BUT let us just pause for a moment and think about what the term “help” means and signify.  When we look at the definition of help it is about giving “assistance or support” or “to provide something that is useful” (Merriam-Webster dictionary).

I have been thinking about help a great deal of late, mainly because I am learning to live with being “helpless” in terms of supporting my elderly mother who is a 4-hour drive away!  And I am learning that I dislike being helpless, I so want to make things better and easier for her, rescue her and be the “super-daughter fixer”! However, in doing all of this I would be taking away her power, resourcefulness, making-it better and fixing/problem solving!  And so, I am reflecting on what does/could “help” and “wanting to help” really mean for us as coaches and what might it infer in one’s coaching practice?

Of course, we can justify our desire to help as a strength and an asset to one’s coaching, as it can mean that we are supporting, making things easier, facilitating growth and development etc.  However, let us look at the flip side as it might also imply and infer that the individual, we are coaching needs “fixing or making better” in some way, or that as the helper we are more “sorted” than they are, and finally of course “being the helper” gives us, the coach, power over the other person.  Therefore, in sum, I am left mulling over the fact that our desire to be helpful is likely to be projecting something (unconsciously) into a coaching relationship that is not helpful at all! As this projection will tip the balance in the relationship away from one of equality and undermine the philosophy of “unconditional positive regard”, as it will be saying “you are not a whole resourceful human being who can think for yourself.”

With that in mind let’s stop wanting to help and perhaps think about supporting, facilitating, walking alongside, journeying, and partnering so that “the purpose of our interventions is to mobilise our coachees’ level of excitement and energy towards development and growth” (Leary-Joyce, 2014).  Also, let’s take some time to reflect and think about why we want to help so much, and identify what is our need that is being fulfilled by doing the helping.  With that in mind I offer a few questions for reflection:

• How do you feel about being helped by others?
• How does it feel to be helpless?
• What is your motivation to help others?
• What need are you meeting in yourself by helping others?

Starr, J. (2021). The coaching manual. Pearson UK.

Leary Joyce, J. (2014). The Fertile Void. AoEC Press, UK.

Julia Carden is an Executive Coach and Coach Supervisor. Alongside Julia’s coaching and supervision practice she is a visiting tutor at Henley Business School teaching on the Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching, MSc in Executive Coaching and Behavioural Change and heads up the Professional Certificate in Coaching Supervision.

The post Help! Is wanting to help as a coach helpful? appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

Coaching is about change and growth. Using a self -reflection journal will support your growing appreciation of the factors at play and what to do about them as you develop new ways of tackling challenges or approach problems.

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle was developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 to give structure to learning from experiences.  It offers a framework for examining experiences, covering 6 stages:

• Description of the experience
• Feelings and thoughts about the experience
• Evaluation of the experience, both good and bad
• Analysis to make sense of the situation
• Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently
• Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future

How do you do it?

In a notebook take time to write out the journey through the stages

Description of the experience

• What had you planned?
• What happened?
• What did you and the other people do?
• How did what you planned compare to what happened?

Feelings and thoughts about the experience

Before

• What were you feeling and thinking?
• What were others involved feeling and thinking?

During

• What were you feeling and thinking?
• What were others involved feeling and thinking?

After

• What are you feeling and thinking now?
• What are the others involved feeling and thinking now?

Evaluation of the experience, both good and bad

• What went well?
• What didn’t go so well?
• What did you contribute ?
• What did others contribute?

Analysis to make sense of the situation

• What was it that made elements go well?
• What contributed to the part that didn’t go so well?
• What could help me understand the situation better?
• How could you make sense of the situation?

Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently

• What have I learnt from this experience?
• What could have made it better?
• What skills do I need to develop to handle a situation like this better in the future?

Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future.

• What do I want to take forward?
• What will I hang on to?
• What will I do differently?
• What skills will I develop to support my progress?
• How will I know I have made progress?

If you would like to start exploring then get in touch with me for a free 30 min taster session

Madeline Cranfield is a highly experience Executive coach. She has worked internationally for complex organisations across sectors as diverse as finance and engineering, FMCG and technology. She combines strong business skills in strategy implementation with an ability to engage and motivate people to deliver more of their potential utilising a behavioural approach.

Read more of Madeline’s blogs here.

