Developed by The Executive Coaching Forum

Third Edition April 2004

Copyright 2004 by The Executive Coaching Forum
All Rights Reserved
(See Copyright note below.)

Guidelines for Practice

These guidelines provide procedural help for all partners in the coaching process. They define the components of the coaching and outline the commitments that each partner makes.

1. Managing Confidentiality

The executive and other members of the organization must be able to open up and share information with the coach and one another without fear that the information will be passed on inappropriately or without their approval. Because each coaching situation is unique, it is important for all partners to develop a formal, written confidentiality agreement before the coaching begins. This agreement specifies what information will and will not be shared, in which circumstances, with whom, and how. The agreement helps all coaching partners remain sensitive to confidentiality issues from each other’s points of view. Coaching partners should communicate with other members of the partnership before sharing any information with anyone outside the partnership.

Coach’s Commitments

• Guidelines: Work within the proprietary and confidentiality guidelines noted in the organization’s financial, legal, and business contracts and documents.
• Organizational information: In general, within the boundaries of the law, keep all organizational information confidential unless it is otherwise available to the public.

Exception to this guideline: You may be required to reveal to the appropriate representatives of the organization, and possibly to legal authorities, any information regarding illegal or unethical improprieties or circumstances that pose a physical or emotional threat to any individual, group, or organization.

• Information about the executive: Do not share with anyone except the executive himself any details regarding that executive unless members of the coaching partnership have agreed otherwise.

Exception to this guideline: You are often obligated to provide the organization with a summary of your conclusions on the executive’s current and potential ability to serve in his role. Share this summary with the executive and get his input as appropriate. Obtain a detailed agreement from all partners on what this summary will and will not include before the coaching begins.

• Feedback from others about the executive: You may often get feedback, usually under promise of anonymity, from members of the organization or other people familiar with the executive. Members of the coaching partnership should agree on the anonymity and confidentiality of such information before it is collected. You should also obtain agreement, before coaching begins, on exactly how anonymously the feedback will be reported: no identification, identification by category of person (work group, level, etc.) or by specific name. You are obliged to the people from whom you obtain this feedback to be clear up front about the terms of this anonymity and confidentiality and to work strictly within these terms. Present any feedback to the executive in verbatim or summary form.

Commitments of the Executive and Other Partners

• Members of the organization who, as a result of coaching, learn confidential information about the executive, keep that information confidential unless otherwise agreed before the coaching begins.
• The executive responds to feedback from others in non-defensive ways, without second-guessing who might have said what or retaliating for feedback that is difficult to hear. This non-defensive response maximizes the trust the executive will share with others in the future.
• All members of the coaching partnership ensure that no confidential information coming out of the coaching process is shared electronically unless they can control access to that information.
• Before coaching begins, all partners consider how the confidentiality of each of the following types of information will be managed. They agree on what will or will not be shared, with whom, by whom, when, in what form, and under what circumstances:
  
  · assessment results
  · coaching goals
  · job hunting and career aspirations
  · 360-degree feedback
  · performance appraisals
  · interpersonal conflicts
  · details of coaching discussions
  · proprietary or organizationally sensitive information
  
• The organization identifies an internal resource who can advise coaches and stakeholders on questions of confidentiality and other sensitive topics, and who can help resolve these issues.

2. Pre-coaching Activities

Certain activities can determine if coaching is appropriate in the first place, help select the most appropriate coach, and prepare both coach and executive for the process. This important set of behind-the-scenes activities, usually conducted by HR, includes sourcing, selecting, and orienting coaches, consulting with executives on their needs, matching coach to executive, and establishing standards for practice. The intent of these pre-coaching activities is to ensure the best possible experience and outcomes for the executive and the organization.

Executive’s Commitments

• Consult with appropriate stakeholders to determine if executive coaching is a viable option for you. Consider your organization’s overall development focus, your specific learning needs, and the skills and experience of available coaches.
• Conduct exploratory interviews with several coaches before selecting the one who is best for you.
• Handle all business and financial contract requirements yourself, or make sure appropriate people in your organization handle them.
• Provide your coach with the necessary background information about your organization, specific business documents, and personal information.
• Begin the coaching process with a willingness to learn.
  Coach’s Commitments
• Participate in the organization’s process for selecting, matching, and orienting executive coaches.
• Provide the organization and the executive with requested background information about you and your practice, your rates, business practices, and references.
• Partner with the Human Resources staff and other stakeholders as needed.

