The Ethics of Coaching
The business of coaching is moving extremely rapidly, with more and more organisations and individuals seeking professional and personal advice from coaches all over the world.
Within this fast-moving environment, a number of coaching organisations - such as the International Coaching Federation and the International Association Of Coaches - have developed codes of ethics and professional practice designed to assist coaches in their work.
The fundamental aim of these and other codes and guidelines is to ensure that coaches provide the most effective and empowering services as possible, and do not in any way compromise the coaching profession with their conduct. As the International Association Of Coaches puts it:
"Any code may be considered as a normalization of experience into a set of rules. A code is adopted by a community because its members accept that adherence to such rules, including the restrictions this implies, if of benefit to all, inside and outside the community alike." (IAC Code Of Ethics, 2006)
This code, and others like it, place the emphasis firmly on professional conduct in the provision of services, and a focus on personal and professional interests and concerns of those who seek out and receive those services.
The actual legal - as opposed to ethical - framework within which coaches work today suggests that greater attention is needed to ensure that coaching is regulated by the law as well as by its practitioners, and champions, and detractors.
In terms of ethical boundaries, and ethical decision making, coaches have both considerable freedom, and also necessary restrictive boundaries in the shape of their clients' needs and expectations and hopes and also concerns.
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