THE CHALLENGE: My client in the healthcare sector had a short-term assignment in Australia. Whilst there, he had conducted several coaching and mentoring assignments, both at work and in the local community.

As he was in the process of leaving Australia and returning to the UK, he wanted to process these experiences to make sense of them. What experiences could be useful back in the UK?

THE SOLUTION: Whilst referring to a group process, he questioned how rigidly he should stick to the structure, versus being flexible and working more ‘emergently’.  We remembered previous sessions focusing on the stance of a coach being removed from the content, concentrating on instead holding the process.  

Now it was a question of whether to remain true to the process, or to allow some flexibility. To find a way forward, the client had to trust his instincts and come up with creative methods to both hold the process and allow for spontaneity. With the ultimate goal always being in service of group learning.

THE RESULTS: The session ended with an exercise on what to leave behind – those experiences that either did not resonate anymore or would not translate across cultures.  The client wrote his chosen experiences down on a strip of paper and literally threw them one-by-one in the waste bin.  The empowering experiences - or those that can be further built upon -  he wrote on a separate piece of paper to bring with him.