The post What is a self-reflection journal? Why is it useful in supporting your coaching journey? How do you do it? appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

If we look a little closer at therapeutic practices, we can see that some disciplines are closely aligned with coaching practice. Solutions Focussed Therapy, CBT, Brief Therapy, DBT, ACT, Mentalisation, and even Mindfulness all share common aspects such as: use of goals, being time-limited, reframing thinking, working towards a future state. Whilst termed Therapeutic approaches, could we argue they are also Coaching approaches?

Many practitioners are starting to see the value in an integrated approach and descriptors used by practitioners suggest an increase in combined practice.

Descriptions in the coaching field such as ‘trauma informed’, ‘trauma aware’, ‘burnout coach’, ‘coaching for depression’, ‘grief coaching’ are all examples of coaches who are moving closer towards the traditional work of therapists.

This hasn’t always been met with open arms by those in the therapeutic professions. Concerns are openly expressed about whether coaches are competent, knowledgeable, aware of the underpinning theory and ethics of therapeutic work. In some instances, these concerns are well founded.

I have seen coaches offering to cure people of a lifetime of trauma using a programme of support which is applied to all clients regardless of their specific history and circumstances. Sometimes at great financial cost. All my training and experience as a psychotherapist tells me this is unethical and high risk.

To offer a different perspective I have many more examples of coaches who are well trained, competent and work within an ethical framework and philosophy which is no different to many therapists.

If I am balanced in my perspective, there is also evidence of therapists who work beyond their competence and do not adhere to current standards and good practice. As with all professions, there is a varied mix of practitioners.

So how do we address the concerns to enable this growing approach to be accepted as a valid method of working with clients?

In my view we start by looking at our similarities. What qualities, standards and ethics bring us closer? My belief is that if we start here, we may see that the divide isn’t as great as we imagine it to be.

Starting with what we share generates a dialogue, creates the space to be more open about what’s different and how to resolve this. From my experience as a dual-practitioner, the line in the sand is generally about competence, training and requirements for practice. Given the wealth of information currently available and the Codes of Conduct and Ethical Guidelines of the many membership bodies, it must be possible to reach a consensus on a minimum standard. If coaches and therapists can’t listen, understand and reach agreement with each other how can we possibly offer that to our clients.

From the client’s perspective their needs are often quite simple, they need support to change something in their life and they want that change to be as sustainable as possible. They want someone to help them who knows what they are doing and who they feel safe to work with. Clients want to be assured of Competence and Safety. A client might have pre-conceived ideas about what type of work they want to do and that will influence their decision about who they work with but their aspiration is broadly the same: they want change.

My aim in writing this isn’t to give answers but to encourage further thinking. Are you working across the divide? Are you offering competence and safety to your clients? Do you have a set of ethics and a philosophy which underpins your work? Do you have a theoretical foundation for your work? Are you working for the benefit of your clients?

If the answer to those questions is anything but a resounding YES then you might need to undertake some further exploration and development. This might be additional training, supervision or it might be a mentoring programme such as ‘The Blended Approach’.

I’ll close with a reflection on my own practice.

As a dual-qualified practitioner I spent many years maintaining the divide. I had my coaching practice and my therapy practice. Even now I still have separate websites and maintain a very small private therapy practice for people who can’t afford my standard rate. In all honesty there is no difference in my work and hasn’t been for many years. When I work with a client, they are leading the way and I support them where they are. I try not to get hung up on whether we are working therapeutically or coaching. The client doesn’t care and my intention is to bring the most helpful approach in the moment.

My focus is on the client as a whole human being. The context and content is the frame within which I work but my client is firmly in the centre of the picture.

Tracey Hartshorn is a Therapeutic Coach, Supervisor, Mentor and Author. Tracey uses the term ‘Therapeutic Coach’ to describe her work. It’s as close as she can get with a range of skills including: Executive Coaching, Mediation, Supervision, Conflict Management, Psychotherapy, Counselling, Leadership, Strategic Thinking, Writing, and the list goes on!

The post Therapeutic Coaching – Bridging the Divide appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

Recent research exploring coach self-awareness indicated that a key method in developing and deepening self-awareness was reflective practice, in particular coaching supervision.  This is because supervision provides a dedicated and committed space where the coach steps up ‘onto the balcony’ with another professional (the supervisor) to ‘look down, observe and reflect on the dance’ between the coach and their client to gain a meta and helicopter perspective of the work.  This will inevitably enable the coach to gain some new perspectives and thinking.

