AC113 Practical Ethics and Legalities

Facilitator: Sherry Read
2009/4/1, 1800-1900

What are the steps or thing you will think about creating coaching ethics?
- Clear the expectations (create a coaching process)
- Set scope of our practice (our client might come to us and want more from coaching)

What happens when we make mistakes?
- We need to admit it and be honest about it.
- Follow our feeling and clarify the issues when we feel it’s not O.K. to discuss about it.

When someone (not your client) talks something which is confidential to you and your client but it was the client let the others know, we could still say “I don’t know anything about that.”

Confidentiality Issue
- Documentation, Retention and Disposition: Be careful of how we keep that information. When you have good income from coaching, you might need to set up a support team to solve the problems and legal or other issues.
- Log the coaching time of all clients for the credential of ICF. If we would like to do that, we need to ask our clients’ permission that we could disclose their name and contact information to ICF.
- Create an agreement (but not a contract) with the standards and policies and include the role that I could disclose the name and contact information to ICF and use the case anonymous for self-development.

Coaches don’t guarantee; we follow the client’s agenda; we are therapist and consultant.

The code of ethics - No sexually relationship with client
What if the How do we prepare ourselves to manage the above situation?
- Move out from the coaching relationship
- Use the phone for coaching that in person
- Talk to attorney about the situation upfront to protect ourselves

Executive Coaching – Confidentially is very critical
- We have to set up the guideline and outcome in advance with HR
- We want to prepare for that when we empower our client to make the decision to leave the company (because his/her values do not align with the company). It’s is a very challenging point.

Three way arrangement
Someone refer one client to you but wants a referral fees. It might cause a confidential issue because the person would know the session and fees of the client. (In the market, some person asks for 10% referral fee). If we are referring clients, we need to be explicit about it if we receive referral fee.

Company would have the expectation of the coaching session. They want something and some updates every time when they get invoice. It becomes very serious that we need to sit down and talk to every one (company, client, HR and me) to reach the consensus of the confidential level.
Person action – confidential
Participate or the commitment of the program – to company
Coaching client would provide what they feel comfortable and how are they going to do for the company.

When we coach someone who is not committed, we should talk to the person about it and discuss how to terminate the coaching relationship and back to the company.