- Are you looking to future-proof your coaching business by creating unforgettable coaching experiences?
- Are you passionate about shaping the future of coaching?
- Are you looking to earn or renew an ICF coaching credential?
- Do you find yourself questioning how well you are prepared to coach across differences?
- Are you looking to learn how to thrive in a VUCA coaching world (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity)?
Program At A Glance: | Who | Experienced coaches and leaders looking to enhance their ability to coach across differences. |
|---|---|
What | An ICF-approved coach training program that qualifies for SHRM PDCs and features over 21 hours of immersive, hands-on learning. |
When | Our Second Cohort Begins October 2025 |
Format | Live cohort model delivered virtually, led by experienced facilitators including ICF-certified coaches. |
Fee | The investment is $2,500. |
Change Coaches is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.
What’s Included In Our Coaching Below the Surface Program:
- 21+ hours of hands-on, immersive learning with expert instructors including LaTonya Wilkins.
- 15 ICF CCEs in Core Competencies and 6.5 in Resource Development.
- 21.25 PDCs for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification.
- Access to industry-leading guest speakers offering deep insights into the future of coaching and the evolving workplace, including topics like hybrid teams, heightened anxiety, and adapting to new dynamics.
- Proven tools and techniques to coach effectively across differences, foster psychological safety, and create a culture of belonging in your practice.
- A personalized growth plan with actionable feedback to enhance your coaching effectiveness and integrate your new skills.
- Engagement with a community of coaches for peer support and the ongoing sharing of insights and breakthroughs.
Preview of Coaching Below the Surface
Tune in to this special podcast episode where LaTonya Wilkins, award-winning executive coach and author, offers a preview of our ICF-approved coach training program and shares a fresh approach to coaching that emphasizes connection across differences and psychological safety.
Program Description
This program is designed to equip coaches with the knowledge and tools to navigate the rapidly evolving coaching industry. Coaches will explore upcoming changes in the industry and learn how to adapt their practice accordingly. The program will delve into effective coaching techniques across diverse client backgrounds, emphasizing the importance of diversity, inclusion, belonging, and psychological safety, while also offering a comprehensive assessment to evaluate these elements within their current practice. Additionally, coaches will identify and address personal blindspots, culminating in the creation of a personalized action plan for ongoing development and enhanced coaching effectiveness across differences.
Who is this program for?
Experienced coaches who have already completed a foundational program including: coaches completing or renewing a credential, coaches who would like to venture outside of traditional coach training and learn how to improve coaching across differences, coaches who are or expect to be coaching across diverse backgrounds, and coaches who may have completed a foundational program and but are seeking to learn more about coaching different demographics of clients. This program is also a good fit for leaders who coach regularly as a part of their jobs.
Program Outcomes
- Future-Proof Your Coaching Practice – Gain insights into emerging industry trends and develop strategies to adapt your coaching approach for long-term success.
- Enhance Coaching Across Differences – Strengthen your ability to work effectively with diverse clients by integrating inclusion, belonging, and psychological safety into your practice.
- Identify and Overcome Blind Spots – Uncover personal and professional biases that may impact coaching effectiveness and develop strategies for continuous improvement.
- Drive Measurable Impact – Utilize a comprehensive assessment to evaluate and enhance your coaching effectiveness, creating a personalized action plan for growth and client success.
Format
- Virtual
Program Schedule
Kick off the program with a 1.5-day live virtual learning experience.
Attend 6 (1.5 hour) virtual training sessions.
Share an action plan with the instructors.
Attend coaching demos.
ICF CCEs
ICF CCEs are offered for this program and will be allocated to the following categories:
Core Competencies: 15
Resource Development: 6.5 (Personal Development, Business Development, or other Skills and tools)
Program Dates: Our second cohort will kick off in October 2025. More details to come!
Core Coaching Focus Areas
Our curriculum blends foundational strengths with high-impact, real-world coaching tools.
- Psychological Safety
- Creating a Culture of Belonging
- Future of Work and Coaching Landscape
- Bridging Theory and Practice
- REAL Coaching
- LEAD Assessment & Development Planning
- Turning Insight Into Action
- Conflict Systems and Structures
- Coaching Alliances
- Below the Surface Interactions
- Uncovering Hidden Barriers
- Joyfully Coaching Below the Surface
- Embodied Coaching and Somatic Practices
- Personalized Action Planning
What You’ll Experience in Coaching Below the Surface:
- Learn to coach with presence, not performance—moving beyond scripts to trust your intuition and stay grounded in real-time connection.
- Build the capacity to hold emotionally rich, culturally aware, and deeply attuned coaching conversations that honor complexity and identity.
- Develop the confidence to navigate complexity, difference, and discomfort with clarity and care.
- Understand how to be both a mirror and a container for clients’ growth—without over-centering yourself or losing your own grounding.
- Explore your leadership story and how it shapes the way you coach across difference, uncertainty, trauma, and transition—without bypassing or burning out.
- Strengthen your ability to receive truth, feedback, insight, and even praise—as a pathway to deeper presence and more expansive coaching.
