The use of coaching for linguistic security
Dec 8, 2023 — 10 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.
Linguistic insecurity (LI) limits the effective use of French and English as official languages in Canadian federal institutions. As LI is often associated with character traits, emotional regulation, mindset and limiting beliefs, among other things, the use of coaching has been explored to increase individual linguistic security (LS) and resilience.
Abstract
Coaching is a discipline of accompanying individuals, allowing them to be aware of their way of approaching various situations (present), finding their own answers, exploring new possibilities and developing new skills (future).
Since 2019, various products have been developed at TBS to tackle this phenomenon: a podcast, a job aid, leadership programs and a Linguistic Risk Passport. Some of them will be briefly presented.
We will put emphasis on the Peer Coaching leadership initiative, inspired by the GROW* model, to offer executives the opportunity to explore in a non-judgmental way, their second language communication skills challenges.
With a view to informing current practice, a positive psychology lens is used to explore the process and consider some data.
*G-goals; R-reality; O-options; W-will
The Peer Coaching leadership initiative is a collaboration between the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Centre of Excellence in Official Languages and the Canada School of Public Service.
Speaker
Louise Varagnolo, Strategic Advisor, Treasury Board Secretariat
Louise is a former Government of Canada Executive and a certified coach. She is currently Strategic Advisor at the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS). Since 2019, she has been mandated to study the linguistic insecurity phenomenon in the Federal Public Service and to develop various initiatives to help public servants to overcome it. She was recently nominated for the TBS Official Languages Award of Excellence (2022).