Let’s take this for a walk…
Yesterday on a Lead the Way programme for Aviva in Perth, my colleague invited participants to leave their chairs behind and head out for a walk-and-talk coaching conversation.
As people paired up and started moving, I was reminded once again of the quiet power of coaching on the move.
I recalled a moment from a few years ago, when I was asked: “Where is the best place for a coaching conversation?”
I think I’ve coached in just about every setting you can imagine.
These days it’s more often on Zoom or Teams.
However, over the last few years, it’s also been parks and beachfronts as well as offices, hotel receptions, coffee shops, trains, planes, taxis, corridors, and more conversations in my own living room than I ever expected when I first trained as a coach.
What I’ve learned is this: Coaching conversations can happen anywhere.
But the best place is always the one where the coachee feels safe, at ease, and able to speak freely about what really matters.
Like yesterday, walking together added something extra.
Participants tend to be calmer, less tense, and more open than when sitting in a chair.
The shared movement can soften the intensity, reduce the pressure of eye contact, and help thoughts flow more easily.
Research also shows that it boosts creativity and cognitive flexibility.
A change of scenery often helps to change the conversation.
It shifts the energy, the pace, and sometimes the insights too.
What matters most, though, is presence.
Being fully there, in mind, body, and spirit.
Two people genuinely paying attention to one another and actively listening.
In one conversation I had yesterday, somehow the topic of Gleneagles Hotel arose.
And yes, for the record, one of the very best places I have ever coached was the restaurant there… where the coaching came with a beautiful lunch that my client kindly paid for!
I remain open to repeating that particular environment once more! 😉
Commonly leadership development looks like frameworks and models.
But in my experience, sometimes it looks like a good walk, an open conversation, and making time for some space to think.
How does changing the setting change the conversation for you?
