The following is published in, and reproduced with permission from, choice, the magazine of professional coaching www.choice-online.
Sascha is a seasoned coach I met years ago when we were both new to the profession. Our relationship evolved from practice peers to mentor/mentee to friends, so I was surprised to see her urgent appointment on my calendar.
“I think I need coaching supervision,” she wrote. “My newest client is a Black female recently promoted to a senior leadership role. I want to be the best coach possible for her and need a
sounding board. So I thought of you.”
I was thrilled by Sascha’s commitment to her client. If only more coaches sought support when coaching across color lines! This is essential, because most “coaching across color lines” involves
white people like Sascha coaching BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) clients. And many well-intentioned white coaches end up propping up oppression or causing outright harm.
I know this because I’ve worked with BIPOC clients who have been harmed by other coaches. I know this because I’ve been that harmful coach. And I know this because I’m not just a professional coach, but a 30-year veteran of the DEI, anti-racism and intercultural fields. In fact, my coach training was a rigorous year-long program with an anti-racist, social justice foundation and BIPOC faculty.
Through working with Sascha (not her real name), I realized that the following six keys make all the difference in coaching across color lines.
1. DO YOUR PERSONAL WORK
This is priority number one. First, be all of your authentic selves, and not someone else. As a racially ambiguous, multilingual white person who has spent more of her life around BIPOC than white people, I can code-switch to connect with BIPOC clients – but this is authentic to my lived experience, not performative.
Second, commit to dismantling internalized white supremacy. Examine your motives and attitudes about coaching across color lines. BIPOC clients don’t need a white person to save or fix them,
nor are they there to educate you. Third, develop genuine confidence – expand your capacity to trust yourself, take risks, make mistakes and recover.
Coaching across color lines (“DEI coaching”) is not about walking on eggshells, overly deferring to or caretaking your client, or beating yourself up for missteps. As in all healthy relationships there will be ruptures, so we must get skilled at repair.
To read the other 5 KEYS*, access the hard copy here!
(**And if you’re interested in reading more choice articles, use my special coupon code, AUTHOR25, to receive a 25% discount off a print, digital or combo subscription: www.choice-online.com/catalogue)
A comment from Dr. Natalie Mejia on LinkedIn:
Susana, this is such an important and powerful piece. Your framework for coaching across color lines is both practical and deeply insightful, especially as it challenges us to do the internal work required to truly honor and validate the lived experiences of BIPOC clients.
For me, as a BIPOC coach, ‘believe the client and validate their reality’ stands out as the most critical key. So often, BIPOC clients are gaslit or dismissed, even in spaces where they seek support. Your reminder to honor their experiences and avoid diminishing the possibility of race-based mistreatment is not just empowering—it’s necessary for fostering trust, safety, and true healing.
Your emphasis on becoming trauma-informed and inviting clients to ‘check the data’ also resonated with me—it’s a reminder of how vital it is to center compassion while also grounding the coaching process in truth and critical reflection. Thank you for offering this thoughtful and actionable guide—it’s a resource that truly uplifts our work as BIPOC coaches.