A new job and the change that forced led me recently to examine my coaching practices, to adapt what I’d already done for years to a new context, and to reflect on what I wanted to achieve.

The truth? Familiarity with my old job and its people had cosseted me (gratefully) inside a very happy and safe bubble (and who wouldn’t love this?), so my move delivered an appropriate gentle nudge towards a little well-timed self-development.

And after I’d created my coaching paperwork and then held a few coaching sessions in my new place, what really struck me anew was the value of preparation. And also, that this revelation took me by surprise.

Surprise because I know that a great coaching session takes place when I can give my coachee the best possible space simply to be, to share, and to learn: a process that’s organic and emergent. So won’t preparation interfere with this?

Yes, I firmly believe so. Well, too much preparation that is.  The sort of preparation that will make my sessions over-prescriptive, fill me with preconceived ideas and questions and therefore an inability to listen in the moment to what my coachee wants to share.

Thankfully, my preparation doesn’t look like this. And maybe I’m just more aware of the preparation I’m doing now that in truth I’ve always done, simply because I’m in a new world with some new people?

And my takeaway, lesson learned moment?

To keep learning, to keep reflecting, to keep changing. There’s some pretty good stuff waiting for me outside of the bubble.