Special Interest Groups

ICFLA’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are designed to provide coaches with an opportunity to learn and grow in targeted topics of interest. Regardless of your coaching experience or familiarity with the topic or ICFLA, we welcome you to our interactive community. Register or mark your calendar for the SIG dates by topic listed below.

Build Your Business SIG

Host: Gretchen Hydo, MCC

Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm PT

2026 Dates:

Many coaches love coaching but have no idea how to launch or maintain a successful practice. The business side can feel intimidating—marketing, sales, pricing, visibility, and the day-to-day of being an entrepreneur. They want a thriving coaching practice but don’t know how actually to build one. This Special Interest Group is designed to bridge that gap—from coaching school to real business success.

Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine a growing practice, this group gives you a space to ask real questions, get practical strategy, and learn how to implement—not just think about—what moves your business forward.

Each session is fast-paced, interactive, and packed with real-talk business strategy. We’ll dig into how to find clients, what to say, how to talk about pricing, how to build your confidence, and what truly grows a coaching business with intention rather than guesswork. And because your questions drive the conversation, you’ll get exactly what you need—not a lecture, but a working session.

You’ll walk away with clarity, direction, and the next steps to actually build the business you want.

If you’re ready to stop overthinking and start building, join us.
This is where coaches learn how to turn skill into success.

organizational coaching sig

Host: Jen Wilson, PCC

Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am PT

2026 Dates:

The Organizational Coaching SIG is a mastermind-style incubator for coaches ready to expand beyond one-on-one work and make an impact inside organizations.

Designed for coaches who are ready to bring their skills into complex systems (corporate, nonprofit, and government). This space blends peer insight, collaborative problem-solving, and real-world strategy to help you confidently navigate the challenges of institutional coaching.

Together, we explore how to:

Land and design coaching engagements that align with organizational needs
Navigate power dynamics, procurement, and politics
Stay grounded in ethics while balancing multiple stakeholders

Sessions grounded in co-creation, this SIG is a community lab for refining your approach, sharing resources, and gaining clarity on how to position yourself inside systems that need coaching now more than ever.

Executive COACHING SIG

Hosts: Tom Henschel, Executive Coach, and Susan Smalley, PCC

Co-Host: Desiree Briel Rodi, Ph.D., ACC

Time: 9:00 am - 10:30 am PT

2026 Dates:

A self-directed learning group exploring coaching situations involving a coach, a client, and an employer. Come join our diverse, welcoming community as we support each other to elevate our executive coaching skills and impact.

"Every Executive Coaching SIG brings great value!” - Georganne Ford

"I “attended" my first Executive Coaching SIG with the great Tom Henschel (copied!) and I was BLOWN AWAY how fantastic it was. I can’t thank the organization enough for this powerful resource and community.

I have “attended” in quotes because I have a standing meeting every month exactly during that time and have suffered for over a year as a fairly new executive coach wanting to attend.

At the last ICFLA chapter meeting (which I’m exceptionally glad I attended), Tom made the suggestion to sign up for the SIG and listen to the recording if I couldn’t make it. THAT was a game changer. Whoever made that possible for members was brilliant! THANK YOU!!

Again, this was one of the MOST valuable ICF events I have attended and chock full of value, resources, and my people! 🤓

THANK YOU all, and thank you, Tom, for leading with heart, commitment, inspiration, and off-the-charts value! 🙏🙌" -
Ted Whetstone, ACC

MCC SIG

Host: Carrie Williams, MCC

Time: 12:00 - 1:30 pm PT

2026 Dates:

The Master Certified Coach (MCC) is the highest level of coach certification offered by the ICF. As of 2020, there were only 1,258 MCC-accredited coaches in the world. This group is for MCCs to meet and learn from each other. We will discuss challenges, coaching trends, and how to advocate for the development of the coaching professional practice worldwide.

This SIG is only for members who have achieved their MCC credentials.

Group & Team Coaching SIG

NEW Host: Marielle Hajducko, PCC

Time: 10:00 - 11:30 am PT

2026 Dates:

Join us to deepen your understanding and practice of group and team coaching through shared learning and real-world discussion.

The Group & Team Coaching SIG is a space for coaches who are working with, or considering moving into, group and team coaching and want to sharpen their understanding and practice through real-world conversation and shared learning.

The SIG explores how coaching changes when more than one voice is in the room—how roles shift, how agreements are established, and how growth is facilitated. Sessions may also examine when and how coaches appropriately shift into other modalities, such as facilitation or consulting.

Group coaching is explored as work with individuals coached together, where each participant is responsible for their own outcomes, and no collective accountability exists.
Team coaching is explored as work where the team itself is the client, with shared purpose, goals, and accountability.

The SIG focuses on practical issues coaches encounter in these contexts, including contracting, boundaries, trust and safety, navigating group dynamics, marketing considerations, and recognizing when a group becomes a team. Conversations are grounded in lived experience and informed by theory.

Sessions may include short presentations, panels, live demonstrations, case discussions, breakout conversations, and peer reflection. The emphasis is on thoughtful practice, professional judgment, and learning from one another.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SIG

Host: Desiree Briel Rodi, Ph.D., ACC

Time: 11:00 am to 12:30 pm PT

2026 Dates:

We will explore and spend some time together looking at the importance of emotions and feelings, models for labeling them, and various definitions and explanations of the purpose of emotions. We will also discuss our own comfort with emotions and how to leverage emotions in coaching.