We are pleased to share an article entitled “Culturally Responsive Coaching ~ How the Asian Women Coaching Collective goes beyond a one-size-fits all approach“ written by Mo Lei Fong.
“What would you like to bring in for show and tell?” I was five years old, and my family and I had just moved from Taiwan to Michigan. I didn’t speak English, and show and tell was a foreign concept. In fact, everything seemed foreign – from the food to the clothes to everyday idioms such as “being a fly on the wall.”
In those days, the prevailing thought was to assimilate as quickly as possible, and my parents were asked to speak solely in English at home. Traditions from my Asian heritage were quickly replaced with Western traditions like Thanksgiving turkey with gravy and 4th of July fireworks. T here was only room for one culture – an American culture.
Or was there room for others? After all, America was the melting pot. I had an idea for a first grade show and tell! How about a live demonstration of instant ramen in a pot? It was the first time many of the students were introduced to ramen, and they loved it.
When I started working in the tech sector, there were many opportunities for “show and tell,” but I soon realized that adults were more rigid in their thinking and behaviors than children. Not everyone wanted to be introduced to new cultures or ideas and it was more important to assimilate, to learn the corporate language and to play by the rules.
I had many mentors and advocates but never a coach. It was only when I was asked to be a coach and received formal training that I realized coaching could be a transformative tool for personal and professional development.
Over the years, I noticed a trend: many of my clients were Asian women who shared a similar cultural background and upbringing to mine. These women were seeking not only guidance but a space where they felt understood – where they didn’t have to justify or explain their cultural context. It became clear that traditional coaching models weren’t adequately addressing these needs.
This realization led me to explore some critical questions: Why did so many Asian women gravitate toward my coaching practice, and what was missing from conventional coaching frameworks? What if more coaching certification programs took into account the importance of incorporating the intricacies of culture and heritage, which also shape behaviors, decisions and aspirations? Could we accelerate the impact of coaching by creating space where clients could feel truly seen, understood, and empowered?
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE COACHING
The coaching industry has largely been shaped by Western ideals of success, leadership and communication. While these models are effective for many, they often overlook the cultural contexts that influence how individuals think, act and make decisions.
For clients from underrepresented backgrounds, this can create a disconnect. When coaching fails to consider cultural nuances, it can inadvertently undermine the very purpose of the coaching relationship: to help individuals thrive as their authentic selves.
Although the International Coaching Federation (ICF) has core competencies for coaches to “remain open to the influences of context and culture on self and others” and demonstrate “respect for the client’s identity, perceptions, style and language, and adapts one’s coaching to the client,” there is very little emphasis in coaching certification programs on what this might look like in practice. There are few demonstrations of what integrating a client’s cultural background during a coaching session could look like.
Culturally responsive coaching bridges this gap by acknowledging that culture is a significant part of a person’s identity. It recognizes that professional challenges and personal aspirations are influenced by deeply ingrained values and social expectations. For Asian women, these cultural influences often include respect for hierarchy, prioritization of family, humility, and a collectivist orientation. But sometimes, in a work setting, these values don’t align with the company culture.
When underlying cultural narratives are not acknowledged or addressed, the omission can lead to surface-level solutions that don’t resonate deeply or hold up over time.
CREATING THE COLLECTIVE
I co-founded the Asian Women Coaching Collective (AWCC) in part as a response to this gap. Our vision is to create a world where everyone can discover, embrace and integrate cultural identities and wisdom in fulfilling their life’s purpose. I wanted to offer a space where coaches didn’t have to leave parts of themselves at the door – where their cultural identities were embraced as a source of strength and insight.
Over the years, I’ve observed that when Asian women work with coaches who understand their cultural context, there is an immediate sense of being seen. They don’t have to expend energy explaining why they f ind it difficult to push back against an unreasonable boss or why balancing family obligations with career aspirations feels like a tightrope walk.
This unspoken understanding creates a foundation of trust and psychological safety, allowing the coaching relationship to go deeper more quickly.
One client, a senior manager at a large technology firm, struggled to articulate her accomplishments during performance reviews. Raised in a culture where humility was a core value, she felt that advocating for herself was boastful and disrespectful. She was caught in a cultural double bind – torn between the values of her upbringing and the expectations of a Western corporate environment.
Traditional coaching approaches might have focused solely on techniques for effective communication, but our culturally responsive approach involved exploring the roots of her discomfort, reframing her beliefs, and finding a way for her to express herself that felt true to her values.
This story illustrates that responsive coaching is about understanding and honoring the full spectrum of a client’s identity, from their professional ambitions to their cultural and familial influences. It’s about creating a space where behaviors that might be perceived as barriers in one context can be celebrated as strengths in another.
REPRESENTATION MATTERS
The lack of Asians in coaching certification programs is striking, further highlighting the need for more diverse representation in the field. Without culturally informed coaches, many Asian women have no choice but to accept coaching frameworks that may feel irrelevant to their lived experiences. For example, a traditional leadership coaching model might emphasize self-promotion and taking risks – strategies that work well in some contexts but might feel alien or even detrimental to women raised to prioritize group harmony and avoid drawing attention to themselves.
Representation matters because it helps normalize the idea that there is no single right way to be successful or to lead. It acknowledges that our unique backgrounds are not liabilities to overcome but sources of wisdom that enrich the coaching process.
The Asian Women Coaching Collective is not just about serving clients; it’s about supporting a community of culturally competent coaches who can meet the needs of diverse leaders. We provide training, mentorship and resources to coaches who want to incorporate cultural awareness into their practice. Our goal is to create a new paradigm of coaching that honors culture as an integral component of personal and professional development.
EXPANDING THE DEFINITION
As the coaching industry continues to grow and evolve, there is an urgent need to redefine what effective coaching looks like. It is not enough to simply teach strategies or techniques. We must broaden our understanding of how cultural context shapes each client’s experience and create frameworks that allow for the complexity of human identity.
The importance of culturally responsive coaching extends beyond the individual coaching relationship. It means contributing to a broader movement to make coaching more inclusive and accessible to people of all backgrounds. When we create spaces where clients feel that their full selves are welcome, we empower them to show up authentically – not just in coaching sessions, but in every aspect of their lives.
This is a call to action for coaches, organizations and leaders: Let’s move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to coaching. Let’s create spaces where people of all backgrounds feel they can show up as their full selves, without having to explain or defend their cultural identities. Let’s honor culture not as an obstacle to be overcome but as a rich source of strength, resilience and insight.
By doing so, we not only serve our clients more effectively but also contribute to a coaching landscape that is truly inclusive – one where everyone, regardless of their background, can feel seen, heard and supported in their journey toward growth and success.
To learn more about the AWCC, visit awcoachingcollective.org
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