How can we compassionately, collectively and effectively surface and address white privilege and fragility in coaching practice and the coaching profession?
This was an overarching theme a lively gathering of coaches began to explore, in a conversation about white privilege and fragility hosted online on 13 April by Coaching at Work editor and leadership coach Liz Hall with executive coach and supervisor, Fenella Trevillion.
Topics that emerged included the value of allyship as coaches and mentors, of speaking out as white practitioners, and the importance of attending to and working with emotions. In this territory, there is a lot of reactiveness and deep-rooted defensiveness, there can be fear about getting it wrong, guilt and shame, too.
Among the reasons participants gave for attending were desires “to explore the concept of white fragility more deeply”, to “look at collective action for us as a profession beyond individual and one-to-one awareness”, to explore, surface and define unseen white privilege, to ensure “exploring the coach as activist… are we just protectors of the status quo?”, to “identify how in my coaching I can raise issues of privilege with those who are benefitting from it”, to ensure “ I can hold the space for my BAME clients to work through their experiences without me showing unconscious bias”, to “explore further how to bring difference to be of service to coachee, without othering” and to “connect with others who are sitting with these questions”.
There was a strong sense among those attending of wanting to keep building momentum. Options for next steps being explored include setting up a multi-party organisation to promote and attend to race equity in coaching, along the lines of the Climate Coaching Alliance. Other options are launching a reading circle, developing workshops and other resources, a group exploring whiteness, another on how to change coaching practice, and setting up a network for coaches on the topic of race.
Trevillion shared her own journey of awakening which recently included an aha moment that it wasn’t right or helpful to rely on getting answers from colleagues of colour – that white people need to do their own work. She wrote about her journey in the last issue of Coaching at Work.
Meanwhile, the CIPD has partnered with Business in the Community (BITC) to issue new practical guidance for organisations that have signed the Race at Work Charter. Their Meeting the Race at Work Charter: an employer’s guide, provides detailed, research-backed recommendations on how to meet each of the commitments in the charter, and signposts to further resources which support race inclusion.
BITC’s charter, set up in 2018 in collaboration with the UK government, aims to ensure that ethnic minority employees are represented at all levels in an organisation and calls on employers to take practical steps to foster race inclusion by committing to five calls to action:
- Appoint an executive sponsor for race
- Capture ethnicity data and publicise progress
- Commit at board level to zero tolerance of harassment and bullying
- Make clear that supporting equality in the workplace is the responsibility of all leaders and managers
- Take action that supports ethnic minority career progression
Find out more
- Read Fenella Trevillion’s article from last issue here: https://bit.ly/3v63F2a
- If you’re interested in joining our ongoing exploration of how we can do more to address white privilege, uncover our unconscious biases, improve coaching practice, and bring about shifts in the coaching profession, email: Liz Hall: liz@coaching-at-work.com or Fenella Trevillion: fenella.trevillion@gmail.com