When was the last time you stepped outside your comfort zone?

I was thinking about this on my walk this morning as it’s around three years since Louise Rodgers and I started to create our podcast Coaches On The Couch. Broadcasting isn’t my natural home, but I find people fascinating and enjoy a challenge. So, when we were exploring ways to reconnect with people and contribute to the leadership debate during the first lockdown this step outside my comfort zone seemed exciting and worthwhile. Some self-coaching to let go of the need for immediate excellence and a conscious leap outside of my comfort zone and we’re now almost three years and 50 + episodes on. It’s still work in progress and that’s fine.

I’m telling this story as encouraging and supporting clients to step outside of their comfort zones is an important aspect of my role of a coach.  Whether that step for my client is to place faith in a team member to deliver an important task, to speak up more in meetings, to tackle a difficult conversation they’ve been procrastinating about or to increase their networking activity – outside of comfort zones is where the increased confidence and learning happens.

For example, one of my past coachees had been promoted and one of their reasons for seeking coaching was that they wanted to raise their external profile. Through initial discussions it became clear that they feared public speaking, didn’t think they had anything to offer as a panel speaker and they were therefore saying no to opportunities which were presented. The coaching process supported by increasing confidence, motivating them to say yes to the first opportunity and then helping them to prepare, reflect afterwards and so say yes again. The process also explored other profile-raising activities which played to their strengths.

I recently collaborated with the brilliant Architects Steve McCloy and Bongani Muchemwa at McCloy Muchemwa to illustrate different aspects of coaching. Below is the latest in the series – it’s about comfort zones!