June is my favorite month of the year, ushering in the beginning of summer, outdoor celebrations, and my birthday!
Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of researching and learning about different DEIB topics for JST Coaching & Training and recently hosted a webinar series: Social Justice in Coaching.
The 5-week series evolved into a discussion space about equity, equality, and justice in coaching, with participants joining from Canada, Spain, and the U.S.
Questions we pondered included:
- What might equity and justice look like in coaching?
- How can we work towards recognizing and dismantling barriers in coaching?
- How can we move from allies to accomplices in our work?
Equity in coaching requires us to provide everyone with access to the resources needed to be successful as a coach or client by providing welcoming, non-judgmental coaching spaces, using inclusive language, and continuing to seek out educational experiences related to DEIB.
We explored the notion that justice in coaching should mean acknowledging and dismantling barriers to access coaching.
One barrier we discussed was the cost to earn an ICF coaching credential and how that is likely contributing to the dearth of Black and Hispanic non-white coaches with an ICF credential (note: ICF membership numbers show 9.48% of ICF members are African American or Black, while 2.27% are Hispanic, non-white, and 27% have a disclosed disability). As a coach who recently earned my PCC credential, I can attest to the expense.
Another barrier we discussed was how the norms and language of coaching are geared towards white Americans. Our solutions to dismantling barriers ranged from holding ourselves accountable to being more inclusive coaches to completing dismantling ICF as it exists now!
What are your thoughts about existing barriers in coaching and ways to dismantle them?
As we wrapped up our series, we shared ideas on working with neurodiverse clients and ways to keep the momentum going after our class. I hope to continue working with our JST graduates in ways related to DEIB and Social Justice in the coming year.
Stay tuned! If you have any topics you would like us to cover in a webinar, please let us know.