March 2026 
President's Message
Dear ICF BC Community,
The ICF BC Board recently completed the first session of the Foundations of Conflict Engagement training with Waterline Co-Op. This learning supports our commitment to strengthening how we work together and how we serve our members in 2026 and beyond.
What We Learned
The workshop introduced the Deep Democracy framework, which centers underrepresented perspectives and highlights the importance of hearing every voice. As coaches, this resonates deeply as the unspoken truths often hold the greatest wisdom.
We explored the Waterline Model, which uses the iceberg metaphor to distinguish what is conscious (above the surface) from what is unspoken or unconscious (below the surface). Participatory, curious leadership lowers the waterline and opens access to deeper insight, while directive approaches raise it and limit what can be expressed.
We also examined the Resistance Line, which maps subtle covert signals like humour, deflection, or disengagement through to overt conflict. The key insight: resistance isn’t a problem; it’s information. When engaged skillfully, it leads to clarity, growth, and stronger relationships.
Who Was Involved
This session brought the ICF BC Board together in shared learning, giving us common language and tools for navigating tension, collaboration, and team dynamics. It also reaffirmed practices we already hold as coaches: listening to what isn’t said, creating psychological safety, and welcoming difficult truths.
Alongside this workshop, the Board co-created our Team Agreements, a set of commitments that guide how we show up for our members and for one another.
What’s Next
This is the beginning of our learning journey together. We look forward to sharing more as we continue building a strong, aligned, and psychologically safe foundation for our work as a Board and as a chapter. We hope the work and the learning we're doing internally ripples outward, into how we design our programming, how we hold space at our events, and how we build a chapter where every member, in every region, feels seen, heard, and understood.
Thank you for being part of this community. It is a privilege to serve you.
Sending with Kindness and Respect,
Robyn Ward
President, ICF British Columbia
Spotlight Event
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PoCo Bowl: Fun Bowl + PizzaFREE for ICFBC Members!March 17, 2026 |
Join the ICF BC community for an evening of 5-pin bowling at PoCo Bowl, followed by gelato and facilitated conversation at Matteo's Gelato, two neighbouring locally owned businesses in Port Coquitlam.
We'll kick things off with 5-pin bowling in a "Fun Bowl" format designed to mix, rotate, and connect you with everyone in the room. Then we'll take a short walk next door for a mini gelato and a facilitated community conversation led by two Essential Impact faculty, exploring how connection and play show up in our work, and the value created when leaders bring these two values into their teams, cultures, and conversations.
Included: bowling, pizza, mini gelato + soft drinks
Calendar of Events
Coaches & Coffee Meet-Up: Fraser Valley
March 08, 2026
4:00 PM PDT - 5:30 PM PDT
Zoom Meeting
Enhancing Your Visibility: Leveraging
Speaking Engagements to Elevate
Your Coaching Practice
April 28, 2026
10:00 AM PDT - 11:30 AM PDT
Global Zoom Meeting
Chapter News
Coach Spotlight
Tara Chang-Swanson
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What inspired you to begin your journey in coaching?
When I started working at Mission Possible, five years ago, I got the opportunity to see coaching in action with our participants in the Employment Readiness Program. I had never heard of coaching before, but I was struck by how coaching differed from other types of support in the way that it empowered people. I saw how our coaches helped participants to build their own capacity to figure out how they wanted to move forward, at a pace they felt comfortable with. This approach really inspired me to get further involved in coaching at our organization.
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How is coaching a powerful tool in your context?
When people join Mission Possible, they have often been out of work for many years. Their confidence and self-perception are often very low. Coaching offers the opportunity to treat each person with dignity, and to support our participants in reframing their stories, to focus on their strengths and also the possibilities for what they want their lives to look like. Coaching is powerful in the way that it helps participants in our programs to shift towards a mindset of being an active contributor in their own lives, identifying their own resources and figuring out what they can control in any given situation.
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What does coaching for equity mean to you personally?
For me, coaching for equity is about working to make coaching more accessible to more people in our communities. Personally, I'm committed in my work to continuing to remove barriers to coaching for individuals living in poverty. I believe that everyone can benefit from coaching, but only if they have that opportunity made available to them in a way that meets them where they’re at.
In my own coaching practice, coaching for equity means treating each person with dignity and respect, and really demonstrating to them that I value their experience and expertise on their own lives. It also means committing to ongoing learning, to keep building my own tools for managing how my unconscious biases, power, and privilege show up in coaching. In my mind, coaching for equity requires a strong mix of self-awareness, humility, and commitment to action.
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In what ways has coaching influenced Mission Possible’s growth?
Building a coaching culture that extends across our charity and social enterprises, has been instrumental to our growth. Our entire staff team has access to coaching on an ongoing basis, and all of our supervisors complete coaching training. This means that our team collectively understands the meaning and value of a coach approach. We see the positive impact of this in our employee engagement, leadership development, and staff retention, which have all helped our growth as an organization. Coaching also helps our team to set and hold healthy boundaries, which helps to manage burnout and compassion fatigue, two challenging issues that many organizations face in the non-profit sector.
March DEIB Reflection
Who are you not seeing?
Think about the last coach you referred someone to, or the last person you invited to collaborate. How did you land on that person?
Chances are it felt natural, even obvious. We tend to gravitate toward people who remind us of ourselves, who trained the way we did, who show up in familiar ways. It’s not always a conscious choice.
But it’s worth a pause.
BC has a remarkably diverse coaching community. Coaches from different countries, cultures, and lived experiences bring real depth to this work. And still, some may feel less visible or less connected within the profession. It’s worth asking ourselves why that might be.
So this month, we’re inviting you to notice:
- Who do you automatically think of when a referral comes up?
- When someone coaches differently than you’d expect, what’s your first reaction?
- Is there someone doing great work who you haven’t quite made room for yet?
This is an invitation to explore our habits, assumptions, and what may be shaping our choices.
We’d love to hear what comes up for you. Share a reflection, a moment you noticed a pattern, or a small shift you want to make, with the ICFBC community on LinkedIn here.
Linda Schmidt
Director, DEIB ICFBC
Global Updates
Important Dates for ICF Global 2026
International Coaching Week | May 11-17, 2026
Our annual global celebration of coaching! This is a perfect time to showcase the impact of professional coaching, connect with the worldwide coaching community, and participate in special events. Watch for ICF BC activities during this week, we'll have more details to share soon!
ICF Converge Summit Paris | May 17-19, 2026
Experience coaching innovation and community in the heart of Paris! This summit brings together coaches from around the world for learning, networking, and inspiration as International Coaching Week comes to a close.
ICF Converge | Washington DC | October 28-30, 2026
ICF's Annual conference returns to Washington DC! Join thousands of coaches for world-class education, cutting-edge research, networking opportunities, and the chance to earn CCE units while connecting with the global coaching community.
