Climate Crisis Coaching
“As groups self-organise around the world to process this collective anguish, virtually all experts agree on two therapeutic components: sharing the grief with others and transforming it into collective action on behalf of life”. (Joanna Macy, Active Hope. How to face the mess we are in without going crazy)
I’ve noticed the world of coaching being called to attend to the unfolding climate emergency. I’m very happy about that. I’ve spent the last few years trying to work out how to become more useful in the face of the trauma that is creeping up on us. My thinking, feeling, reading and writing has all pointed me in this direction (though my action still lags behind). Signposts have led me to communities of coaches trying to work out how to be and how to practice. From the Deep Adaptation Forum for facilitators, to the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership, to the Climate Coaching Alliance, to Sadler Heath, I am finding myself more and more in the company of good coaching souls trying to work out how best to serve in the face of unprecedented unravelling.
Why us? I guess that, as it slowly starts to wake up to its uncertain future, the world looks to its organisations and its leaders for solutions. It’s easy to feel lost, paralysed or powerless in the face of what’s happening and I think I can say on behalf of the world that what we need more than anything is leadership. Those same organisations and leaders - who by the way also hold the burden of being top of the list of many people’s blame for causing the mess we are in – are themselves perhaps feeling strangely impotent and vulnerable, just when we need them to find their courage and step forward. And so, I guess, they come to us, their coaches, for the support and challenge, the safe space to face reality, the unconditional positive regard, perhaps even hope.
Put like that our role might feel enormous. How do respond to this? And how do we prepare ourselves so that we can fully serve? I’m thinking of the courage and strength we need to be able to fully witness the abyss without turning away, or avoiding or numbing out? And the resilience needed to keep bouncing back from the traumas we encounter? I’m also wondering about how we process our own shock and grief at the world we are leaving for our children?
Hetty Einzig’s book on the future of coaching had a profound effect on me. It sets an ambition for our practice way beyond convention. To be more fully and actively involved in the work of our clients. To be collaborators or co-conspirators in their work. “Is it tenable to persist in the traditional coaching stance of moral neutrality - the Switzerland of the helping professions? …While clearly the coach’s principal offering is to listen, to reflect, to provide a thinking space, to what degree should a coach be able to form and articulate a coherent philosophy?”
In many ways it’s simple. Firstly, we need to do the work on ourselves so that we can fully serve our clients. Secondly, we need to intentionally evolve our coaching practices to meet these unprecedented times. Straightforward, no? Simple but not easy. For me it feels almost impossibly hard. The climate crisis keeps giving me more experiences to grieve, it is never ending. The instinct to withdraw, turn away or pretend is often overwhelming. So just being fully present to the topic, a basic of coaching, is a constant challenge. Then there’s the question of professional practice. How to go about living up to Einzig’s call to action? To be the coach our clients need at this apocalyptic point in time?
I find these tricky concepts to consider, to say the least. It’s one of the reasons why I am encouraging coaches to work more together on these big questions. I am a trustee of Hazel Hill Wood, a charitable off-grid retreat centre in Wiltshire. It’s a great place to strip back the complexities of modern life to the basics. And to commune with others and the wood itself. A space for nourishment, reflection, resilience-building and transformation. If you have read this far, I am guessing you are facing similar questions to me. If so please do get in touch and I’ll let you know about our next coaching community retreat.