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Values and Ethics in Coaching
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Values and Ethics in Coaching

First Edition


January 2017 | 224 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

The first complete guide to exploring values and ethics in coaching, this book will guide you through the responsibilities of coaching practice, and help you recognize and reconcile common ethical dilemmas and choices.

Part I explores the theory and research underpinning ethical coaching practice, and invites you to examine own personal and professional values.

Part II delves into the key ethical considerations in the coaching relationship, including contracting, confidentiality and understanding boundaries. It explores each issue in depth, and offers implications and suggestions for practice.

Part III examines individual professional contexts, including coaching in business, sports and healthcare with real life examples and reflections from practising coaches.

This book is vital reading for trainee and practitioner coaches, and those looking to introduce ethical coaching practice into a professional setting.


 
Introduction
 
Part I: The Nature of Values and Ethics
 
Chapter 1: What are Values and Ethics?
 
Chapter 2: Understanding Personal and Professional Values
 
Part II: Ethical Practice
 
Chapter 3: Developing the Coaching Relationship
 
Chapter 4: Maintaining an Ethical Coaching Practice
 
Chapter 5: Developing an Evidence-Based Coaching Practice
 
Chapter 6: Practising Reflexively
 
Chapter 7: Coaching across Professional Boundaries and Contexts
 
Part III: Ethical Issues in Coaching Contexts
 
Chapter 8: Ethical Issues in Business Coaching
 
Chapter 9: Ethical Issues in Coach Education and Training
 
Chapter 10: Ethical Issues in Sports Coaching
 
Chapter 11: Ethical Issues for Coaching in Healthcare
 
Conclusion: Towards a Shared Understanding of Ethical Standards

Coaches occupy a privileged position, with access to unspoken thoughts, dilemmas and confidences. The ability to understand and work sensitively guiding oneself and clients through the complexity of moral choices that leaders face in modern organisations is a key factor that differentiates excellent coaches from good ones. This book is essential reading for those seeking to put ethical sensitivity at the heart of their practice

Jonathan Passmore
University of Evora, Portugal

In this piece the authors address a topic with paramount importance to the coaching, as ethics, and generally the professional boundaries of the coaching practice are key in defining the profession itself. The content of the book is well-grounded in research and contemporary thinking thus offering a credible background for the reader to be engaged with the topic. For me this engaging style was the most important when I read the book. The activities, invitations for self reflection and the real-life stories invited me to openly address the question of ethics within my own practice. This practical, but still sensitive approach to the practicalities of the topic make this book a unique experience. Whether you are a newcomer in the world of coaching, or a veteran with a need to for additional insights you’ll find something valuable for your own development inside.

 

Zoltán Csigás
Research Director at GROW; EMCC International Vice President Research

The authors of this important book have made a significant contribution to the literature by highlighting the values and ethical issues surrounding the field of coaching. Coaching has grown very quickly and extensively, and this book reflects on many of the ethical dilemmas and issues in its wake. A must read for practitioners and HR professionals. 

Cary Cooper
CBE, 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at ALLIANCE Manchester Business School, University of Manchester

As the globe is urgently calling for more ethical and responsible behaviours in all sectors, this book is a well-overdue addition for all of us. This is the first serious book that tackles the 50 shades of coaching ethics with reference to some philosophical heavy weights in an accessible way. It is a prompt to help us take a second look at our practices and question the underpinning values and beliefs - and guide us promote wider responsibility through our own 'moments of choice'.

Tony Wall
Reader & Deputy Head of Department, Centre for Work Related Studies, University of Chester

This comprehensive, well-organised and well-researched book makes an important and timely contribution to the field of coaching. Filled with practical examples as well as thought-provoking activities designed to enhance the practitioner’s ethical capability, this highly practical workbook will be a valuable resource for coaches at all levels of experience. I thoroughly recommend this book.

Sarah Corrie
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Coaching Psychologist and Visiting Professor, Middlesex University

The authors have written on a challenging and necessary topic, with practicality and clarity. The book is learner-friendly, and takes values and ethics to the level of applied practice. Their use of frequent ‘pause for reflection’, and other references, makes this an extremely valuable addition to the skill-sets and critical thinking needed for professional coaching.

Patrick Williams
Founder and Director of Training, The Institute of Life Coach Training, EdD, MCC, BCC

An excellent and cleverly pitched contribution to the coaching literature. Very readable, but more importantly readily applied to developing as a coach. The writers have managed to integrate theory and practice in an accessible way that will help coaches to continually strengthen the role of ethics and values in their practice. 

Mike Chitty
Head of Applied Leadership, NHS Leadership Academy

This book provides an excellent insight on ethical issues in coaching contexts. Its thought-provoking style is useful for both trainee and experienced coaches. 

Stephen Palmer
President, International Society for Coaching Psychology

What this book brings is a theoretical underpinning of both values – what’s important to me – and ethics – what’s permissible or not – and how these are applied in coaching practice...I work on evidence of informed policy and practice, so it is fantastic to see the clear narrative about how engaging with, and contributing to, research can enable the development of our ethical abilities as coaches.

Nancy Hey
Coaching Perspectives

This resource gives an understanding of values and ethics from a different point of view for many of my students and so helps them reflect on the context of the issues being addressed.

Mr Simon Gillings
School of Health & Social Care, Gloucestershire University
August 18, 2022
Key features

Need 1: Without a regulatory body to provide clear and consistent guidance, trainees need an alternative source of advice and support on ethical coaching practice.

Feature: The book has a unique and specific focus on issues of values and ethics in all aspects of coaching – from the coach’s own values and ethics, through ethical coaching practice, to issues specific to different coaching contexts – helping trainees to build their own coaching practice on solid ethical grounds.

 

Need 2: Trainees new to coaching practice need to be able to make sound ethical judgements in this unfamiliar context. Ethical and moral dilemmas that arise from issues such as contracting, confidentiality, boundaries etc. can be difficult to conceptualise.

Feature: Each chapter starts with a values/ethics based scenario, ensuring subsequent discussion is clearly illustrated and contextualised. Ethical dilemma boxes also appear throughout, introducing trainees to the kind of dilemmas they might face and encouraging trainees to think about how they might resolve them.

For instructors

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