Equity-Centered Leadership and Organizational Development

Achieve long-term, sustainable success by integrating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) principles and practices into your everyday business operations.

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  • 20+ years of experience

  • A dynamic, science-based approach

  • Research-based tools

  • Options that fit your schedule and needs

What we do

The Institute for Equity-Centered Coaching provides training, and professional & organizational development to nonprofit leaders, solopreneurs, and social impact businesses who want to integrate equity-centered practice throughout their company culture, policies and practices, and leadership style.

We provide a full suite of services including:

  • Strategic planning & organizational visioning

  • Leadership development and team training

  • Culture development and conflict planning and resolution

  • Meeting development and facilitation

  • Executive coaching

Our approach

We believe that being equity-centered requires us to approach all organizational goals and decision making with equity-centered tools and solutions.

We use coaching as our primary facilitative tool for transformation, which is a different approach to DEIB than styles that take educational, training, advocacy, or compliance approaches to it's practice.

Our approach is based on equity-centered coaching competencies including: client-centeredness, cultural responsiveness, being trauma-informed, and strong coaching theory and practice.

Our clients report our coaching approach as a key difference in their outcomes and ability to see the impact of their effort when compared against previous DEIB efforts.

Why it matters

Embedding equity-centered strategies into your recruitment and hiring processes will allow you to attract top candidates from diverse backgrounds who share your organizations commitment to equity.

Delivering on your commitments to create an equity-centered workplace culture promotes employee engagement and retention by creating an environment where all employees feel heard, supported, and empowered to contribute their best work.

Embedding equity-centered practices into your program, product, and service delivery will increase customer satisfaction, outcomes, and loyalty by demonstrating the organization's commitment to social responsibility and ethical business practices.

Our expertise

Trudi Lebron, our founder and principal consultant has over 20 years of experience working in the fields of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), human services, nonprofit leadership, and education.

She holds a Masters of Science in Psychology, and is currently a PhD candidate in Social Psychology studying coaching as a tool to foster DEIB.

Despite all of our experience, you are the expert in your work and your life, and our job as coaches is to give you insights, wisdom, and to cultivate the experience and expertise held in your community.

Together, we'll be brilliant.

Learn More

Our team of experienced coaches and facilitators are ready to help you build a more equity-centered business.

Here are some ways we can work together.

Training and Capacity Building

Build your team capacity with all staff or small team trainings and support

Executive Coaching &

Strategic Advising

Develop your leadership with 1:1 support

Team Coaching

Take your skills to the next level

Training and Capacity Building

The Institute for Equity-Centered Coaching provides a full-range of training and capacity building for nonprofits, solopreneurs and social impact businesses with small teams who are working on becoming an equity-centered business.

In additional to developing awareness about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging our applied approach builds tangible skills by prioritizing tools development, organizational culture change, improving interpersonal and team communication, and building your internal capacity to coach and facilitate.

Training and Capacity Building Opportunities

  • Equity-Centered Workplaces

    (multiple training formats)

  • Coaching Skills for Leaders

  • Fostering Trust: Building emotional and psychological safety

  • Program development and project facilitation

  • Visioning, strategic planning, and organizational development retreats

  • Equity-team / Employee Resource Group development

  • Workplace culture development or transformation

  • Conflict resolution training, planning, and support

  • Policy and procedure development (including hiring initiatives and process, employee handbook, onboarding and offboarding procedures)

Being an Equity-Centered Business Means...

  • You develop and practice equity-centered competencies including values-centered decision making, cultural responsiveness, critical consciousness, and liberatory leadership

  • You cultivate emotional and psychological safety by practicing proactive nonviolent communication, explicit community agreements, and mutual accountability

  • You invest in support and cultivate partnerships that align with equity-centered principles.

  • You demonstrate a deep understanding of how racism and other forms of oppression play out in business and communities and commit to antiracist, anti-oppressive and liberatory practices

  • You understand the work is about the process, not getting it right

Because we're all too human for that.

Meet the Team

Trudi Lebron, MS

  • Founder, The Institute for Equity-Centered Coaching 

  • Author, The Antiracist Business Book

Charmagne Glass-Tripp

  • Director of Programming

  • Leadership Track Faculty

Latoya "Dr. Boz" Bosworth, PhD

  • Coaching Faculty

  • Founder, Got H.E.R.S. Life Coaching

Crystal Agyei, M.D., MBA

  • Coaching Faculty

  • Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader

  • Founder, Missing Piece Coaching

Chris Wallace Caldwell

  • Coaching Faculty

  • Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader

  • Founder, Catalysis, llc

Neelam Kassam, CPA

  • Coaching Faculty

  • Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader

  • Founder, Prestige Consulting

Meg Brunson

  • Communications & Marketing Manager

  • Certified Equity-Centered Leader 

  • Founder, Just Marketing

Ana Acon

  • Administrative Assistant

Executive Coaching & Strategic Advising

Unlike traditional DEI coaching designed to address challenges typically associated with diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, equity-centered executive coaching supports executives in all areas of organizational and leadership development using equity-centered practices as a lens to address and solve all organizational and leadership challenges.

