Ethical dilemmas in coaching

Have you ever encountered any ethical dilemmas in your coaching practice? And when you think of issues to watch out for in terms of professional ethics, what kind of issues are they?

Perhaps in your training as a coach you have read the ICF or EMCC code of ethics, or reflected on some cases, and gained more clarity on concepts such as confidentiality in coaching, conflict of interest, or referring a client to another professional.

At first it may all seem very obvious: "I cannot discuss with other people what the client shares with me in the session.", "I should not take advantage of a coaching relationship with a client to obtain another benefit outside the coaching contract." "When a client needs a psychologist instead of a coach, I should refer them."

As basic principles of professional performance, these guidelines orient new coaches to the terrain in which they will move as they begin to practice. But when we begin working with clients, we realize that ethical practice requires ongoing reflection by each coach, and an intentionality to stay true to the standards to which we are committed.

Many coaches tell me that no, they haven't encountered anything lately that has raised ethical questions for them. That's positive in the sense that nothing particularly alarming has happened and the coaching is working. What would you consider ethically "alarming"? Perhaps you think of a client sharing a very traumatic past experience, or a proposal to profit from your knowledge of some clients, or the possibility of entering into a romantic relationship with a coachee.

These are undoubtedly challenging situations that require a process of discernment on the part of the coach, but where we seem to be clearer about what "doing the right thing" means. But thinking that ethical dilemmas only concern more extreme situations makes us lose sight of the ethical side of ordinary situations, where we can all get confused. I invite you to leave the black/white zone and explore the gray zone:

• What about confidentiality in the follow-up meetings that a consulting firm organizes with the group of coaches who are participating in the project? Do we share more than we should? Why is that?
• When we find ourselves as coaches with a tendency to counsel or be directive with a client, struggling with the principle of non-directiveness in coaching, what are the ethical implications?
• How do we respond when the coachee's interests do not coincide with those of the organization paying for the coaching? How do we navigate our responsibility to the coachee, to the organization and to confidentiality?
• How do you deal with having received information relevant to your coachee's future career in a meeting with HR? Knowing that you should not share it with the coachee, have we ever made any remarks to the client to put him on track? Did we force the conversation in a certain direction? How do we handle having our hands tied by the confidentiality agreement?
• Your client tells you that he feels he is a victim of harassment at work. What is your responsibility?

If these examples have given you food for thought, I invite you to read the results of a study conducted by EMCC Global "EthicalDilemmas in Coaching Today".

The survey points out that in organizational coaching, despite good practices such as the creation of a clear agreement for the coaching process, tripartite agreements and the identification of consistent objectives, ethical dilemmas continue to arise.

Another conclusion is that the place of choice to talk about ethical dilemmas is the Coaching Supervision. Remember that Supervision is a space where we can share what is discussed in confidentiality with the client.

If you want to talk more about this topic, or if you have other questions, you can sign up for the next free webinar and participate in a conversation with other coaches to share your doubts and learn from the wisdom of the group.