Coach trainers’ perspectives and actions on including the climate crisis in their programmes vary widely, and in many cases need updating and expanding to fit the wider context, argues Eve Turner
A decade ago, Peter Hawkins wrote an article for this magazine (Hawkins, 2015) about the seven mindsets from coach training we might need to challenge and unlearn. Included in these mindsets are:
- The client is the person opposite me
- I need to consider only their agenda of what they want
- I leave my experience outside the coaching room
In this article I draw from a survey carried out for the coach training section of Ecological and Climate-Conscious Coaching: A Companion Guide to Evolving Coaching Practice (Whybrow, Turner, McLean, 2023, pp186-194).
As Peter and I prepared for a workshop with hundreds present who were helping with wider book research, it became clear that some coaches felt ‘stuck’ in these mindsets, still drawing from initial training.
The book has 70 contributors who describe their contexts, including how we live in a world of social inequity, increasing gaps between rich and poor, differing health outcomes, and in which many of those experiencing the worst impacts of our climate crisis are the least likely to have caused them. We wondered how well coach training prepares us for our shifting world. Coach training grew within, and therefore to serve, a particular economic system so might it need to shift itself, to serve the wider ecology, and if so, what do we need to transform in our practice and our trainings and our professional bodies?
We had a breadth of responses and here I summarise a few. We’re extremely grateful to the 30 respondents, representing training programmes around the world including the Americas, Europe and Asia. Some were shorter programmes, many were accredited (by the ICF or EMCC, for example) and several were at university level. And we appreciated the challenges they faced in offering detailed programmes often in a relatively short space and feeling time-poor in student contact time. As the respondents were self-selecting and those with an interest in this area were likely to be motivated to complete the survey sent out, we cannot extrapolate if this is typical of training more widely.
Some responses were illustrated with rich examples of how they were demonstrating an interdependency with nature, for example, coaching outdoors and forest bathing. Others referenced systemic working, showing how they’re engaging with this rapidly emerging context. Half the respondents included this area in their programmes in imaginative ways, attracted to the survey because of their interest in ecology.
The responses also highlight some areas of discussion, concerns, different approaches and opinions, and potential opportunities ahead. Some respondents felt time pressure within their programmes precluded the introduction of this area and some felt it was more appropriate for a CPD module rather than for main training. Some felt it was inappropriate, perceiving the individual as the key focus. Others wanted ideas and help in developing this area, and some wanted both support from, and even its inclusion being mandated by, their accrediting coaching professional bodies. The diversity of responses mirrors the diversity across the field of coaching practice, and our diversity as humans as we awaken and become aware and explore how to respond.
What are trainers currently doing or choosing not to do?
At the start of the survey, we ask what people are currently doing, if anything, in their coaching programmes to address climate change and the ecological crisis. This selection of quotes from respondents gives an idea of the breadth of views and of specific actions being taken:
- “I train (practitioners), not climate specialists.”
- “Exploring explicitly the sense of being nested in systems which go right out to the ecosystem, and working explicitly at times with clients’ questions about how to engage with climate change, including the process of bringing it into their coaching with their clients.”
- “The catering is 100% vegetarian / vegan and biologically produced. And instead of serving water bottles I offer my participants tap water. And the coffee capsules are 100% biodegradable. The tableware is made of bamboo and biodegradable as well.”
- “Our course focuses on ICF 11 core competencies, as it leads to ICF ACC credentialing and thus follows its requirements.”
- “Systemic coaching by Hawkins and Turner is on the recommended reading list. A whole module on my programme looks at systemic coaching. In a video resource I provide and in live discourse we discuss how climate and environment might enter discussions as part of the system.”
- “It is not appropriate to push an agenda in a coaching course. Climate change is an undeniably important issue. But in a non-directive coaching programme in which individual beliefs are valued, it is not the place to preach. The way in which the climate change agenda is being forcibly presented can appeared politicised, anarchistic and anti-capitalist.”
Resources
In terms of resources now available, the book, Systemic Coaching (Hawkins & Turner 2020) and Neil’s Wheel, a free coaching tool developed by Neil Scotton, were mentioned a few times. The book the research was done for (Whybrow, Turner, & McLean, 2023) is another resource, sharing approaches, ideas, tools and discussion topics.
Next steps and shifts
We also asked: “What plans do you have to bring climate change and the ecological crisis into your programmes in future?”
The breakdown of responses points to the challenges trainers are feeling, with a range of ideas and pulls:
- “We are also looking to give our school an ecological and social purpose. We are participating in citizen and client initiatives on air quality and communicate actively on the topic.”
- “Again, our focus is on meeting ICF requirements, thus we would amend our course if and when ICF includes climate change and the ecological crisis in its requirements.”
- “I would be open to including this if potential clients begin to talk about wanting/needing this topic, but I’m not 100% convinced an advocacy role is appropriate for coach training…”
The next question asked was: “What shifts need to happen to enable you to bring climate change and the ecological crisis into your programmes in the future?”
Here we can see that trainers have different pulls on their limited time, and for many, where they’re running accredited programmes, meeting accrediting body requirements is a huge part of their focus.
- “As with a politicised agenda, students are free to respectfully raise and discuss this topic, but it is not my place as tutor to influence what people think in any one direction. Individuals must decide for themselves based on facts and knowledge.”
- “A shift in ICF requirements.”
- “I need more education and understanding about the ‘how’ to accomplish this, including what others are doing and what are the results.”