Equity-centered executive coaching is an excellent solution for leaders in organizations that have prioritized diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging but want to develop their skills beyond DEIB including:

  • improving relationships with stakeholders throughout your organization and community

  • increasing your ability to address organizational challenges and conflict despite the nature of those issues

  • increasing cognitive flexibility, self-awareness, and creative problem solving

  • developing or improve your own thought-leadership to advance your own career or professional visibility

  • increasing your confidence and effectiveness while decreasing burnout

Investing in equity-centered capacity building not only aligns with your organization's values but also contributes to its long-term success by integrating DEIB principles and practices into regular business operations.

  • By embedding equity-centered strategies into your recruitment and hiring processes you attract top candidates from diverse backgrounds who share the organizations commitment to equity

  • Delivering on your commitments to create an equity-centered workplace culture promotes employee engagement and retention by creating an environment where all employees feel heard, supported, and empowered to contribute their best work.

  • Increase customer satisfaction, outcomes, and loyalty by embedding equity-centered practices into your program, product, and service delivery, demonstrating the organization's commitment to social responsibility and ethical business practices.

  • Equity-centered businesses contribute to a more equitable world by prioritizing the overall well-being of team members, customers, and the communities they serve.

Now Enrolling

Leading with Equity

Free Webinar | Instant Access

In this 20-minute introduction to equity-centered leadership, we'll share more about the IECC approach and examine some tools that help leaders shift from ideas about equity and inclusion to actual decision making competencies that build a culture of equity, inclusion and belonging.

Equity-Centered Leadership Intensive

2-day intensive | July 15th & 16th 10am-6pm ET

This program is designed to introduce you to the principles of equity-centered leadership. We’ll share concepts, activities, and tools to deepen your understanding of your leadership practice, create a more psychologically safe work culture, and manage your teams and projects with an equity-centered approach that also reflects your organization's values.

Location: Online

Tuition:

Corporate: $1297

Non-profit & Small Business: $997

Coaching Skills for Leaders Intensive

2-day intensive | August 5th & 6th 10am-6pm ET

Leaders with coaching skills not only improve the performance and satisfaction of their team members but also contribute to a positive organizational culture, higher employee retention, and overall success. Team members and organizations increasingly recognize these skills as vital to effective workplace leadership.

Location: Online

Tuition:

Corporate: $1297

Non-profit & Small Business: $997

Team Trainings

These trainings are available to book for your entire organization or professional learning community and are available in person and online.

Training formats:

  • 2-hour introduction

  • 2-day workshop

  • 4- week course

Equity-Centered Workplace Culture

This training is designed to help employees understand, adopt, and integrate organizational values, norms, and behaviors into day to day operations.

Through this training, employees learn about the company's mission, vision, and core values, as well as how these principles translate into everyday interactions and equity-centered decision-making.

The goal of workplace culture training is to create a cohesive and harmonious workplace where employees feel engaged, motivated, and aligned with the organization’s overall objectives.

Coaching Skills For Leaders

This training is designed to equip managers and leaders with the essential coaching techniques needed to effectively develop and empower their teams, and improve supervision and internal leadership development.

This training goes beyond traditional leadership approaches by emphasizing a coaching mindset that fosters open communication, collaboration, and individual growth.

Through training, role-playing exercises, and real-world scenarios, participants learn how to ask powerful questions, actively listen, provide constructive feedback, and support their team members' professional development.

By developing these coaching skills, leaders are better positioned to foster a culture of continuous learning, boost employee engagement, and drive higher levels of performance across the organization.

Training formats:

  • 2-hour introduction

  • 2-day workshop

  • 4- week course

Training formats:

  • 2-hour introduction

  • 1-day workshop

  • 2-half-day trainings

Fostering Trust and Inclusion: Creating Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is a foundational element of a thriving and innovative workplace.

This workshop is designed to help participants understand, cultivate, and sustain psychological safety within their teams and organizations.

Participants will gain insights into the impact of psychological safety on collaboration, innovation, and employee well-being.

Through engaging discussions, activities, and case studies, attendees will explore practical strategies to foster an environment where individuals feel comfortable taking risks, sharing ideas, and expressing their authentic selves.

Team Coaching

These trainings are available to book for your entire organization or professional learning community and are available in person and online.

Equity-Centered Leadership Team Coaching

This six-month program is designed to introduce you to the principles of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) for businesses and equity-centered business practices.

Through group coaching with your leadership team, we’ll work with you to deepen your understanding of your leadership practice, how to create a more psychologically safe work culture, and how to manage your teams and projects with an equity-centered approach that also reflects your organization's values.

Connect with an IECC team member to find out more or schedule for your team. 

Equity Team Coaching & ERG Development

An Equity Team is a group of committed individuals within a company whose purpose is to build internal capacity around all areas of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

This team ensures that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion become the responsibility of all team members and departments.

As the world and social climate shift, the Equity Team will be responsible for ongoing learning and guidance, therefore the company will remain prepared to respond for cultural shifts in accordance with company values and commitments.

This 12-month program is facilitated by one of our coaches. Teams meet twice a month for 90-minute sessions that focus on equity-centered education and integration.

Connect with an IECC team member to find out more or schedule for your team. 

Connect with an IECC team member to find out more, or schedule for your team.