Workshop: Shifting Lenses: Integrating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into Our Coaching

Across the world, leaders are grappling with finding effective ways to grow the diversity of their workforce and create equitable and inclusive work environments across remote, in-person, and hybrid settings. Coaches play a crucial role in supporting executives, leaders, and teams who are implementing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) initiatives.

This workshop will enable you to deepen your exploration of DEIB issues as they impact what, how, and who you coach. Hear about lived experience from the facilitators, who are a small group of coaches and coaching supervisors working across the globe with a shared interest in DEIB-informed coaching. Together, we will walk through the journey of how to develop and enrich a DEIB-informed coaching lens.

This interactive workshop uses a systemic lens, with an emphasis on pragmatic skill-building through reflection and experiential learning. A coach’s DEIB lens can be beautifully balanced with a client-centered approach through ongoing reflective practices and evidence-informed approaches. Through small-group and plenary discussion, you will explore unconscious bias and its relationship to systemic bias. As we shift our perspective to those we coach, we will touch on inclusive leadership, psychological safety, and allyship, followed by an invitation to participate in a role play activity.

After you capture the learning from the experiential practice, the facilitators will present a brief demonstration of the “dance” of coaching a client-led and DEIB-informed session. This will be followed by recommendations for reflective practices that you can apply to your ongoing work.