Other Partners’ Commitments

• Establish business practices and standards for executive coaching.
• Develop a coach selection and orientation process.
• Apply criteria for analyzing coaching needs and matching the executive with the most appropriate coach.
• Provide feedback to the coaches you do not select.
• Consult with the executive to provide guidance and support in determining coaching needs, requirements, and desired outcomes.
• Partner with coaches to ensure their best fit with the organization and the executive.

3. Contracting

The purpose of contracting in executive coaching is to ensure productive outcomes, clarify roles, prevent misunderstandings, establish learning goals, and define business and interpersonal practices. There are three major components of contracting: the Learning Contract, the Business/Legal/Financial Contracts, and the Personal Contract between the executive and the coach.

The Learning Contract includes:

· Purpose and objectives
· Timelines
· Scope and types of assessment
· Milestones
· Measures of success
· Identification and roles of stakeholders
· Confidentiality agreements
· Guidelines for the use of personal and coaching information
· Guidelines for the communication and distribution of information

Business/Legal/Financial Contracts include:
· Purpose and objectives
· Executive coaching standards and guidelines
· Organizationally sponsored proprietary and confidentiality statements
· Guidelines for relevant business practices
· Total costs of service
· Who is paying for coaching services
· Fee and payment schedules
· Guidelines for billing procedures
· Agreements on expense reimbursements
· Confirmation of the coach’s professional liability insurance

Personal Contracts between the coach and the executive include:
· Guidelines on honesty, openness, and reliability between executive and coach
· Understanding of the coach’s theoretical and practical approach and how coaching sessions will be structured
· Agreements on scheduling, punctuality, and cancellation of meetings
· Scoping of how much pre-work coach and executive will do before each coaching session
· Guidelines on giving and receiving feedback
· Understanding of when the coach will be available to the executive and vise versa, and how contact will be made
· Agreements on follow-up and documentation
· Confirmation of locations and times for meetings and phone calls

Executive’s Commitments

• Actively participate in establishing learning and personal contracts.
• As your organization deems appropriate, participate in establishing, monitoring, and administering business/legal/financial contract(s) with the coach.
• Adhere to the learning contract and use it to gauge progress and success.
• Adhere to the personal contract and hold the coach to it as well.

Coach’s Commitments

• Share your own standards and guidelines for contracting with the executive and organization while respecting and agreeing to use the organization’s standards.
• Actively use the learning contract to plan and deliver coaching and to assess progress and results.
• Use the personal contract as the set of guidelines to follow in all interactions with the executive; hold the executive to the guidelines as well.
• Negotiate the terms of the contracts in good faith or have the appropriate representative(s) from your practice do so. Comply with the terms of the contract in full, or reestablish them as mutually agreeable between your practice and the executive’s organization.

Other Partners’ Commitments

• Establish and disseminate standards for learning contracts in your organization.
• Actively participate in establishing and supporting the executive’s learning contract.
• Respect the personal contract as established between the coach and executive.
• Ensure that the coach has and uses business/legal/financial contractual information.
• Expedite the contracting and payment process in your organization in support of the executive and the coach.
  

4. Assessment

The assessment phase of executive coaching provides both the coach and the executive with important information upon which to base a developmental action plan. The assessment is customized, taking into account the needs of the executive and the norms and culture of the organization. The coach can select among a wide variety of assessment instruments, including personality, learning, interest, and leadership style indicators. Observing the executive in action in her usual work setting provides assessment data, as does interviewing her, her peers, direct reports, manager, and other stakeholders. In some cases the coach administers a formal 360-degree assessment.

There are times when an executive or her organization choose not to initiate a full executive coaching process. Sometimes, rather than providing full coaching, the executive participates in feedback debriefing/development planning. This process can be appropriate for gathering data, receiving feedback, and creating a development plan. It is often conducted without an executive coaching partnership as recommended in this Handbook. Without that partnership, however, it can be difficult for the executive to implement change in herself or in the system.

When separate assessment and development planning has been done and coaching is added after the fact, it may be necessary to include others in further data gathering, review, and goal setting. When assessment and planning are done without a formal coaching phase, some coaching should accompany the presentation and review of the results. This will help the executive not only understand the data and their implications, but also make the best use of the information to increase self-awareness and identify development areas with the greatest potential for success.