Change Coaches is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.
Coaching Below the Surface: An ICF-Approved Coach Training Program
As the world evolves, so does the practice of coaching. In today’s diverse society, coaching goes beyond technique—it’s about understanding and connecting with the full scope of who our clients are. Their identities, backgrounds, and challenges are more complex and intersecting than ever before. Consider how the workplace is changing:
- Generation Z is making its mark. By mid-2024, Gen Z workers represent 18% of the U.S. labor force, surpassing Baby Boomers at 15%.
- Women continue to break through leadership barriers. In 2023, women held 32.2% of senior leadership roles globally, and that number is climbing.
- Disability is increasingly part of the workplace conversation. In 2022, over 28% of U.S. adults identified as having a disability, influencing how companies approach accessibility.
- Workplace stress and uncertainty are at unprecedented levels. Approximately 65% of U.S. workers report that work is a significant source of stress, with stress contributing to an estimated 120,000 deaths annually in the U.S. Additionally, economic fluctuations and policy changes have intensified workplace uncertainty, affecting employee morale and productivity.
As coaching becomes more integral to workplaces, coaches need to adapt. Our clients now bring more diverse perspectives, struggles, and aspirations into our sessions. The intersectionality of their identities impacts how they lead, grow, and respond to challenges, making it critical for coaches to adopt a mindset of inclusivity, flexibility, and empathy.
This is no passing trend—it’s an opportunity to make a lasting impact. By fostering an inclusive coaching approach, we build deeper, more meaningful relationships with our clients. We support their mental well-being, empower their leadership, and contribute to a more connected, equitable world.
Are you ready to meet the moment?
Have a question? Email us at [email protected].
Change Coaches is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.
Learning Objectives
- Understand how the coaching industry will change, how this will affect your practice, and how to prepare for these pivotal changes
- Learn techniques to coach effectively across differences, how concepts such as belonging and psychological safety align, and complete an assessment to gain awareness around the degree to which these environmental factors are present in your coaching practice
- Gain awareness around personal coaching blindspots and how to address them
- Create an action plan for your personal development and coaching practice
Want to learn more before deciding?
We’re happy to help—email us at [email protected] or click below.
Change Coaches is a team of leadership development professionals who embody Below the Surface Leadership: REAL leadership, psychological safety, and empathetic leadership. We are similarly committed to changing workplace culture at its core while developing leaders and coaches for the future workplace
Discover More with the Leading Below the Surface Podcast
The Leading Below the Surface Podcast dives into leadership development, empathy, and psychological safety in today’s diverse and dynamic workplace. Inspired by LaTonya Wilkins’ acclaimed book, the podcast provides actionable insights for navigating cultural and generational differences, fostering authentic relationships, and embracing DEIB in real-world scenarios.
Hosted by LaTonya herself, this podcast offers a deeper look into the transformative topics she explores in her keynotes and workshops. Tune in to discover how her expertise can help your organization thrive.
Listen now and explore topics that resonate with your team.
Meet LaTonya
My most valuable skill, and the one thing I often teach others, is how to build real relationships across differences.
"I demonstrate what it means to lead below the surface through relatable stories from my career, my family, and through direct experience with other below the surface leaders. We can all lead below the surface and make real change in our organizations. A few small shifts can go a long way."
LaTonya Wilkins is the award-winning founder of Change Coaches and the best-selling author of Leading Below the Surface: How to Build Real (and Psychologically Safe) Relationships with People Who Are Different from You. She specializes in coaching executives to lead “below the surface” by fostering psychologically safe, authentic relationships across differences. A sought-after keynote speaker and executive coach, LaTonya has inspired global audiences and transformed leaders at renowned organizations such as Google, Target, The New York Times, and various nonprofits.
Global leaders turn to LaTonya and Change Coaches to address challenges such as preparing leaders for the future workplace, creating psychologically safe teams, strengthening connections across differences, advancing into leadership and executive roles, and coaching their teams to foster accountability and trust. Her practice spans industries including higher education, healthcare, technology, professional services, and more, with a focus on women CEOs and senior leaders, first-time C-suite leaders, teams, and middle management groups navigating change, new initiatives, or growth.
LaTonya’s expertise has been recognized through numerous accolades, including her book being named a top-10 inclusion book for executives, a SHRM-approved must-read for HR leaders, and a leading psychological safety resource. She has been featured in Fast Company, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, Well+Good, and Inc. Magazine. In 2024, she was honored as a LinkedIn Top Voice.
As an adjunct MBA lecturer and coach at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, LaTonya combines academic excellence with practical insights. Her impactful teaching has been lauded by both undergraduate and graduate students. Through her coaching and writing, LaTonya continues to shape a more inclusive and connected workplace for leaders worldwide.
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Are you looking to improve the quality of your conversations across differences?
Psychological safety is the most effective tool for reducing workplace stress, navigating conflict, increasing feelings of belonging, and cultivating the diverse workplaces we want to see. It is one of the most important skills for leaders to cultivate in today’s workplace. This guide includes definitions, a brief assessment, tactics, and coaching/reflection prompts.
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