Explains that tailored codes of ethics are essential as all coaches face ethical dilemmas at some point. It’s even harder for internal coaches
Sandra Wilson
As organisations develop their internal coaching, we are seeing a growth in the number of staff who take on coaching assignments outside of their normal line relationship. Yet little seems to have been said or written about the ethical issues they are likely to grapple with. What if an internal coach is faced with a client who is determined to do something the coach knows to be unacceptable in the organisational context? What if the coach feels after getting to know their client that they would be better suited to their own department?

These are among the many challenging scenarios an internal coach is likely to face. The nature of the relationship dictates that the coach will get a strong sense of the client’s competence and potential and may be tempted to try to recruit them to their own business area. In one organisation I worked with this became such an issue that some managers refused to have one coach take on assignments from their departments.

Face the facts!

All coaches will face ethical dilemmas at some time in their career and the codes of ethics developed by professional coaching bodies may not capture the unique issues faced by internal coaches. Professional coaching associations have published codes of ethics that their members agree to adhere to, and although the wording is different in each, the main thrust is similar: competence, integrity, professionalism and professional conduct.

The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) code of ethics gives specific examples under the heading of professionalism. Of the other codes, most make broad statements under similar headings but without specific examples. All codes of ethics need to account for the coach’s competence, the context in which they operate, the boundaries of the relationship and their integrity and professional conduct (see panel, Five Steps to a Code of Ethics). But there are a number of issues important to the internal coach, mostly relating to the unique operating environment in which they practise and the complex set of relationships they are likely to be involved in.

Organisations need to make sure they develop an appropriate code of ethics, helping internal coaches to manage the boundaries within the organisational context, maintain integrity, know what is expected in terms of professional conduct and competence and make the implicit explicit. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) requires all its coaches to sign up to an ethical code adapted from that of the EMCC. RCN organisational development manager Julie Carrington says: “We spend time exploring this on the coaches’ training programme and revisit this during continuous professional development (CPD) days. We also share this with the clients.”

The multi-party contract (adapted from Hay, 1992) above illustrates the challenges of managing the internal coach’s conscious boundaries: between themselves, the client, the client’s line manager, the coaching champion and the organisation in relation to the coaching contract. All parties to this complex contract have an interlocking set of relationships with differing roles and responsibilities (see “Contractual obligations”). The coach may also have another role in the organisation at managerial or professional level.

Holding two roles within the organisation has the potential for conflict if the coach is not fully aware of which domain they are operating in at any given time. There may be times when they have to step out of the coaching role and into one of the other domains. For example, if a client is determined to take an unacceptable course of action, it would be appropriate to press the “pause” button on the coaching session, alert the organisation and step into the role of manager or other professional. This is crucial to preserving the boundaries of the relationship.

Don’t tell anyone, but…

Confidentiality is paramount to the coaching alliance. There are, of course, caveats to this and these should be spelt out in the coaching contract. The diversity and complexity of organisational relationships means there is a greater opportunity for internal coaches to become engaged in casual conversations with peers and bosses.

One potential outcome is that they may unconsciously pass on information about a client to the organisation, breaching the contract for confidentiality. For example, when two colleagues are discussing a third person for promotion, one of them may make a comment about their capability based on knowledge gained through a coaching relationship.

How to behave

There are a number of issues that may arise regarding professional conduct. Goals and targets are often integrated across departments and the coach must be alert to the potential for compromising the client’s success in order to maximise their own. An example might be when there is a bidding war for budget or resources between the coach’s and client’s departments.

There are complex relationships within any organisation that are not always evident to those involved in matching clients and coaches. The coach must be ready to recognise potential conflicts of interest and decline to take on a client where they exist. It may be that a coach finds themselves in competition with the client for promotion. As soon as this comes to their attention, they should declare the conflict of interest and make arrangements for the client to work with someone else.

