International Coaching Week 2021 is taking place May 17-23 this year, and it’s right around the corner. This week always has a way of sneaking up on me, maybe because May always feels farther from April than it is. So fellow coaches, in case you’re like me, I’m giving you a heads up now so you can plan ahead! Did you know there is a whole week dedicated to celebrating the coaching industry? It’s a great “holiday” to celebrate the work we do with our clients, the industry as a whole, and take steps to grow together.

I’m sharing some free events you can sign up for, and some tips for how you can get involved. There are opportunities to both learn from your peers, as well as share this with your clients and network. Peruse my post and see what looks compelling for you! And hey, cheers to all the work you do coaches. It’s been a big year for coaches, coaching during the pandemic, and supporting clients in this. I’m celebrating you all this International Coaching Week.

About International Coaching Week (ICW)

Launched in 1999, this year is the 22nd International Coaching Week. It’s a week-long global celebration that shines a light on professional coaching, and educates the public on the value of working with a professional coach, and honors the results and journey of the coaching progress. The theme this year is ‘Defying Challenging Times’, which certainly feels relevant.

Attend ICW Events

There are over 500 events, in 15 languages, hosted in over 40 countries, for you to choose to attend. Visit the ICW site and you can filter by language, country, or format, and sign up for events on a wide range of topics. I included a sampling of the pre-series and official week events below for you to peruse.

• Discover how IKEA uses ICF-certified, in-house coaches for growing people & business while becoming a coaching organisation. May 12 at 3pm CET. Learn more.

• Meet L’Oréal, Sharjah Police Department and HSE and discover how Coaching skills for HR’s and leaders can help improve culture and performance. May 10 at 3pm CET. Learn more.

• Artificial Intelligence: Friend or foe for HR & coaching? May 10 at 2:30pm CET. Learn more.

• Forest Coaching®: a nature-connected coaching session. May 17, 17:30pm Europe/ Rome. Learn more.

• Improv for Coaches – expand range as a coach with applicable improv methods. May 17, 19:00pm Europe/Berlin. Learn more.

• Racial Justice: Principle Struggle One Year Later. May 17, 14:00pm America/NY. Learn more.

6 Ways to Bring International Coaching Week to Your Coaching Business

ICW is also a great opportunity to consider how you want to communicate about coaching with your clients. You can use this week to share more with current clients, educate your community, connect with colleagues, or expand your coaching offering. Coaching can often feel like it’s all on you, especially if you have your own coaching business. It’s common that coaches work for themselves, and don’t have a team or coworkers. ICW can be a great time to feel connected to the wider coaching community, and really lean into the global network of coaches.

How to Celebrate International Coaching Week:

• Share on your social media about ICW. Let your social networks know about this week, and use this as a time to align yourself with the global nature of coaching. This could be in the form of sharing webinars your network might be interested in signing up for that are offered as part of ICW, sharing things you’ve learned through attending webinars, or associating yourself with the wider scale of coaching. Since coaching is a budding industry, your network might not realize how many coaches there are, and it can be helpful to establish that credibility.

• Write your own blog post about events. Get inspired by the events you attend as part of ICW and share what you learn through your blog.

• Offer pro bono coaching all week. You might announce to your network that you’re offering pro bono coaching as part of ICW, and offer a set number of spots for people to sign up that week. It might look something like sharing what ICW is, and in the spirit of it, you are offering 10 free sessions to your network for people curious to experience coaching.

• Connect with coach colleagues. Remember your podmates from a certification? Or those coaches you met in a class? Or in grad school? ICW is a great excuse to summon the group for a Zoom hangout, and celebrate each other. When you’re working day to day it can be easy to forget all the coaches out there that you’re connected to and feel isolated. Use ICW to call them up and enjoy the magic of getting together.

• Take the week off from coaching. Maybe you use this as a time to block your calendar and take care of yourself. Coaches have a strength of compassion, and share it with their clients. It’s important to remember to give this to yourself too. Maybe this week you dedicate time to self compassion and do what’s good for you.

• Host a workshop or event. You could use ICW as a great time to put on your own workshop or event, and leverage ICW marketing as a way to promote your event and establish credibility. If you’ve been considering hosting a workshop, you could use this as the sign you were looking for.

Hey coaches, how cool is it that we are a part of such a large global network of coaches, and some amazing volunteers are putting together an effort to create a united week-long event celebrating that? Cheers to that. I hope to see some of you at one of the ICW webinars, and look forward to sharing some reflections and highlights from those here on the blog.

Check out the full list of events on the ICW site, and watch this short promo film put out by the ICF.

Let me know what you end up doing to celebrate International Coaching Week! I’d love to support you.

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