EMCC UK’s Coaching Agreement aims to create an industry standard legal contract between coaches and organisational clients that will reduce commercial risks. Mike Taylor explains
Coaching and mentoring have developed through standards, accreditation and supervision, as well as the recent common code of ethics issued jointly by EMCC and ICF (see news, page 7). But what about an effective legal contract between coach/mentors and clients?
EMCC UK has developed an industry standard Coaching Agreement, a purpose-built legal contract in plain English. It aims to simplify legal conversations and reduce commercial risks for both parties.
Many coaches are unfamiliar with legal formalities. The Agreement focuses on legal issues, not contracting conversations, in which most coaches are well versed.
Why do we need it?
What’s wrong with market practice? Fit-for-purpose contracts that work for both parties are scarce. Common market practice often lies at one of two extremes: either no written contract is in place, or there is a long (more than 25 pages), standard supplier agreements mandated by a procurement department.
If there is no written contract, an implied contract – a verbal agreement – may exist, but because it hasn’t been written down, the details are a) subject to interpretation and ambiguity and b) important unspoken risks (such as payment terms, or who owns the coaching ‘knowhow’) don’t get addressed.
Conversely, a long standard supplier agreement can be full of terms and conditions that don’t reflect the service.
Procurement departments may want to standardise their portfolio of agreements. But an agreement for large IT services, for example, will be very different to an agreement for coaching.
Yet coaching ‘horror stories’ include being asked to:
- provide criminal record bureau checks (who are the vulnerable clients that the coach is supposed to be supporting?)
- give compliance statements that IT systems will work when the UK adopts the Euro (most coaches don’t use IT to deliver services)
- sign a temporary employee contract for an outsourced procurement department (incurring extra risks and costs for both parties).
Organisational clients have problems too. Critically, the performance element of the contract is often lightweight.
But let’s be fair. From a procurement perspective, coaching is a fairly uncommon and specialised service and the size of the contract in financial terms is small relative to the other services an organisation buys. Why should we expect familiarity?
Coaching may be a small part of the HR and L&D role, even in large organisations. The coach may have had no training in legal matters and may find the negotiation process difficult and often confrontational.
Our aims
Consistent with EMCC’s mission of defining, creating and promoting best practice in mentoring and coaching in the UK, the aim of the Agreement has been to:
- create an independently produced agreement that will become the industry standard
- produce a balanced agreement that works well for both parties
- make the agreement easy to use with a set of support documents, FAQs and ‘how to’s’
- conduct a market test to ensure the agreement is fit for purpose before a formal launch.
A hand-picked team was assembled for the project. The Agreement has been prepared with legal advice and support from City law firm Osborne Clarke; EMCC UK is pleased to have been joined in preparing the Agreement by the Institute of Consulting (IC)’s consulting purchasing group, and the roles of buyer and service provider have been covered separately by an experienced procurement director and business coach, respectively.
Following much debate and challenge in the project team, the Agreement recognises implicitly the nature of the coaching service and has balanced the interests of both parties. This balance is critical to the document’s acceptance in the market.
A robust market test gathered the views of coaches, buyers of coaching services and wider interested parties, and revisions were made following feedback. The test confirmed that having an industry standard Coaching Agreement is welcomed by the industry, both for suppliers and buyers of coaching and mentoring services.
The Agreement will be free for EMCC and IC members as a benefit of membership via their respective websites. Additional market feedback will be gathered in the next six months to monitor progress and make revisions if required.
Nothing like this exists in the market today. The Coaching Agreement aims to support and make it easier for both parties to discuss commercial terms and conditions at the outset of new relationships. And as this will reduce the often unspoken risks on key topics, it will provide solid foundations for commercial success and better business for all.
Mike Taylor is former finance director and an advisory board member of EMCC UK. An experienced business leader in UK and mainland Europe, he established his executive coaching business, the RBP Group, in 2005.
Coaching at Work, Volume 6, Issue 5