By Liz Hall
In a historic move, five professional coaching, mentoring and supervision professional bodies have signed a global statement committing to collaborative action and a collective voice on the climate and biodiversity crisis.
The bodies are the Association for Coaching, the Asia Pacific Alliance of Coaches, the Association for Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision, the European Mentoring & Coaching Council, and the International Coach Federation.
In a joint statement, representatives from the bodies said:
“Given our role in developing individuals, and in creating social value, we have committed to work together to play our part in addressing the climate emergency. We recognise that no one body will have sufficient impact, and that the facts of the ecological crisis are compelling, so the five bodies have undertaken several joint commitments.
“Raising awareness and knowledge with our members and providing a safe and challenging space for them to reflect on and reconsider their role and their practice are central. The bodies will regularly review and revise their shared commitments and active promises in light of the shifting landscape and we will continue to pool resources and model collective leadership.”
The statement highlights how “humankind faces one of its biggest challenges in the current climate and biodiversity crisis” and notes how in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, people have swiftly “changed their behaviours in response to the pandemic… come together to collaborate, share resources and do what needs to be done in the face of danger”, suggesting that such a response “provides many clues and possibilities for useful actions as we face the ongoing greater threats to our climate and ecology which equally provides us with a landscape of learning”.
“Coaching and mentoring are ultimately concerned with developing the potential of human beings, of raising awareness to enable people to take responsibility for their actions and ownership for their contribution. Coaches have a significant role to play in creating a new way of being in service to a healthy human society and a healthy planet.”
The statement sets out that as a collective of professional bodies, they make a number of joint commitments (see below) based on two principal acknowledgements: that pace of learning is critical and that well-informed coaches and mentors building on the core skills of raising awareness and responsibility, envisioning and positive mindset, are well-placed to make a significant contribution in this area.
- Read the full statement here: https://bit.ly/2YfAnRn
Commitments from the AC, APAC, APECS, EMCC and ICF to address the reality and urgency of the climate emergency
- Raising awareness and knowledge with our members through sharing information and research
- Creating safe and challenging spaces for coaches, mentors and supervisors to reflect on and reconsider their role and their practice
- Raising awareness and offering support to our clients to enable them to redesign their organisations in response to changing needs and good practices
- Collaborating to share knowledge between professional bodies and pool resources for free access by all coaches, without membership. We will model the behaviour we seek and always collaborate not compete
- Developing our thinking and research to further consider how coaching and mentoring can serve to support society’s transformation through our client work
- Working towards carbon neutrality in our events and activities
- Continuing to seek and invite other professional bodies to sign up to this commitment
- Regularly reviewing and revising these shared commitments and active promises as our understanding and our landscape continue to shift