend it?

But that’s one way, is by observing others, who around you is doing the work you are interested in, finding the courage, the time, the energy, to go up to them and ask them a targeted question. So not just like, how was it, but like, do you recommend it, what did you gain from it, how did you get it, who nominated you, did you write your own nomination packet? All of those very specific questions that might feel invasive, but they’re going to give you the information to assist you. But I think observation is key.

The second thing, and this is sort of related to building subject matter expertise, is that I wanted to learn from other people and have more mentorship. And in particular I wanted to learn from senior black women, because there weren’t any in my department, I was the most senior person despite being very junior myself.

And so I went to my chair and I said, do you have anyone who you think would be great for me? And he connected me with someone else. And though we don’t necessarily collaborate on projects together, she is demonstrating to me all sorts of leadership skills through our conversation.

So by talking to people and having conversations, they can spot your own gaps and say, you know what you’d be good at, you’d be good at this. So actually, when I had my last meeting with her, she said, the one thing you’re not on that you should be doing is being on nonprofit boards. I had never considered being a board member for nonprofits locally, but it was because she identified an opportunity in me that it became something on my own radar.

Kevin Pho: We’re talking to Resa Lewiss and Adaira Landry. They’re both emergency physicians. The KevinMD article they wrote was “Can collaboration build subject matter expertise? We think so.” They’re also the co-authors of the upcoming book “MicroSkills: Small Actions, Big Impact.” Now I’m going to ask both of you just your take-home messages to the KevinMD audience. Resa, why don’t you go first.

Resa E. Lewiss: I’m going to share two things that may seem like non sequiturs, but there are two things in which I deeply believe.

Number one, trust your gut. Always trust your gut. Whether you’re working clinically, whether you want to write an article, whether you want to collaborate, whether you want to outreach, whether you feel like there was a challenge in that interaction and you’re being gaslit. So positive, negative, and neutral, always trust your gut.

The second, this is a question of what I wish I had been told early in my career that I didn’t know, and that is, start contributing to a retirement account.

Adaira Landry: That’s very true. Don’t forget self-care, self-compassion. I think, yes, what we’re talking about today might sound time intensive and stressful, and if you’re having that reaction, this might not be the best next step for you. And valuing your own mental health, physical health, social health is so important. And only when those are intact would I start adding on other things to your plate, like building of subject matter expertise and networking and all those things. So don’t forget to take care of yourself.

Kevin Pho: Well, thank you both for sharing your perspective and insight, and thanks again for coming on the show.