In addition to assessing the executive, it is also valuable to assess the team and organization with and within which the executive works. Such additional assessments are an important part of the systems perspective of executive coaching. By understanding the team and organizational environment, the executive and her coach can better determine what to change and how to achieve that change.

Additional assessments include such variables as the organizational culture, team communication, organizational trust, quality, employee satisfaction, efficiency, and profitability. These systems factors may indicate how the organization operates, the results achieved, or predictive measures of likely success. They can be assessed through direct observation, questionnaires, focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and other methods. The data collected on the organizational system are often valuable to share with others besides the executive. If the larger assessment is contemplated, the coaching partnership needs to decide ahead of time how to deal with the data and include these decisions in the learning contract.

Executive’s Commitments

• Maintain an open attitude toward feedback and other assessment results, considering all information as hypotheses to be proved or disproved.
• Invest the required time to expedite the assessment phase.
• Partner with the coach to identify situations, such as meetings and events, which might provide on you and your organization.
• Ask questions and digest feedback to make the best use of assessment information.

Coach’s Commitments

• Be knowledgeable in a broad range of assessment methodologies.
• Administer only those instruments for which you have been fully trained/certified or otherwise adequately prepared.
• Maintain the confidentiality of the executive by protecting the assessment data.
• Provide a safe, supportive environment in which to deliver assessment feedback. Deliver feedback in ways that encourage the executive to act upon her assessment.
• Offer a clear context for the strengths and limitations of the testing process.
• Help the executive use her assessment data to create a development action plan.

Other Partners’ Commitments

• Respect the agreed-upon level of confidentiality for executive coaching data.
• Provide information about the executive and the organization.
• Partner with the coach and executive to identify ways for the coach to directly observe the executive and the organization.
  

5. Goal Setting

Executive coaching is driven by specific goals agreed upon by all members of the coaching partnership. These goals focus on achievements and changes the executive can target, both for himself and for his organization. Initial goals are established when coaching begins and revised or refined as coaching progresses. Based on whether they should be achieved within weeks, months, or over a longer time period, goals can be divided into short-, mid-, and long-term targets.

Goals are based on valid and reliable data that exemplify how the executive should learn new skills, change his behavior, work on organizational priorities, or achieve specific business results. After a specified time period, progress is measured against goals and they are updated to adapt to the executive’s changing capabilities and the organization’s evolving priorities. Goal achievement is measured both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Executive’s Commitments

• Collaborate with and listen to your stakeholders to become aware of how others perceive your needs for change and development.
• Be honest about your own priorities for coaching.
• Clarify specifically what you will need to do so that others perceive you as achieving your goals.
• Invest time in the coaching and on the job based on the established goals.

Coach’s Commitments

• Facilitate collaboration between the executive and his stakeholders to identify and agree upon coaching goals.
• Accept responsibility only for coaching activities that are based on specific, measurable goals.
• Help members of the coaching partnership gather valid and reliable data as a basis for establishing goals.
• Document the coaching goals and communicate them to all partners.
• Assess coaching progress and adjust goals based on interim results and changing priorities.

Other Partners’ Commitments

• Be honest and direct about your goals for the coaching.
• Collaborate with the executive and other partners to agree on specific, measurable, achievable, challenging, time-bound, and practical goals.
• Base the goals on valid and reliable data about the executive’s performance and organizational priorities.
• Provide ongoing feedback to both executive and coach on the executive’s progress toward his goals.
• Support the executive’s efforts to achieve his goals.
• Allow the executive to take the agreed-upon time to achieve his goals before changing his responsibilities or the resources he needs.
  

6. Coaching

The quality of the coaching relationship is a key element of success. The coach creates a safe environment in which the executive can feel comfortable taking the risks necessary to learn and develop. Drawing from a broad knowledge base and a solid repertoire of learning tools, the coach offers guidance and activities that help the executive meet her learning goals. Conversations explore the executive’s current work situation to find practical, business-focused “learning lab” opportunities.

The practical activity of coaching is based on principles of adult learning: awareness, action, and reflection. Using data gathered from the assessment phase of the process, the coach engages the executive in discussion and activities designed to:

• enhance self-awareness of the implications of typical behaviors
• learn skills, build competencies, change behaviors, and achieve results
• reflect on ways to improve and refine skills and behaviors.

