What the Coach Can Do About the Company Secret

On Monday the blog post gave a situation wherein the company told the coach that they wanted an employee, the coaching client, to leave the company.  Today the blog post covers options for dealing with this coaching dilemma.

Start by considering possibilities:

• Check your agreement to see what applies to this situation.
• Ask the company about disclosing this information.
• Ask the company if there are circumstances under which they would change their mind.
• Ask the employee what they think it would take to make it work.
• Ask the employee their career goals and if they want to stay with the company.
• Ask the employee about their pros and cons for the job.

After you ask for the information and have answers, create the next list of possibilities:

• Refer the company and the employee to a mediator.
• Facilitate a meeting between the company and the employee to explore options.
• Resign as a coach.
• Continue coaching for improvement.
• Coach the employee “out”.

Check with your Code of Ethics.  Some of the applicable points addressed in the ICF Code of Ethics to review include:

• Consider whether there is a conflict of interest.
• Ensure you have and honor a clear agreement.
• Ensure both the coach and the client understand the nature and limits of confidentiality.
• Be alert to whether there is benefit from the coaching relationship.
• Encourage change if they are better served by another resource.
• Maintain confidentiality and have clear agreement before releasing information.
• Ensure clear agreement on how coaching information is exchanged between the coach, client, and sponsor.

Finally: Make the decision that seems right to you and determine your process for following through.  Choose what you will communicate with whom, and how you will communicate.  Different approaches taken include:

• Agree to coach the employee out because it is going to happen anyway.
• Facilitate a conversation between the employer and the employee to work out a mutually agreeable solution.
• Continue coaching for performance in the hopes that the employee can stay in their job or because at least they will improve their skills.
• Switch to career coaching and help the employee find a new job.
• Resign from the coaching engagement due to the agreement or the Code of Ethics.

What do you think?