I.D.E.A.S. MATTER

I was thirteen years old, on my way home from school, carrying a load of books. I attended a religious allgirls high school. I looked nerdy with my brown tweed coat and glasses. I was just a block away from school, when I suddenly felt a slimy gel running down my hair, my eyes, my glasses and my coat. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a group of older teenagers laughing hysterically. They had thrown a bunch of raw eggs at my face. I wasn’t naïve. I knew they threw it at me because I was Jewish, and the adults on the street who saw the whole thing did nothing. Silence. I too was silent. I ran back to school and cleaned myself off in the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and said to myself. I will never be silent again. This is why I accepted the DEIB/IDEAS Director role - to help ICF New Jersey Charter Chapter realize its Diversity Statement: “We are a collaborative community of professional coaches where every member is seen, heard, and respected, and diversity of every kind is welcome.”
 
In partnership with the IDEAS/DEIB Advisory Committee and the Board, we are making progress in embedding Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Solidarity throughout our chapter. One metric of success we use is that IDEAS is so deeply embedded in our culture, behavior, and opportunities that the DEIB/IDEAS Committee can take on more complex initiatives.  
 
The operating principles and values are the same as the Chapter. We structure our committee into pods to promote distributed leadership and accelerate progress. Today we pull back the curtains. We share with you the priority initiatives and accomplishments of the DEIB/IDEAS Advisory Committee members this quarter, at the individual, organizational and ICF global level. 

Moving the Needle: Individual Level
Goal One: Walk the Talk - IDI Individual Assessment  
 
This goal builds on Kelli Kombat’s work from last year to complete a debriefing of all Board and DEIB/IDEAS committee members of the IDI—the Intercultural Development Inventory.

  • This assessment provides each of us with a snapshot of where we are along the arc of intercultural development and what we can do as individuals to take the next step along the continuum of development.

  • In the first quarter we all completed our assessments and debriefs. The rationale for this goal is that before we embed IDEAS into the culture, leveling-up our awareness and sensitivity must be our first step. We all learned a great deal about ourselves and are taking individual and collective actions to “walk toward our talk” regarding IDEAS.

Moving the Needle: Organizational Level
Goal Two: Integrating IDEAS into the fabric/culture of ICF New Jersey Charter Chapter.

This pod is led by DEIB/IDEAS members Walter Slade, Ellen Wagner and Dorisse Shakir-Ullah.

Last year’s committee worked diligently to draft the DEIB policy document and obtain approval from the Board. It took agency and persistence by this year’s committee to get the IDEAS policies integrated into the Chapter’s handbook.

  • This quarter the IDEAS vision was added on our website and in our newsletter with Virtual Assistant Susan Amdur’s help.

  • We excitedly established a DEIB monthly column which Kelli officially launched in February 2025.

  • The first IDEAS Matter column launched in April, with different members contributing over time.

Goal Three: Begin the ISO Assessment, a recognized organizational DEIB systemic capability assessment.  

Leading this pod are Kelli Kombat and Mindy Gewirtz, who conducted the initial evaluation with feedback from DEIB/IDEAS Advisory committee members.

  • In April we will conduct interviews with long time Board and other ICF New Jersey members, who will rate the organization on its DEIB capability level.

  • Kelli and I will analyze and summarize the data and create a report for the Committee and the Board in the second quarter. The Board’s response with input from the Committee, will help identify the next steps.    


Goal Four: Inclusion of Members in Delivering Programs

The Request for Proposal (RFP) Pod is led by DEIB/IDEAS members Patti Lee, Tynisha Coleman, Beth Renga and Carmela O’Flaherty, Co-Director of Programming. They are systematizing the application process for greater inclusion of our membership to speak at a Chapter event.

  • We need volunteers with experience to help sort through applications according to the criteria being developed. This will open a whole new channel for our members to engage and contribute to our community.

  • The Programming Committee has already intentionally brought in several excellent speakers who were diverse in many ways and spoke directly about bias and DEI issues.

Goal Five: IDEAS Campaign POD  
This pod is working on how to bring IDEAS to life. More on their recommendations next month. 

Moving the Needle: ICF Global Level
Bringing IDEAS back full circle to the Individual and Organizational Level at the ICF New Jersey Charter Chapter
 
Goal Six: ICF Global-Two -Way Communication

  • How do we infuse cutting-edge IDEAS to paraphrase Bob Dylan who sang 60 years ago, “When Times, They Are A Changing.” As coaches, how do we help leaders become more adaptive and resilient? How can leaders find innovative ways to strengthen IDEAS in the new and at times unhospitable environment?

  • This reflection is what sparked the idea of opening a two-way line of communication with ICF New Jersey DEIB and other Chapter DEIB leaders from around the world.  

I sent out a test email flare to ICF Global DEIB Chapter Leaders on ICF ENGAGE and offered to facilitate a monthly call, The VIBE (Voices for Inclusion, Belonging, and Engagement). 

DEIB Chapter leaders from South Korea, Costa Rica, Tennessee, Kansas, Dr. Finch, and I launched the first call on April 2nd. The primary purpose is to create a DEIB innovation and problem-solving community that is a safe space for caring and sharing during uncertain times. We greatly appreciate ICF Global DEIB and Dr. Finch for her support.

  • This brings us back full circle to the beginning. We return to our chapters and committees energized with new ideas, approaches, and resources to embed IDEAS within organizations and individuals. 

What keeps me up at night is thinking how we as coaches can adapt and thrive in a world where new technology like AI and quantum computing is roaring toward us at the speed of a Swiss bullet train. This my brain can assimilate with educational programs. But how do we deal as coaches and with our clients with the sudden ripping DEIB out of existence, as if people no longer matter? How do we emotionally deal with the contagion of hate and coordinated or random acts of violence that have become so normalized? There is little effective public outrage regarding DEIB or the escalation of violence and hate crimes. Most deafening is the silence.  

My personal small step is to rise up and pierce the veil of silence by stewarding the very talented 
DEIB/IDEAS Advisory Committee members to where we can make the most impact and move the needle forward for ourselves as individuals, for ICF New Jersey as an organization and beyond. 

We welcome your ideas for speakers or a new event and look forward to your engagement with our committee.  
 
Rise Up, 
Your Voice Matters, 
You Matter. 

Dr. Mindy L. Gewirtz, MCC 
ICF New Jersey DEIB/IDEAS Director

Your DEIB/IDEAS Advisory Committee:
Tynisha Coleman
Malina Poshtova Delamere
Louis Fioccola
Patricia “Patti” Lee
Linda Leonard
Walter Slade
Dorisse Shakir-Ullah
Ellen Wagner

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