This can be further deepened with reflective practices that draw on psychodynamic principles to explore the projection, transference and countertransference that maybe happening.  In addition, when one has been working with the same coaching supervisor for a length of time the supervisor is able to identify patterns of behaviour and habits in the coach and shine a light on these.  It provides a place where we can put ourselves and our practice under the microscope and examine what is emerging.  This very act of stepping back, being challenged, offered reflections and receiving feedback can give glimpses into our unconscious and provide new insights thereby increasing our self-awareness.

However, the research also highlighted that we can only develop self-awareness if we really know what the construct is, are motivated to develop it and can manage our own ‘storytelling.’  Alongside this we choose what to take to supervision, it is a self-reporting process so we can avoid taking what we perhaps most need to work on – and often we avoid taking what we are ashamed of or feel guilty about.  Even if we have a strong relationship with our supervisor and take something we are a little ashamed of or embarrassed about we then must contend with our own ‘ego defences’ in exploring the enquiry.  These ‘defences’ may lead to us shutting down, retreating, justifying, rationalising, intellectualising or any other protective mechanism we have learnt which makes reflection on the enquiry even more challenging.

Therefore, to check in and ensure that self-delusion is avoided spend a few moments reflecting and asking yourself:

• What am I avoiding; ashamed of; embarrassed of taking to supervision?
• What might I need to feel safe enough to focus on this?
• What conversations might I need to have with my supervisor so I can do this?
• What are my patterns of behaviour that may lead me to avoiding what I really need to lean into?

Julia Carden is an Executive Coach and Coach Supervisor. Alongside Julia’s coaching and supervision practice she is a visiting tutor at Henley Business School teaching on the Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching, MSc in Executive Coaching and Behavioural Change and heads up the Professional Certificate in Coaching Supervision.

The post Supervision: A route to self-awareness or self-delusion? appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

It’s what we do every day, and we tend to do it well. We use these skills to helps us support the client get wherever they want to go. We tend to be good at listening to the client story, context and also emotions. Our focus is wholly on the client.

Yet there is a different kind of listening. A listening that comes from being fully present in the moment. Listening that allows you to connect with the aliveness in yourself, in the client and in the connection between you. This kind of listening can also bring many gifts to the client. It helps tap into greater wisdom that comes from your own bodily wisdom. It also allows new insights to emerge and deepens the client’s transformation.

I’d like to share a case study of how I use this other kind of listening and how it supports my work with clients. In this kind of listening I am present with what is in me, in the client and I have no agenda or plan for the client.

My client was wanting to create more time for strategic work, but he would get caught up in endless meetings and he didn’t like to say ‘No’ to them. Obviously one way to work with such a client, would be to help him get more awareness of his situation and then support him to create an action plan.

My approach is quite different.

Before the start of the session, I had taken time to get really present with myself. After he had shared the issue, we then took some time to help him arrive more into the present moment as well. I reminded him to bring his awareness to the warmth of his hands touching each other. He had discovered in a previous session that this anchor was remarkably effective for him.

Then I gave him the space so that he could bring a slower, more present, kind of attention to himself. I invited him to notice what he noticed as he reflected on his situation. I was as present with him as I was with myself and with my own body.

I didn’t feel the need to ask him many questions. As I created space for him and accompanied him, I sometimes reflected the essence of what I had heard and sometimes I was silent. I was following my own inner feelings on this. As he reflected on what saying ‘No’ meant to him, he became aware of all kinds of judgements that he had about himself. Now, in this slowed-down state, his underlying thoughts and beliefs could emerge. He was also able to find words for them and acknowledge them, when he hadn’t even known were there.

I wasn’t only following what was alive in him I was also following my own felt sense of the situation. Not for my own resonance of his story but for what my body was picking up from him. Most of the time there was congruence, but from time to time I experienced something quite different. For example, as he imagined declining a meeting, he experienced tension in his gut even though he knew it was the right thing to do. I recall quite distinctly, in that moment, that my belly relaxed. I was able to share this with him a little later, and after hearing this, he was able to find and experience his own sense of relaxation as well.

In the subsequent session he shared that he no longer attended so many meetings. This had enabled him to find more time for his strategic work, but he was also more available to support his team .

This approach I use comes from focusing and the felt sense which was created by Eugene Gendlin in the 1960s

For coaches, Focusing can help you:

• Deepen your client work through your own embodiment.
• Bring greater presence and aliveness to your client work.
• Become better able to process any emotional responses to difficult clients.
• Regulate your own and your client’s nervous system.
• Feel more resourced in general and in your work with clients.