Where an internal coach decides to establish an external coaching practice in their own time, the organisation should declare its needs and expectations. The very least they should expect is notification from the coach of the intention and a commitment that they will not use organisational resources to set up and maintain the external practice. In addition, the organisation is likely to want a commitment that the coach will not attempt to recruit clients from within the private practice.

The organisation must also consider what provision it will make for CPD for internal coaches. This should include supervision by a suitably qualified professional. Supervision will offer the coach:

  • an opportunity to review their strengths and weaknesses and judge their limitations with regard to the work they are undertaking;
  • space to reflect on their work and gain insights to support improved interventions;
  • professional protection by having a more experienced coach offering support and advice on areas of concern.

Many assume that much of this is implicit in the contract an organisation has with its internal coach. But that may not be the case. To protect the coach, the client and the organisation, it is important to make the implicit explicit. Coaches need to have their roles and responsibilities defined, preferably linked to corporate values and policies on development, dignity and so on. It would add even greater clarity to have a clearly defined and articulated code of ethics that sets the professional parameters within which the coach is expected to practise.

Watch this space!

What I have tried to do here is not to define what a code of ethics should contain, but to offer a prompt for coaching champions to consider what should be explicit in the relationship between the internal coach and the organisation and what is expected in terms of ethical behaviour. What is important is that a well thought-out code exists within the organisation and that internal coaches understand it and agree to abide by it.

Where an organisation chooses to develop such a code, it should also develop a procedure for dealing with ethical complaints that protects the coach, the client and the company. Ideally, it should sit outside of the normal grievance or disciplinary procedures. This will keep ethical complaints relating to the coaching relationship outside of standard procedures that might lead to predetermined disciplinary action or termination of employment.

Five steps to a code of ethics

The following are examples of statements worthy of inclusion in a code of ethics for internal coaches in addition to the standard statements included in the codes developed by the professional associations. The internal coach will:

Competence

  • Attend and graduate from the organisation’s coach training programme.
  • Engage in appropriate continuous professional development and complete annual CPD logs.
  • Engage in coaching supervision with a suitably qualified supervisor, designated by the organisation and bound by confidentiality, who will regularly assess their competence and support their development. Internal coaches are expected to have one hour of supervision for every 10 hours of coaching.

Context

  • Ensure that the coaching agenda is focused on agreed goals and maintained within the organisational context.
  • Boundaries
  • Be fully aware of the multi-party nature of the coaching relationship and take responsibility for maintaining equal psychological distance with all parties.
  • Operate within the limits of their own competence. Where necessary the internal coach will refer the client to the OD manager (or HR manager if appropriate) for referral to a more experienced coach or another professional, such as a counsellor, psychotherapist or business/financial adviser.
  • Be aware of, and deal with, the potential for conflicts of interest of either a professional or emotional nature arising through the coaching relationship.
  • Manage the boundaries between their professional role in the organisation and the assignments they take on as an internal coach.

Integrity

  • Maintain the level of confidentiality agreed by all parties at the start.
  • Disclose information only where explicitly agreed with the client and sponsor, unless the internal coach believes there is convincing evidence of serious danger to the client, others or the organisation.
  • Act within applicable law and organisational rules and regulations and not encourage, assist or collude with others engaged in conduct that is dishonest, unlawful, unprofessional or discriminatory.

Professional conduct

  • Not compromise the client’s success in order to maximise their own.
  • Never try to recruit the client to their own business area.
  • Not take on a client where there is a potential conflict of interest.
  • Declare any personal interest where they are a competitor of the client for progression, in such cases they should request that the client be given another coach.
  • Advise the organisation if they intend to offer professional coaching services in their own time. They should not use company premises and resources for this.
  • Never seek to recruit private coaching clients from within the organisation.

Further info

  • Sandra Wilson is a director of the International Centre for Business Coaching. She works nationally and internationally as a coach, coach supervisor and coach trainer. She has developed a code of ethics and ethical complaints procedure for a number of organisations in the UK.
  • J Hay, Transactional Analysis for Trainers, Sherwood Publishing, 1992.

Volume 3, Issue 3