21 September 2023
Rachael Hanley-Browne, President of EMCC UK, writes:
This October, EMCC UK is hosting two conversations about coaching and diversity in organisations. Participants can choose from two dates (11 and 20 October) for these small group sessions, which will run as listening circles, and they are open for HR, OD, and EDI professionals, and facilitated by a team of professional coaches.
We will be asking: How can you be an ally to coaching with a wider lens of inclusion, belonging and equity? We are keen to hear your personal experiences, share our collective learning from organisational initiatives (good and bad), and understand your unique perspectives on this topic.
There will be two aspects to the conversations:
Coaches themselves – how external coaches are selected, who is offered the opportunity to become an internal coach, and how their coaching services are marketed and sponsored within organisations
The beneficiaries of coaching – who has access to coaching, how they are selected or sponsored, and how underrepresented groups perceive coaches or ask for coaching
We would love to explore these questions with you, in a confidential Chatham House Rules setting, among a group of fellow professionals, where a maximum of 10 participants will be joining us. The sessions will not be recorded. See the team biographies below.
The dates are:
Wednesday 11 October, 5.00-6.30pm, online
Friday 20 October, 10.30-12.00am, at NCVO, Regents Wharf, 8 All Saints St, London N1 9RL
At the conclusion of this inquiry, we will be collating the overarching themes, issues, challenges, opportunities, and organisational perspectives. Our shared learning will inform what we as a professional body prioritise in the future. This could be research, funding initiatives, and hosting events or seminars. We will send you an executive summary at the end of the process and ask you to comment before we disseminate it further.
No individual or organisation will be quoted or named without their prior permission and signed consent. We hope that you will join us on this discovery for the benefit of our coaching profession, our clients, and your organisations.
Thank you for reading this far, and we do hope that you will be able to join us.
To join one of the conversations, please email me, Rachael Hanley-Browne, on rachael.hanley browne@e mccuk.org
Team biographies
Rachael Hanley-Browne, EMCC UK President
Rachael specialises in executive, board, and team coaching, and is also a supervisor. Her clients at ‘The Team Lab’, are typically subject matter experts or specialists who have moved into an enterprise leadership role, particularly in the tech and engineering sectors, and often PE backed.
She has an MA in Coaching and Mentoring Practice (2020) from Oxford Brookes and her study in team coaching was published in the International Journal for Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring in 2021 (DOI: 10.24384/PGFG-2005). She recently contributed a chapter to the book Relational Team Coaching edited by Erik de Haan and Dorothee Stoffels, to be published in October 2023. She is currently authoring a book for organisational leaders based on her own leadership experiences, her coaching practice, and insights gained when undertaking board evaluations.
Rachael hails from the northeast and has lived in Sheffield and Bristol. An exiled Geordie, she is now an adopted Londoner of over 30 years. She enjoys jazz, art (particularly sculpture and abstract), architecture, and travelling to islands.
Hande Yaşargil, EMCC UK Director of Diversity and Inclusion
Hande is an executive coach and leadership development consultant with an organizational clinical psychology background. Her areas of expertise are leadership psychology, group dynamics at board level, and gender diversity in leadership and coaching in family-owned businesses.
She has long and successful entrepreneurial experience as a founding and managing partner of an international coaching business in Turkey and the Middle East. Her prior corporate executive experience in human resources management and family therapy training gives a unique perspective to her coaching approach.
Hande is Partner at The Alexander Partnership, Lead Coach at the INSEAD Business School, and former Founding President of EMCC Turkey. She has initiated and led a non-profit program, ‘The Cross Company Mentoring Program for More Women on Boards,’ and now serves as the Founding Chair of Women on Board Association Turkey.
Salma Shah, EMCC UK Member
Salma is an award-winning author and founder of the game-changing Mastering Your Power, a certified coach training programme. She is passionate about raising the bar in inclusion, equity, belonging and social mobility. Her book, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in Coaching, was shortlisted for the business book awards 2023. Salma explores the mindset and driving forces behind powerful, inclusive leadership, where high levels of empathy and emotional intelligence lead to high performance, with a focus on psychological safety, integrity, and innovation.
The list of teams and corporations that have sought Salma’s expertise include Co-op Group, John Lewis Partnership, Pearson, Skipton Building Society, Barclays, Infor, British Transport Police, Ernst & Young (Kuwait), Oracle, and Reuters.
Her approach is an invitation to dig deeper into what it really means to be inclusive, and create equitable and diverse organisations. Salma unlocks the hidden potential for all members of a team, sowing the seeds of long-lasting confidence, developing healthy resilience, common connection, and purpose. In June 2023, she was recognised for her Outstanding Contribution to Coaching and Society by Coaching at Work.
Coretta Hine, EMCC UK Member
Coretta is the founder of Coretta Coaching & Consultancy, dedicated to transforming lives and unlocking individuals’ true potential. With over 31 years in policing, she retired as a Detective Chief Superintendent, leaving a remarkable legacy.
Coretta holds a master’s degree in leadership and management and is a qualified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner, life coach, and mentor. Her expertise guides individuals towards personal and professional growth and companies towards excellence, especially in the area of creating inclusive working environments.
She served in the Metropolitan Police Service for 28 years, moving to Kent Police in 2019, becoming the first senior ethnic minority female in the history of Kent Police. Coretta's leadership skills led her to establish the Discrimination Investigation Unit and become Head of the Diversity and Inclusion Command, designing a three-year Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for Kent Police.
As Chair of the Race Equality Network and a Cabinet member of the National Black Police Association, Coretta organised impactful events and led initiatives focused on learning and development.
Despite facing racism and discrimination, she achieved senior positions, becoming one of the top black females in UK policing, showcasing her resilience.
Passionate about coaching and mentoring, Coretta supports ethnic minority females who have encountered discrimination, helping them regain focus and motivation. Her qualifications in NLP, life coaching, and her professional membership with EMCC and the Association for Neuro Linguistic Programming (ANLP) enables her to enhance mindset, performance, and leadership skills.
Siobhan Lynam, EMCC UK Deputy Director
Siobhan has a portfolio career which started in medicine and general practice. She graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1993 and practised medicine for over 10 years in Ireland and the UK. After completing a graduate degree in psychology, she transitioned into academic psychology and worked in higher education in the UK as a lecturer and researcher for 10 years.
Siobhan has a master’s degree in Coaching and Mentoring Practice from Oxford Brookes University. She has mentored and coached colleagues, patients, students, and clients for many years in the UK, Ireland, and Europe.
Siobhan is an EMCC accredited coach at senior practitioner level, a licensed career coach with Career Counselling Service (CCS), a fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a member of the British Psychological Society. She is a founding member of the Oxford Coaching Partners and the Physicians Coaches and Mentors Association, EMCC deputy director for diversity and inclusion and an honorary senior lecturer at the University of West London.
Siobhan’s research interests include understanding diversity and inclusion in the coaching and higher education spaces. Her master’s degree dissertation study was on the development of a model of rapport in cross-ethnicity coaching. Her study was published in the International Journal for Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring in 2023, and won the EMCC award for the dissertation with the highest potential for social benefit.
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