Find out more about my work and the trainings I offer other coaches here.

Ruth Friedman is a Credentialed Master Executive Coach from the Association for Coaching and has been recognised by the Forbetter Institute as one of Edinburgh’s Top 10 coaches. She is also a Credentialed Focusing Practitioner and Trainer and a Credentialed Circling Leader. She draws on these practices in her work with clients and also provided trainings for other coaches.  More information about her work can be found at www.leadbeingyou.com

The post Presence in Focus appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

Back to pricing.

What makes it hard?

Why do women undercharge?

Here are some thoughts to consider:

Limiting beliefs get in the way.

• What will they think of me?
• Will I look greedy or arrogant?
• They won’t be able to pay that.
• That’s what everyone else is charging.

Do these sound familiar? If so it’s time to catch yourself and question your fears.

Another challenge is self-doubt or lack of confidence.

So you might think:

• I’ll charge less than other people while I’m new.
• I don’t feel confident so I’ll charge less.
• Will people really pay that for my coaching?
• It just sounds too much.

Undercutting “the market price” is a bad strategy. There’s an erroneous belief that charging less than others is a brilliant way to gain more clients.

Yes it may bring you clients but some say the ‘cheapskate’ client is often the most picky.

Your low price may communicate that you are inexperienced or not much good. Or that your business is struggling. None of these are helpful. Confidence is everything in business, as anyone who follows the stock market knows.

What to do instead

I recommend these as first steps:

1. Get clear on your value to clients, what specific results clients achieve with you. Include so they can. For example: Increased confidence so they can ….
2. Get comfortable with money and money conversations. If profit still feels like a dirty word, something needs to change urgently in your money thinking so you can let your business thrive.
3. Work with the right people. You can’t serve everyone and charge specialist prices so choose carefully who you want to work with.

Alison Haill is an Executive Business Coach running her own coaching business for the last 25 years, Alison knows what works in business today. It worked for her coaching practice during COVID too, and for the women in her ‘Charge What You’re Worth And Get It’ groups. It wasn’t always like this though. At one point after years of struggle, she knew she had to give up or change. She chose to change and invested £££s to learn from business and marketing experts. Distilling the essence of that learning and combining it with her own practical business experience, Alison has created a system that works for her own business and works for other women coaches, consultants and trainers too. 

The post 80% More Women-led Businesses Fail Than Those Led by Men appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

Through a systematic literature review and research, I sought to get to grips with what exactly the construct is and how it differs from self-knowledge and self-consciousness.  It is a complex construct complicated by the fact that the individual elements of ‘self’ and ‘awareness’ have a multiplicity of definitions.  The literature review revealed that the construct is multi-layered made up of several components, which can be divided into intra- and inter-personal elements.  The inter-personal elements comprise of those which can be observed by another person and include perception of others and behaviours.  This of course means we need to attain feedback from others when we are developing self-awareness.  This is fraught with difficulty as we tend to ‘filter out’ what we may not want to see or hear, so this means that developing self-awareness and knowing that one has developed it accurately is a real challenge.  The intra-personal elements include beliefs and values, internal mental state, physiological responses, strengths and weaknesses, motivations and needs.  In sum, self-awareness can be defined as:

“Self-awareness consists of a range of interpersonal (the perception of others and individual behaviours) and intrapersonal components (beliefs, values, strengths, weaknesses, motivations, internal mental state and physiological responses) in order to develop self and human connection with others.”

In terms of differentiating self-awareness from self-consciousness and self-knowledge, it was identified that self-consciousness is the intra-personal components of self-awareness, whereas self-knowledge is the output of self-awareness i.e., self -awareness gives us self-knowledge of our biases, prejudices, responses, needs and wants.  It is this self-knowledge that can then help us develop deeper connection with self, which is an essential pre-requisite for developing connection with those around us.   This is perhaps why it is linked to increasing leadership effectiveness.  However, developing self-awareness is an ongoing journey which requires motivation, commitment, and effort.

If you want to read more please have a look at the published systematic literature review (Carden, J., Jones, R.J. and Passmore, J., 2022. Defining self-awareness in the context of adult development: a systematic literature review. Journal of Management Education, 46(1), pp.140-177).

