PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — 8 JULY 2010
Coaches in the UK have given the thumbs down to government intervention and the thumbs up to collaboration between the professional bodies to deal with incompetent, unethical and poor coaching practice, according to a survey led by Coaching at Work.
Only 14% and 13% respectively feel that the government regulating coaching in the UK is the way to prevent or reduce incompetent, and poor or unethical practice, according to the Poor Practice 2010 survey.
The survey was carried out among Coaching at Work readers and members of the Association for Coaching (AC), the British Psychological Society’s Special Group for Coaching Psychology (BPS SGCP), the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC), the International Coach Federation (ICF), and the Society for Coaching Psychology (SCP).
A large majority of coaches would like to see the professional bodies jointly develop a code of ethics (84% and 86% respectively) and a joint complaints procedure (76% and 72%). A joint coaching register was chosen by 56% and 55%.
Encouraging coaching buyers to use coaches who belong to a professional body and who subscribe to a code of ethics was the second most popular way of addressing incompetence, and poor or unethical behaviour : 81% and 73% respectively.
Coaches would also like to see cross-body collaboration on educational initiatives. Some 73% thought incompetence could be addressed by the professional bodies working together to educate the public and coaching buyers on what constitutes excellent, good, and poor practice. This dropped to 47% of respondents when asked if it could be addressed by professional bodies individually. Some 67% agreed cross-body education was the way to reduce poor or unethical practice, dropping to 45% of those who “voted” for education by individual bodies.
Just over a third feel setting up an independent body with no professional body associations to deal with complaints would be a good idea- 36% and 37% respectively.
“The bar has been very much raised in recent years and the professional bodies have done some excellent work in the areas of accreditation and standards. We have seen more and more collaboration in recent years between the bodies. But the message is loud and clear- coaches want to see even more collaboration, particularly in key areas such as developing a joint code of ethics and complaints procedure,” said Liz Hall, editor, Coaching at Work.
An overwhelming majority of coaches think developing a sexually intimate or “inappropriately personal” relationship with a client is unethical although 3% and 12% of you respectively have come across coaches who have done so.
Sexual intimacy with clients and misrepresenting one’s credentials or a professional body are the top two no-nos, followed by developing an inappropriately personal relationship and breaking client confidentiality, according to the survey of 529 coaches between April-June 2010.
The survey is one of a number of initiatives planned by Coaching at Work to step up the debate about what constitutes best and poor practice, and about what can be done to encourage more of the best and the good, whilst reducing poor practice.
“Most coaches behave with integrity and competence. However, there are some grey areas and we need more clarity about what we think is acceptable and what is not. This survey serves to open up the debate further and highlights where there is uncertainty, such as around when and if it’s ok to practise therapy within coaching,” said Liz Hall.
The survey was in part prompted by concerns by organisations including the National Health Institute for Innovation and Improvement and i-coach academy about how to respond if at all to poor practice they encountered in a coach assessment (http://www.coaching-at-work.com/2009/11/04/nhs-assessment-highlights-poor-practice). At the same time, although there are no current plans to regulate coaching, the debate about whether government regulation of coaching in the UK would be a good or bad thing has been hotting up in the wake of regulation of coaching’s sister helping professions.
Coaching at Work has published the first part of the results in its July/August issue. In the next set of results published in September, it will look at what coaches and coach assessors think constitutes incompetent, poor and unethical practice and explore the extent to which coaches and assessors have encountered examples of such practice. A further press release will be issued at that time.