How Coaching Works

What’s Your Approach to Coaching? We view antiracism coaching as a collaborative and iterative process that supports people to explore new ideas, make new connections, and find concrete solutions. Grounded in deep listening and active engagement, our coaching aims to build relationships, build leadership, and build power.

Who Should Consider Coaching? People often come to us for coaching when they’re ready to confront race and equity, but don’t know where to start. Or they’ve started to make changes in their lives or organization but they’re feeling stuck. We find coaching is most valuable when clients arrive with a specific challenge or question in mind as opposed to trying to tackle everything at once or responding to a crisis.

How Do I Get Started? We begin with an initial conversation to discuss your needs and gauge readiness. Are you reacting to a recent incident or dealing with ongoing challenges? Do you have the support of leadership or buy-in from your team? When you’re ready to move forward, we agree on a timeline and expectations. We also discuss who will be involved in the coaching process to make sure it’s as participatory as possible. 

What Does Coaching Look Like? We take clients through a series of discussions and exercises to define your vision for equity and identify strategies for taking action. We also help you identify the supports you need to work toward your equity goals and navigate the tensions, missteps, and difficult emotions that can come up in this process.

How Long Does Coaching Last? We offer coaching on a short-term and longer-term basis for individuals and teams. Coaching can range from reference desk sessions that include 1 - 2 hours of dedicated support to engagements that can last 3 - 6 months for action planning, skills building, and convening.

What Else I Should Know? Making change when it comes to equity is hard. Maintaining change is even harder. Our coaching is designed to make changes that you can sustain, scale, and repeat. We will also work with you to develop a clear understanding of your impact beyond the usual metrics. Our job is to make sure you have the tools to start and stay on the journey toward racial equity and antiracism.