Julia Carden is an Executive Coach and Coach Supervisor. Alongside Julia’s coaching and supervision practice she is a visiting tutor at Henley Business School teaching on the Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching, MSc in Executive Coaching and Behavioural Change and heads up the Professional Certificate in Coaching Supervision.

The post Do you really know what self-awareness is? appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

If you want to avoid the downward spiral of competing on price, here are 3 ‘P’s of branding which will help your business be recognised and remembered:

1. Positioning
2. Proposition
3. Personality

Please note that building your memorable brand is strategic and you’ll need to invest time, patience and commit to consistency to gain recognition.

Positioning (who, why and what)

You’ll have heard about the benefits of focussing on a clear niche. This is because it helps prospective clients to choose your business when you’re clear on who you want to attract (your brand positioning) and why you want to help them (your brand purpose).

Your niche could be narrow and deep, or wide and broad. You could focus on people who work in specific market sectors e.g. finance and tech or education or retail e.g. women HR managers over 45 years working in retail, or ambitious millennials working in media agencies.

When you have these start points, you can now go deeper and describe the typical attitude of mind of your target clients, along with how they feel about what is holding them back, troubling them or driving them forward. Having a deeper understanding of clients will help you to develop engaging and compelling messaging (P2 – proposition).

Now you have clarity on who you want to attract – you know their demographic and psychographic make-up – what about you? What is the inner spark that drives you to help them? When you clarify your why and the emotional connection you feel with clients, it will help ensure your messaging is authentic.

There’s one more question to answer on your brand positioning – what could make your approach, services or packages meaningfully different from other coaches in this space?

Proposition (why buy from your business)

This is all about the value you bring your clients. It’s bigger than a USP which is often summarised as “a specific, differentiating factor that sets a product or service apart.” Instead, consider your Brand Value Proposition, because this embraces the complete value of what your brand promises to your clients.

Start by clarifying the 3 levels of benefits or transformation your client enjoys when they choose to work with you:

• Functional – practical results
• Emotional – how they feel about these results
• Identity – who they are now

You can also interweave your brand story, origins, purpose and values into your brand messaging to reinforce the reasons why clients will prefer to choose your business services.

People tend to make their buying choices based on how they feel about the purchase and the people behind it, and then back up their decision with the rational arguments and functional benefits. It’s one of the reasons big companies invest in the emotional power of branding.

Over time, the totality of your brand value proposition creates a memorable experience of working with your business – and can generate referrals and recommendations.

Personality (who)

The who of your business brings together your personal brand within your business identity – the relatable, human characteristics of your business including:

• How your business behaves (based on values)
• Your brand voice and tone
• Imagery, colours and style

Once you’ve defined your brand personality, it’s vital that you express your brand identity consistently over time.

It may feel boring, yet gaining recognition for your business relies on consistency. By consistently reinforcing your brand colours, fonts, logo, imagery, tone of voice and so on, will help your target clients to remember and recognise your brand.

Extra tip – Brand Style Guide

Keep a record of your brand positioning, value proposition, personality and more, in your Brand Style Guide. It’s an invaluable reference point for creating consistency in your business and brand evolution, and for briefing the people you outsource to.

Remember that consistency is key. Repeat, repeat, repeat for brand standout, awareness and memorability.

Lynne Stainthorpe is a brand strategist who works with coaches, consultants and therapists to make your brand human, relevant and distinctive, so that your business stands out, grows affinity and creates impact. She is a LinkedIn Top Voice.

Lynne uses a proven process to develop your brand identity, personality and tone of voice, based on your brand vision and values. She gets to the heart and soul of your brand and brings it to life throughout your branding and marketing collateral. She helps position and package your services, and develop your value proposition, so that you can communicate your brand message effectively and consistently within a flexible framework.

The post 3 Branding Tips to Help Clients Remember your Coaching Business appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

Understanding Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome is commonly described as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. Sufferers often chalk up their accomplishments to luck rather than to their ability, and they fear that others will unmask them as a fraud. For executive coaches, operating in arenas where their insights shape the paths of industries and individuals, the pressure to perform can intensify these feelings.

Recognising the Signs

Are you continually downplaying your success? Do you attribute positive outcomes to external factors rather than your competencies? These are typical signs of imposter syndrome. Acknowledging these experiences as a common denominator among executive coaches is the first pivotal step towards improvement.

