Diversity and Inclusion, From Home

When the world tilted to this new CoVid-19 reality back in March, we scrambled to transform our renowned and very experiential face to face coach training to make it fully accessible to everyone now working in isolation.  What we were not considering is how we were about to provide enhanced accessibility to those who found it challenging, or impossible, to attend a traditional face to face workshop in a capital city.  

What we are now seeing in our live training days - run entirely online via videocon technology - is a far broader group of trainee coaches.  Recent trainings have included people who live in Tasmania, the Byron Bay Hinterland in Northern NSW, the Northern Territory, India and Europe, people who would normally have needed to catch a plane (or two) and stay in a hotel for three or four nights to participate.  (The environment is breathing a huge sigh of relief). Other trainings have included a vision impaired person who, while perfectly able to attend our Level One in person, found the online classroom for Level Two was a more positive experience for him; “once I had the understanding of how Zoom worked I felt I could contribute and participate more effectively.” 

Another recent training included a breast-feeding mother, whose partner handed their newborn to her several times each day for her to feed below the line of her video camera, while she continued to listen and learn.  Last week a participant was able to keep listening to the class on her phone for 20 minutes while she drove her mother to an emergency medical appointment.  None of this would be possible with face to face training.

The online environment also allows for a diversity of learning and thinking styles.  Participating in a large group is less confronting when it’s just you in your home office, and you can go for a walk in your lunch break (or catch a quick episode of Seinfeld, which is one participant’s favourite way to unwind!)  You can pat the dog, and wear your Ugg boots and your most comfortable clothes while you learn how to be a great coach. 

Participating online also allows people with disabilities, including chronic illness, to participate in coach training. One participant had been wanting to complete Level One training for over 10 years, yet a serious health issue prevented her from travelling into the CBD on public transport. Being away from the comforts of home for long periods of time simply wasn’t an option for her. She was thrilled to finally attend and brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with the group. 

As we’ve been mailing out our training materials to participants it has been wonderful to see so many postcodes far from CBDs on the list, and to see a “Melbourne” course with people from New Zealand, Singapore, and Perth joining in.  Early birds can start their training day at 7am if they wish and night owls can start at 11am (if they live in New Zealand!)  None of these benefits of accessibility were planned for when we went virtual but our faculty are noticing there’s more diversity in every group we train. For more than 21 years, the IECL coaching approach has fostered and encouraged diverse perspectives and so to see the benefits of greater inclusiveness in the training room in whole new ways is truly exciting.   

I would love to hear your experiences in this area, if you have something to share!