A simple physician retention tool: 'How can I support you?'

One of the most effective tools a practice administrator has for keeping physicians may cost nothing: a regular habit of asking how to help.

That's the advice from Stu Schaff, FACMPE, FHFMA, executive director of El Dorado Multispecialty Medical Group and founder and lead advisor of The Best Practice, which helps medical group leaders with physician alignment, operations, recruitment and retention. Schaff, who has worked with more than 100 hospital- and physician-owned groups, presented "Real Physician Alignment: Higher Productivity, Lower Burnout" at the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) 2026 Annual Conference.

In a video interview, Schaff recalled a story from author Simon Sinek about a hotel employee who stayed with his employer because a manager kept asking what would make his job better. Schaff now asks the same thing in his own practice.

"How can I support you? What can I do to make your life easier?" he said.

Schaff explained why physicians and administrators often feel they are speaking different languages, even though both face overloaded schedules and arbitrary goals. He shared questions leaders can ask to uncover what is really behind physician frustration, including what took a physician away from patients that week and what the ideal version of the practice would look like. He also explained why leaders should prepare for defensive moments in those conversations and keep physicians informed as problems are worked out.

Schaff also pointed to a trend discussed in another conference session: As more physicians become employees rather than owners, many lose their sense of ownership in the practice. That session urged leaders to collaborate with physicians rather than simply tell them what to do, an approach Schaff endorsed. And the conversations can't be a one-time exercise.

"It has to be a regular thing where you're continually having these conversations, and that's the best way to make lasting improvement within our practices," he said.

The payoff, he said, builds on itself.

"The more you ask, the more improvement you get, the more you can demonstrate results, the more trust you receive, the more you're asked to support, and so on and so forth, and that really is what drives the practice forward," Schaff said.