Reframing Thoughts

The cognitive behavioural therapy principle of ‘thoughts influence emotions and behaviours’ can be a powerful tool against imposter syndrome. By recognising and actively reframing self-deprecating thoughts, executive coaches can recalibrate their internal dialogues to be more positive and self-affirming.

Strategies for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome:

• Own Your Success: Start taking stock of your achievements. Create a ‘success file’ to document positive feedback, outcomes of successful coaching sessions, and goals met. Refer to it whenever doubts arise.
• Stop the Comparison Trap: Rather than comparing yourself to others, focus on your unique value proposition as a coach. What distinct experiences, skills, and insights do you bring to the table?
• Peer Support: Engage with other coaches. Discussing imposter syndrome can be incredibly relieving when you realise others share these experiences.
• Education and Professional Development: Continue learning and honing your craft. Knowledge is power and a surefire confidence booster.
• Mindfulness and Self-Compassion: Practise mindfulness to stay grounded in the present moment. Self-compassion means not beating yourself up for having imposter syndrome but instead managing self-talk with kindness.
• Celebrate Feedback: Place genuine importance on positive feedback. Clients’ successes are reflections of your skill as a coach.

The Path Forward

It’s crucial not to see imposter syndrome as an insurmountable personal flaw but as a challenge to be navigated. Remember, being an executive coach doesn’t mean you’re infallible. Vulnerability is part of the human experience. By acknowledging imposter syndrome, executive coaches can initiate a practice of introspection, leading to growth not only in their professional lives but also personally.

Final Thoughts

Executive coaches guide clients through their insecurities towards leadership excellence. Ironically, they might sometimes lose their own battles with confidence. A key takeaway here is that feeling like an ‘imposter’ is a shared, not an individual experience. In recognising this, executive coaches can lift each other up, fortify their practice, and ultimately, strengthen their impact on the leaders they coach.

Every executive coach has the potential to grow beyond the chains of imposter syndrome. It starts with the courage to face the issue head-on, a commitment to self-improvement, and a resolve to not only be an effective coach but a genuine embodiment of the success that is so often encouraged in clients.

The post Conquering Imposter Syndrome as an Executive Coach appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

The Burden of Confidentiality

One of the cardinal rules of any coaching relationship is confidentiality. Coaches are privy to sensitive information, both personal and organisational. Yet what should a coach do if they learn of potentially harmful behaviour or decisions that could affect the company or the public at large? Is maintaining confidentiality still paramount, or does the coach have a moral imperative to intervene? With a supervisor you can explore scenarios and discuss potential responses that balance the need for trust with the responsibility to wider society.Executive coaches often have to wrestle with challenges that test their moral compass and their ability to maintain a professional standard. This blog explores some of these intricate issues and seeks to illuminate the path through this complex ethical terrain for such professionals.

The Client’s Best Interests vs Organisational Goals

Executive coaches are often contracted by organisations to enhance a leader’s performance, but the client’s best interests and the organisation’s goals may not always align. When the two diverge, the ethical coach faces a conundrum. In supervision you can consider questions like, “Whom does the coach ultimately serve?”, and explore frameworks for managing this delicate balance without compromising personal values or professional integrity.

Crossing the Line from Coaching into Therapy

Coaches are not therapists, although the boundaries are sometimes blurred. When a client’s needs drift into areas more suited for mental health professionals, how should an executive coach proceed? Identifying the boundary and understanding how to carefully guide a client to seek the right kind of help is a responsibility coaches must be prepared to handle. In supervision you can discuss the indicators that signal it’s time to refer a client elsewhere and methods for doing so with tact and respect.

Managing Dual Relationships

Occasionally, a professional connection evolves into a friendship or conflicts arise when roles overlap, raising questions of bias and competence. Consider ethical best practices for navigating dual relationships without losing sight of professional boundaries. Your coach supervisor can encourage you to learn how to recognise potential conflicts of interest before they become a problem and the steps to take if you find yourself in a dual relationship with a client.

This post aims to be not just a conversation starter, but a guide for executive coaches who find themselves at crossroads with ethical decisions. By discussing these dilemmas transparently, a coach supervisor can support coaches in making choices that reflect both their own moral code and the best standards laid out by the coaching profession.

Remember, ethical quandaries don’t usually come with easy answers, but with a solid ethical framework and a commitment to continual learning and self-reflection, executive coaches can steer a course that is both morally sound and professionally exemplary.

The post Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Executive Coaches appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.