The ethics of the coach

Coaching, like any other discipline aimed at intervening in people and organizations, is not alien to the field of ethics. It is not only an instrument that can be “applied” to individuals or teams, behind the actions that give shape to the work of the coach there are a series of values ​​and morals without which their work would have no reason to exist.

However, the ethics of the coach cannot be individual and totally private and subjective: if it were, it would be disconnected from the society and could not fit in with the interests and goals of those who hire their services or come to them for help professional.

That is why there are a series of ethical standards that guide coaching. In this article we will give a brief review of those key ideas behind the ethics of coaching, starting with a definition of the basic concepts.

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What is coaching? What is ethics?

Let's start with the main thing, clarifying terms. What is coaching? It is a

discipline based on intervention in people, teams and organizations in order to detect their potential and take advantage of it taking into account its values, goals and operating philosophy, breaking old dysfunctional inertias and opening up new possibilities for action.

The work of coaches is always positive, not so much to alleviate or mitigate severe problems of the type psychological and behavioral but rather to discover latent talents, rethink goals and ways of work, and promote personal development processes or ambitious professional projects.

Thus, the coach's work has so much to do with helping individual people (opposition students, elite athletes, people who wants to reformulate his professional career or who seeks to give a boost to his personal development) as well as companies and senior positions with people at his position.

Some of the most studied topics from coaching are the leadership, motivation, stress management, team dynamization, conflict resolution, concentration management, job performance, and more.

On the other hand... what is ethics? Its about field of philosophical thought that delimits the concepts of what is right and what is wrong, that is, the desirable actions and the actions to avoid. Thus, ethics does not have a merely descriptive function, but is normative, indicating not what it is but what it should be.

Ethics is a joint effort, in the sense that it creates norms that go beyond the individual, and aspires to create rules that can be applied rationally and systematically, without arbitrarily discriminating or giving rise to favorable treatment. In this way, behavioral guidelines can emerge from ethics that make it clear in advance which actions are appropriate and which involve a breakdown of norms and consensus.

It can be said that practically all professionals have an ethical dimension, since there is social interaction in all of them, and that is why that it is more and more frequent to create deontological codes in which the ethics in which the activity of a "union" is sustained is established or sector. And coaching is no exception to this trend.

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Is there a code of ethics for coaching?

To date, there is no universal ethical code for coaching, in the sense that not all coaches need to accept a series of specific norms and guidelines for behavior. However yeah There are entities in which many coaching professionals are grouped and are represented and that have created ethical codes they follow a lot of coach. These ethical standards can overlap and complement each other.

Along these lines, it should be noted that the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the largest international coach organization with more than 35,000 associates, has its ethical code that defines the standards of professionalism and good work.

This includes the values ​​that should guide the coach's work (that is, the key concepts that define this type of work and the professional relationship that is established with the client / coachee), the ethical standards of responsibility with the client, with professionalism and with society, and the commitment to the ethics of the coaching professional.

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Do you want to train in coaching?

If you are interested in specializing as a coach or incorporating the theoretical-practical knowledge of coaching into your work, you may be interested in our courses and postgraduate programs.

On European School of Coaching We have been offering training, consulting and coaching services for individuals, professionals and companies for more than 15 years. In addition, we follow the standards and requirements of the International Coaching Federation, and the coaches we certify must sign the ICF Code of Ethics.

For more information about our services and the way we work, contact us or visit our website.