Dear Valued Members, Colleagues and Friends of ACTO,

‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world’ – Gandhi

As things swirl around us, and seemingly large geo-political changes seem apparent and in motion, Gandhi’s words hold special relevance to our work as coaches, coach training organisations and as ACTO.

In a recent Board Meeting, we all took a breath and a pause, to reflect on what was happening to us as individuals, and what we are being called to. Finding our ground, claiming it and staying firm is what our hearts welcome – all the while being our core human selves. The shared energetic space between Board Members and individuals on the call was precious and difficult to convey here, but we do send some of that clear, grounded focus your way as well.

So, what is the ACTO Board focussed on? Well, we are both focussed on and excited about the Annual Conference! We have dates and are happy to announce that June 19-21, we will host an online conference on our very relevant theme of HUMANS FIRST – Embedding Social Identity Differences in Coach Training. Please save the date and keep a look out for our communication which will arrive soon on our website, your inboxes and on social media platforms.

We are delighted that Gena Cotton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/genacotton/) has stepped in to volunteer for the Conference Committee and if you feel called to join, please reach out to us and we can talk.

Your feedback and engagement make ACTO dynamic and accountable. We particularly want to reference and share here with all of you that, we received feedback on how ACTO’s commitment to Coach Training Organisations is being perceived. There is a sense that we are possibly catering more to individual coaches than towards CTO’s. There was also feedback about a desire for more active support from ACTO with regards to policies that govern coach training schools, and that maybe ACTO is more America centric than it has aspired to be.

This was a call to clarify our message and we want to share here some snippets from our response:

“We hear the concern that ACTO appears to focus on individual coach membership over Coach Training Organizations. That certainly is not our intention! ACTO’s roots remain grounded in supporting a strong and informed CTO membership base. Although we welcome individual members and coaching students, we have not retreated from our goal of providing CTOs with timely and relevant resources that enhance their training goals. The perceived change may have been the shift to an “also/and” approach in our outreach to recruit all voices in our field and help bring about a more inclusive and global coaching community. We will review our messaging to ensure that our objectives are clear.

Our biggest shift in recent years has been the introduction of the ACTO Stand for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. We have not been shy in encouraging CTOs to adopt and integrate these values into their programs, in their own time and at their own pace. We offer resources to support this effort, recognizing that many schools are taking steps in this direction.

Regarding policies that impact CTO’s, we share your concerns and acknowledge the systemic “power dynamics and biases” embedded in Western coaching models. While some of the challenges are beyond our scope, we are open to exploring initiatives – such as examining cultural differences in coach training (especially exploring how local culture is being included) across the coaching ecosphere. 

Since 2019, we’ve actively worked toward greater global representation, with ACTO members taking on leadership roles from Canada, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey and the UAE. This remains a key goal for us. “

We invite dialogue and further exploration on such key themes and we will be happy to set up space for this in our upcoming activities.

With Open Hearts,
ACTO Board