What do you think is ethical? Big question but social norms probably influence all of us to the extent that generally our personal ethics are not that dissimilar.
So what are your professional ethics? Have you written them down anywhere? Do you share them with your clients, colleagues or even your manager?
For the Coaching & Mentoring work that I do, I believe that it’s critical to share with clients the code of ethics that I abide by. This happens to be the European Mentoring & Coaching Councils Code of Ethics. This includes :
- Assuring Competence
- Understanding the Context
- Understand & Manage Boundaries
- Act with Integrity respecting confidentiality
- Act with Professionalism
What I find compelling about this code is that not only do I believe in it but I’m also very glad to be held accountable to it. It is congruent with how I practice and along with Supervision it helps guide me through the ethical dilemmas we sometimes face in coaching & mentoring.
What Code of Ethics or Professional Standards do you hold yourself accountable to?
How could Supervision (in the coaching & mentoring sense) support you with ethical dilemmas?
I'd love to hear from all professionals!
