Inside physician engagement: Why executives struggle to earn trust

Bill Heller, chief operating officer at CHG Healthcare, unpacks one of the starkest findings from the 2025 Physician Sentiment Survey: physicians are significantly more likely to trust their direct supervisors than the executives running their organizations.

According to the survey, 57% of physicians say they trust their immediate supervisors, compared with just 41% who trust executive leadership. Heller says the gap isn’t surprising — and it isn’t unique to health care. Trust, he argues, is shaped by proximity. Supervisors are embedded in the day-to-day realities of clinical work, while executives can appear distant, abstract or disconnected from frontline pressures.

That distance can easily be misread as indifference. When leaders are invisible, don’t ask questions or fail to listen, physicians may perceive them as tone-deaf to staffing shortages, administrative burden and workflow challenges.

Heller says executives can start closing that gap by showing up more often, holding listening sessions and engaging directly with clinicians about daily operations. Humanizing leadership — not just issuing directives — can go a long way toward rebuilding trust and making physicians feel seen, heard and supported.