When you take on the role of a professional life or business coach, you are entrusted with great deal of trust on the part of your clients. This trust comes with the expectation that you will use role as a coach in an ethical and responsible manner. Due to the fact there is presently no single organization governing the coaching industry, you will find that a coaching code of ethics will vary slightly from one training program to the next. The Advisory Board’s Coaching Jump Start has done its best to synthesize the ethical expectations of a professional coach in the following simple outline.
General Coaching Ethics
- Refrain from Making False Claims – Coaches are expected honestly portray their level of experience, training and accreditation in all public statements. Additionally, coaches must not mislead potential clients about the services or results that they can reasonably expect to receive.
- Respect Intellectual Property – When a coach is writing about or discussing research or techniques that have been developed by other professional coaches, they are expected to acknowledge the original source of their information.
- Conflict of Interest – Coaches must strive to identify and avoid all potential conflicts of interest. When such conflicts of interest arise, they must be disclosed to all affected clients.
- Coaching Fees – Coaches are expected to clearly disclose their fee structure to clients prior to their coaching sessions.
The Coaching Relationship
- Professionalism – Coaches must approach their relationship with their clients as a professional business relationship and behave accordingly. This requires coaches to conduct themselves with honesty and integrity while exercising proper judgement and reliability.
- Client Safety – It is the responsibility of the coach to place their clients’ welfare as their top priority. When a client discloses information related to a personal mental health condition, a coach must refer them to a mental health professional rather than attempting to diagnose or treat the client on their own.
- Full Disclosure – Coaches must disclose all pertinent information about the coaching process, expectation and confidentiality at the beginning of the coaching relationship.
Confidentiality Expectations
- Proper Maintenance and Disposal of Client Records – All records pertaining to a coach’s clients must be stored securely and disposed of responsibly once they are no longer necessary for the coaching process.
- Respect of Client’s Privacy – Coaches are expected to respect their clients’ privacy by avoiding delving into personal or private topics. Matters that are discussed during a coaching session are not to be disclosed to third parties without the knowledge and permission of the client.