Finishing your residency training is like finally graduating from the US Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center as the top gun.

You might indeed be the best air-fighting pilot out there, but in the war zone, you and your team have to fly in formation, dodging perilous fires while trying to shoot the enemies down.

Now, in everyday medical practice, there may not be as much of an adrenaline rush—except maybe during codes—but we’re definitely not flying solo (not even in a solo practice!).

Being team captain vs. top pilot is undoubtedly quite a different game altogether—something our traditional medical training under-equips us for.

It’s a long and painstaking process to go from being a “me” thinker to “we” thinker, and as the team leader, mobilizing your entire team to progress through the metamorphosis can be a daunting task!

Here are 5 stages of evolution along the “Me-We” continuum:

Some thoughts to reflect on this week:

1. At my practice, what stage of the “Me-We” continuum am I?
2. How about my team?
3. How can we progress to the next stage now?