Expanding the coaching space to welcome stories that challenge our worldview related to culture,race and oppression
By Brian Duggan MCC MA (Coaching)
As a coach I desire to create a space where clients feel safe and free be present (and I with them) as we connect person-to-person, with our whole selves. To be in this space I hold the intention to partner with others to expand and deepen our cultural awareness so that we can be better prepared to meet, with deeper understanding of, the impact of historical and generational experience on our coaching relationship.
One of my preferred ways to resource myself to expand my world view is through reading. Reading stories told by people with voices other than mine offer me a glimpse of their experience. Appreciating that I read with my own limited worldview keeps me in a state of unknowing, a way of being essential to coaching. (A note: reading does not replace connecting with another person in dialogue, it is simply more accessible for me.)
The intention of this post is to invite you the reader, to discover your preferred way to expand your worldview. As an example of my process, I offer brief reflections on four books that I have read in the last few months. Each in their own way has given me a glimpse of how a history of racism and oppression may influence the lives of clients. They also invite me to ponder the core coaching competency of coaching the whole person.
Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation, Murray Sinclair CC and Mazina Giizhik, McClelland & Stewart, 2024.
This is an autobiography of one of the co-chairs of the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the Indigenous experience of Residential Schools. Along with reading and feeling the experience of abuse and cultural genocide, I was struck by the desire of the Commission to create space where stories could be told. These are stories that otherwise many have never been heard by Canadians. Stories like these could be told by coaching clients. This makes it possible that the coaching space, when open to listening without judgement, could become a space where healing stories can be told.
Reconciling History A Story of Canada, Jody Wilson-Raybould, Puglaas and Roshan Danesh, McClelland & Stewart, 2024.
Written from an Indigenous world view this book re-tells the history of Canada and urges all Canadians to listen to more than the traditional colonial story. Here is an opportunity to appreciate that the Indigenous view of history is grounded in historical evidence, continue to influence how Indigenous communities live and the tangible expressions of reconciliation that are yet to come. Again, this book supports a coaches’ awareness of the roots of challenges that some clients may face.
Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement A Radical Vision, Barbara Ransby, The University of North Carolina Press, 2nd Edition 2024.
This book was mentioned by a participant of a supervision group. Ella Baker, a civil rights leader in the United States, who lived and fought for basic rights for Black Americans, is a new prophet in myworld. This is a passionate, intersectional study of the commitment, sacrifice and courage that was present not only in the life of Ella Baker but also in the lives of hundreds of civil rights leaders in the early 20th and the 21st centuries. Their legacy lives on and their work is unfinished. Coaches, here is a story of the complexity that can be present in the history and desires of our clients.
King A Life, Jonathan Eig, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023.
Pretty much everyone knows something about Martin Luther King Jr. This book, written by a white male, seems at first to be just another journalist’s view of a modern-day prophet. However, as the story unfolds and the racialized violence of white leaders, police, politicians and citizens becomes more evident, the author challenges the fragility of whiteness when confronted with peaceful protests towards being recognized as citizens with rights. The tendency to hold on to power as coaches, and as white people, is not only oppressive but also is an obstacle to coaches creating space for meeting clients and their goals.Becoming aware of stories such as those mentioned above support my learning and limited awareness of how history and culture impacts myself and others. By holding myself accountable to recognize the impact of culture, history, oppression and holding onto power in my life as a coach I am engaged in the journey of discovering how I can engage in person-to-person conversations more fully.
What are possible conscious and unconscious thought patterns in your choice of reading?