Coaching…… Risk and Comfort Zones With Everest Mountaineer Adele Pennington

28th June, 2011 - Posted by bethcurl - No Comments

In June, the Cumbria Coaching Network organised a day workshop, Coaching …….. Risk and Comfort Zones, with Everest mountaineer Adele Pennington. What a brilliant and inspirational day!

As one of the organisers, I arrived early to help set up and met Adele. I was immediately struck by the dynamic energy and warmth of this 4 foot 10” mountaineer . I spotted a piece of kit and asked “is that a crevasse ladder?” My mind was now racing with the possibilities of what we were going to do with it.

We didn’t have to wait long. The ladder had hinges and was set up as a bridge with 3 rungs up, 6 rungs across and 3 rungs down. For the icebreaker (no puns intended) Adele asked us to get as many of the group (25) to walk across the ladder; we reduced the risk by holding hands with supporters on the ground at each side. After health and safety warnings and telling people that it was their choice whether or not they crossed the ladder, all but one of the group crossed the ladder (the one abstainer wisely decided it was not the thing to do with a dodgy hip).

The group was, by now, well and truly energised and we toured four charts in groups recording or How We Changed Physically, How We Felt, How We Behaved, How We Thought and then discussed the emerging themes.

Next we explored whether we were Risk Takers or Risk Adverse. Adele showed us four photos of seemingly hazardous activities, a rock climb, a rafting trip for school children, a winter climb on Ben Nevis and scrambling in the Lake District. We individually rated the risk of each activity between 1 and 5 and then compared our ratings in a group. We discovered that we had all rated these experiences differently and some of the factors which affected our assessment of risk were:

Previous experience of the activity
Knowledge of activity
Whether we liked / disliked adventurous sports
Observation of details which mitigated the risk
Knowing someone who had done the activity and been injured
An assumption that if children were involved it must be safe (in fact Adele rated the rafting trip as most hazardous)
Age – some of us had eagerly done these activities when we were younger, but might not wish to do so now.

I discovered that I regarded these activities to be less hazardous, than most of my companions, as I had done all except the rafting in my youth. However, when I completed a questionnaire about attitudes to risk that covered many more everyday activities, I came out as a low risk taker – a profile that I recognised.

After coffee, Adele talked about her journey from “The Office to the Mountain”, in which she told us of her life and career, starting with climbing Snowdon at the age of 6 in wind and rain and declaring the same evening that she was going to climb Everest! Adele has a degree in Chemistry and taught chemistry for a number of years, before deciding to follow her passion and become a professional mountaineer. Adele told us about several of her expeditions to 8000 metre peaks, including Makalu, Choy Oyu and Everest both as a climber and leader and talked about the risks she has taken and the way she manages herself and her clients through their comfort zones to the top of the world.

No risk of a graveyard slot, as Adele, like all good trainers, recognised that we needed energising – so the ladder came out again – this time with a blindfold! The task was to get as many of the team across the ladder blindfolded. And surprisingly about 75% of the group rose to the challenge! You could really feel the level of support for the ladder-walkers, and the sense of achievement as they did something outside their comfort zones. We noted that as supporters and coaches, we all became more attentive and serious as we supported someone going beyond their comfort zone.

We explored our perceptions of comfort zones, stretch zones (just outside the comfort Zone) and the panic zone ( well outside your comfort zone) and again found that comfort zones are personal and individual. Something that is within the comfort zone for one person may be outside it for someone else. We agreed that to always operate within your comfort zone could be boring and limiting and that to learn, grow and develop, we need to spend time in our stretch zone.

We then moved on to thinking about how we could apply this in our work as coaches and facilitators of learning and development. We came up with some useful questions to address:

How to Help Someone Identify Their Comfort Zone

With your life and work at present, what is within your comfort zone and what is on the edge or outside your comfort zone?
What do you find easy?
What do you find challenging in your role?
Are these things in your comfort zone or outside?
How far outside?
What do you tend to avoid?
How would your best friend describe you?
How would you describe yourself?
How does being asked to do “X” make you feel?
On a scale of 1 to 10 how comfortable do you feel being asked to do…?
How would you like to be operating? And where are you now in relation to this?
If I asked you to do “x” how would you feel?

How to Help Someone Move Beyond their Comfort Zone

Can you paint a picture of what you would like to be doing?
What’s holding you back?
What would a metaphor be for the thing that is stopping you?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you want to go out there?
What examples have you got in your life, when you have stepped beyond your comfort zone?
What one small step could you take?
What’s the worst possible thing that could happen?
What’s your gut reaction if I ask you to do this?
If you imagine you are there already, what would it feel like?
What’s your way of picking up a challenge?
What practical things can you do to move to extend the boundaries of your comfort zone?
What action would get you to the edge of your comfort zone?
Who might be able to help you with this?
What resources do you need?
What advice would you give to someone else in this situation?
What would your best friend do?
What will happen if you don’t do this?

The feedback on the day was brilliant, we all found Adele inspirational and came away reinvigorated with learning to apply in our own lives and work.

If you are looking for an inspirational speaker and facilitator to inspire your people to grow to the next level, then I thoroughly recommend Adele Pennington and will be happy to make the introduction.

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