- “Better understanding of how this fits more in the modules I need to deliver to meet criteria for the EMCC programme.”
We then asked trainers what help they most needed to make these shifts happen, and again the role of the professional bodies is a clear theme. Some trainers believe that the bodies requiring its inclusion is central.
- “This is just a thought at this moment, but I wonder if we could create an environment where learning about the climate crisis is mandatory or strongly encouraged, just as learning about ethics is mandatory in ICF’s continuing education.”
- “Right now I just need some ideas. If an idea is appealing to me, I will apply it.”
- “None. Once it is mandated by ICF, we will include it.”
- “The professional bodies to take a clearer stand on this, that would give permission to coaches to bring this topic to the conversation with the clients.”
- “…relevant resources with a direct link to coaching, further than the systemic discussion already happening. It needs to become built in and relevant to each of the competencies in the EMCC competence framework. Or built in the same way of inclusivity and diversity, as a golden thread.”
Joint statement and codes of ethics
In May 2020 five professional bodies published a joint statement on the climate and ecodiversity crises. This move could be seen as both highlighting the importance of this topic and even giving the permission some trainers, as seen in responses, seek for its inclusion. Of the training bodies taking part, 50% had heard of the Joint Statement (Joint Global Statement Group, 2020), 43.33% hadn’t heard of it and 6.67% were unsure, and 20% mentioned the statement to students. There are now 13 signatories in what is known as the JGSG which includes coaching, coaching psychology, mentoring and supervision bodies (the AC, APAC, APECS, BPS DofCP, CCA, COMENSA, EASC, EMCC, GSN, IAC, ICF, IoC, ISCP), with a combined total of around 300,000 members. The collaboration is ongoing and includes regular meetings and events. The statement and name are currently being updated.
The topic of the climate and ecodiversity crisis is already beginning to be highlighted in codes of ethics:
- ICF Code of Ethics (2020):
28. Am aware of my and my clients’ impact on society. I adhere to the philosophy of “doing good” versus “avoiding bad”.
- Global Code of Ethics (2021):
2.8 Members should be guided by their client’s interests and at the same time raise awareness and responsibility to safeguard that these interests do not harm those of sponsors, stakeholders, wider society, or the natural environment.
3.8 Members will engage in professional development activities that contribute to increased self-awareness in relation to inclusion, diversity, technology, latest developments in changing social and environmental needs.
This suggests the way is being set, and we need to communicate this more, for trainers and those training. And that the professional bodies have a continuing and developing role in this field, as with diversity, equity and inclusion and ethics, for example. Ideally there will be further research to monitor how this is changing.
Cavanagh and Turner (2023, p.351) suggest that “coaches, mentors and supervisors cannot and do not sit separate from these issues.” They argue that in a systemic world where all systems – social, economic and environmental – are intimately connected, “if we as coaches are to ethically respond to these challenges we need to firstly examine the paradigms we bring to our work.”
When I speak to groups in workshops or conferences I now wonder about these questions with participants: What is our role as coaches, mentors, coaching psychologists and supervisors? Is it to maintain, support and anchor how things are, which may sustain an inequitable, unsustainable system? Is that OK for us? If not, how might we be part of deeper transformations?
These aren’t simple questions with simple answers, and they may challenge how we were trained and our view of our roles in a changing, complex VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) and BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible; Cascio, 2020) world. As we look at the world, these are questions, we at least need to reflect and dialogue on, as we consider our legacy, always with ethics at the core of our practice, including the needs of our clients, and all the systemic levels of which they’re a part.
- With thanks to Professor Peter Hawkins PhD for his editing and suggestions.
|
Response |
Percentage |
Number (n=30) |
|
We already bring this into our programmes |
50 |
15 |
|
We have plans to bring this into our programmes |
10 |
3 |
|
We have no plans to bring this into our programmes |
40 |
12 |
FIGURE 1
References and further info
- Cascio, J. (2022). Human Responses to a BANI World. Medium, Oct 21st. https://medium.com/@cascio/human-responses-to-a-bani-world-fb3a296e9cac
- Cavanagh, M., & Turner E. (2023). Ethics and the ecological environment in coaching – Searching for a new paradigm. In W-A Smith, J. Passmore, E. Turner, Y-L Lai and D. Clutterbuck (eds.), The Ethical Coaches’ Handbook – A Guide to Developing Ethical Maturity in Practice: Routledge.
- Hawkins, P. (2015). Cracking the shell. Coaching at Work, 10(2), 42-45.
- Hawkins, P. & Turner, E. (2020). Systemic Coaching – Delivering Value Beyond the Individual. Routledge.
- Joint Global Statement (2020). https://www.jgsg.one/joint-global-statement/
- Neil’s Wheel (2024). https://neilswheel.org/
- Whybrow, A., Turner, E., & McLean, J., with Hawkins, P. (2023). Ecological and Climate-Conscious Coaching: A Companion Guide to Evolving Coaching Practice. Routledge.
About the author
- Eve Turner has co-written/edited four books along with many chapters and articles. A past chair of APECS, Eve also volunteers for the AC and EMCC. She is a co-author of the Joint Statement on Climate Change. Eve set up the Global Supervisors’ Network and co-founded the Climate Coaching Alliance. She has won nine international awards for coaching, supervision, writing and research, most recently the 2023 EMCC’s Global Special President’s award.
VOL 20 ISSUE 2