Learning tools and activities may include, but are not limited to, purposeful conversation, rehearsal and role-plays, videotaping, supportive confrontation and inquiry, relevant reading, work analysis and planning, and strategic planning.

After the assessment is complete and goals are established, additional forms of coaching or development besides executive coaching may be required as part of the executive’s learning. These types of coaching and development activities include, among others, career coaching, management development training, personal coaching, presentation skills training, coaching on dressing for success, organizational development consultation, process reengineering, and video coaching. When the coach has expertise in these areas and they fall within the scope of the learning contract, the coach may provide the assistance directly. If the coach is not qualified, or the additional coaching is beyond the scope of the learning contract, other arrangements are made. The coach may make appropriate referrals or work with other members of the organization to obtain the additional help.

Executive’s Commitments

• Maintain an open attitude toward experimenting with new perspectives and behaviors.
• Willingly be vulnerable and take risks.
• Focus on your own growth within the context of your current and future organizational role.
• Transfer learning gained through coaching to your day-to-day work.
• Exchange feedback with your coach about the helpfulness of the coaching.
• Seek feedback from others in the organization about the results of your coaching.

Coach’s Commitments

• Adhere to the standards and guidelines for practice outlined in this Handbook.
• Maintain the coaching focus on the executive’s learning goals.
• Prepare relevant action items for all coaching meetings.
• Role-model effective leadership practices.
• Apply adult learning principles during coaching.
• Participate actively in all meetings with the executive and other stakeholders.
• Offer truthful and relevant feedback.
• Create an environment that supports exploration and change.
• Make appropriate referrals to other resources when you are not the best source for additional assistance.

Other Partners’ Commitments

• Maintain a supportive and patient attitude toward the change process.
• Provide feedback to both the executive and the coach on progress and concerns.
• Offer to mentor, coach, role model, and support the executive from your own perspective within the organization.
• Assist the executive and coach in finding additional resources within or outside the organization when help beyond the scope of the coaching or the coach’s area of expertise is needed.
  

7. Transitioning to Long-Term Development

Upon completing the coaching sessions, the executive and his coach take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the executive will be able to continue his development. Applying the results of the coaching within the context of the executive’s long-term development is an important part of this process. It usually includes the joint preparation of a long-term development plan identifying future areas of focus and action steps. The coach may also recommend a range of internal and external resources relevant to the executive’s long-term development needs.

In most cases transitioning includes handing off the development plan to the executive’s manager or another stakeholder who agrees to monitor future progress in partnership with the executive. The coach, executive, and other stakeholder incorporate into the long-term plan a regular review of progress toward objectives or goal reassessment. A successful executive coaching process serves as a catalyst for the executive’s long-term development.

Executive’s Commitments

• When the coaching process is complete, discuss its results with your coach, including how successfully you feel your development needs have been addressed.
• Identify any areas where gaps might exist or further progress could be made.
• Identify any areas that may become more critical to address in your anticipated future roles.
• Participate in formulating a long-term development plan identifying specific areas of focus and action steps.
• Identify a manager or other organizational stakeholder who will take responsibility for monitoring your future development.
• Hold yourself accountable for adhering to your action plans, including a regular review of progress with your manager or other stakeholder.
• Provide feedback to your coach on performance, strengths, and development needs.
• Provide your organization with a forthright assessment of the coach’s capabilities and organizational fit.

Coach’s Commitments

• Use your knowledge and expertise to guide the executive and other stakeholders in developing a long-range plan that targets areas of focus and action steps.
• Recommend internal and external means of development that best fit the needs of the executive and the organization.
• Communicate with the executive’s manager or other stakeholders to ensure commitment to his future development, including regular progress reviews.
• After the coaching ends, make yourself available for questions and clarification.
• Check in with the executive occasionally, as appropriate, to maintain the relationship.

Other Partners’ Commitments

• Support the executive’s future development, including a long-term development plan.
• Facilitate internal and external means of development for the executive including, but not limited to, rotational assignments, stretch assignments, mentoring opportunities, task force leadership or participation, and internal or external seminars or courses.
• Share constructive feedback about the executive’s progress toward development objectives.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the coach and the coaching process for future use in the organization.
• Provide feedback to the coach on performance, strengths, and development needs.
  
  

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