June 2022 President's Letter

President's Letter

JUNE 2022

PRIDE IN COACHING 2022

At ICFTN, we’re celebrating Pride Month with a series of events called Pride in Coaching. Our events are designed to build awareness, honor, and recognize the influence and impact of LGBTQ+ coaches and their clients. ICFTN and its board of directors are committed to creating an inclusive, welcoming place for all coaches to build community and learn.

This month-long recognition is about how our Chapter wants to BE versus what it wants to DO. As a community of ICF coaches, we agree to BE in alignment with the ICF Core Values and ICF Ethics. We agree to coach in alignment with the ICF Core Competencies. These standards are more than just words on paper and screen. As ICF Professional Coaches, it’s how we show up in the world.

During our Pride in Coaching celebration, I ask you to consider these questions:

• How can we create a coaching environment built on authenticity?

• How can we create a confidential setting where the client feels emotionally safe and supported?

• How can we as coaches demonstrate an understanding and respect for our client’s interests, values, concerns, and identity?

• How can we enable the client to feel accepted, be honest about their thoughts and feelings, and feel safe to share their experiences?

Here are some tips to get us started. Remember, the language we use matters, so make a point to use the correct, inclusive terminology to show your client you are aware of who they are and that it matters. The updated ICF Core Competencies serve as a role model; they have adopted the use of non-gender-specific pronouns.

Second, review the ICF Core Competencies, specifically Competencies 1 and 2. They ask the coach to be familiar with the application of having a coaching mindset, being curious, flexible, and client centered.

Along with being a month-long celebration, Pride in Coaching is an opportunity for ICFTN to stand up as a proud ally for the LGBTQ+ Community and raise awareness of current issues facing our coach community. Please join me on June 22 at 12 pm CT for an ICFTN Live Event. I’ll interview Sara Taylor, LGBTQ+ Coach and Inclusion Trainer, for a fabulous conversation on allyship in coaching.

There are many ways to support Pride Month; I hope you will find a way to attend the many street parties, community events, and festivals across the State of Tennessee. Pride Month is important because it marks the start of change within the LGBTQ+ community and broader societal implications.

At ICFTN, we continue to raise awareness, improve society’s perspectives, and encourage inclusiveness through our coaching. We promote everyone’s right to dignity, equality, and self-affirmation.  

Please follow us on social media, subscribe to our email list, or text ICFTN to 55444 to join our inclusive coach community or visit us at www.icftn.org.

Remember, if you’re a coach, you belong at ICFTN.

Brenda Baird

2022 ICFTN President
[email protected]