Umunthu as a Way of Knowing in Coaching

This session introduces Umunthu not as cultural metaphor or contextual adaptation, but as a coherent African way of knowing capable of informing coaching theory, methodology, and ethics. Grounded in relational ontology, moral accountability, and collective becoming, Umunthu reframes leadership and coaching as fundamentally communal and ethically situated practices.

Drawing from practice-based research and applications of the Umunthu Leadership Framework, this session explores how Indigenous African philosophy deepens our understanding of identity, responsibility, power, and transformation within coaching conversations.In the highest echelons of corporate leadership, Black C-Suite executives frequently find themselves navigating racially homogenous organizations where they are the distinct minority.

Participants will engage with the epistemological implications of Umunthu for coaching presence, relational accountability, and systems awareness while reflecting on the broader question: What becomes possible for the coaching profession when Indigenous ways of knowing are not adapted to existing frameworks, but allowed to shape them?.