What is coaching?

Coaching is a partnership between a coach and his or her client, providing an inspiring framework for reflection and creativity to help the individual make the most of his or her personal and professional potential.

  • Oriented towards the positive and the person’s resources

  • Focused on action and results

  • Looking to the present and the future

  • A relationship of equality / partnership

  • Framed in time

  • Focus on process rather than content

Testimonials

Do you want real, effective and lasting results from coaching?

99%

of coachees are satisfied with the experience

80%

of coachees improved 
their self-esteem
their self-confidence through coaching

73%

of coachees improved

their relationships
their skills
their performance
their work/life balance
their well-being

It’s a tailor-made support process

Coaching is synonymous with goal attainment, success personal and/or professional development

  • Regaining self-confidence

  • Remotivate yourself

  • Gaining peace of mind

  • A global vision

  • Making future choices easier

  • Reducing and managing stress

  • Gaining autonomy

  • Taking a step back

  • Better time management

  • Facilitating problem solving

Coaching is for you if…

    • Are you looking to retrain or start afresh?
    • Would you like to improve the balance between your family life and your professional life?
    • Your career or family are doing well, but would you like to achieve something more?
    • Do you feel that what you’re doing no longer corresponds to who you are or what you’d like to do?
    • Are your body and health showing you their limits? Is there something you’d like to improve?
    • Do you ask yourself questions about the deeper meaning of your life?

A few figures…

According to the 2020 global survey conducted by ICF in conjunction with Pricewaterhouse (PwC), the level of satisfaction of coached clients :

  • 99% of individuals and companies who hire a coach are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the experience.
  • 80% of coaching clients say they have improved their self-esteem or self-confidence thanks to coaching.
  • 96% of customers are ready to do it again.
  • 73% of coaching clients say that coaching has helped them improve their relationships, communication skills, interpersonal skills, professional performance, work/life balance and well-being.
  • 51% of companies with a strong coaching culture have higher revenues than other companies in their industry.
  • 19% of companies stated that their return on investment was 50 times greater than their initial investment.
  • 28% had a 10-49x return on investment.
  • The median ROI is 7x investment.

source: https://coachingfederation.org/blog/international-coaching-federation-releases-2020-global-coaching-study

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Types of coaching

Resolution coaching

– Clarifying and overcoming conflict

– Overcome recurring problems that stand in the way of development: problems of personal effectiveness, stress-related difficulties, relational blockages, lack of self-confidence or self-esteem, “fear of winning”, failure in the face of success, etc.

Support coaching

– Going through a difficult passage in a context of individual fragility: coping with a difficult situation, overcoming a personal or professional failure, getting back on track after an accident in life

– Regain momentum and coherence after a personal or professional slump

Decision coaching / Arbitration coaching

– Prepare for a decision involving an important personal or professional choice: making a management decision; making a career choice; accepting or rejecting a job, an offer, an agreement; changing job, company, club, region, country, status or profession

– Make an informed choice, in line with your deepest motivations, above and beyond the appeal of an immediate opportunity.

– Arbitrating between options with the same apparent objective value

– Preparing a high-stakes management decision

– Prepare your position and arguments for a presentation, negotiation or public speaking engagement

Career coaching

– Find your path (studies, career, personal and professional life choices)

– Identify strengths (talents, motivations), their coherence and possible deployments

– Build a personal and professional project in line with your personality

Job search coaching

– Make sure you have a clear, realistic career plan, in line with your skills and motivations

– Ensure consistency between the project, the research approach and the tools used (particularly the CV, which is too often built for its own sake, independently of any well-defined project).

– Psychological support to maintain a good level of confidence and motivation during a search that can be testing due to its duration and uncertainties.

– Negotiate and validate your final choice in the presence of one or more offers

Project coaching

– Mobilize your skills in a complex system of interactions or a demanding chronology to successfully complete a high-stakes project, organize an event, mount an expedition, successfully set up a business, etc.

Goal Coaching / Performance Coaching

– Achieving a qualitative objective or performance level

– Achieving a management or leadership objective

– Preparing to take part in a public event

– Achieve a personal or professional performance (managerial, sporting, electoral, commercial objectives)

– Fully express your potential by overcoming the fear of losing or the fear of winning (internal obstacles, contradictory motivations, failure behaviors in the face of success).

– Mobilize yourself to give your best and achieve something (sports competition, competitive entrance examination, university exam, commercial contract, elective office, professional certification, etc.).

Coaching for new positions

– Support in taking on new responsibilities, a new job, or integrating a new company or organization

Leadership and management coaching | Function coaching

– Optimizing your management style, asserting your leadership

– Work better with your team, peers or boss

– Improve listening skills and interpersonal communication

– Receive open support in one or more aspects of your professional activity, during a period of change or in the face of major challenges.

Career coaching

– Be supported in the development and main stages of your professional career

– Negotiate and optimize progression choices according to genuine motivations

Career transition coaching

– Ensure that your career plan is clear and realistic, and in line with your personality, skills and deep-rooted motivations.

– Identify the individual qualities that ensured success in a first career, as well as latent potential, and redeploy them in a relevant way in a new context: preparing and succeeding in the post-professional sports world, the post-military career, the transition to private or self-employed status, second careers in general

– Receive psychological support to maintain a high level of confidence and motivation during a phase of life that often involves a profound rethinking of the individual’s personal, professional and social identity.

Integration coaching | Adaptation coaching | Multicultural coaching | Relationship coaching

– Actively adapt to a new personal or professional context, a different cultural environment

– Integrate into a human group (company, sports team, school, university, community life)

– Broaden or refine your relational awareness

– Communicate better and more authentically

Evolution and transition coaching

– Anticipate and optimize phases of change, whether chosen or not, in your personal and professional life.

– Support at key moments or when change is at stake

Personal and professional development coaching

– Receive structuring support for one or more stages or dimensions of your personal or professional career.

– More comprehensive, personalized, long-term support to optimize individual, personal and professional development (business, sports, politics, culture)

Retirement project coaching

– Preparing for an active retirement (individual or associative project)

– Redeploy your life project in a context of greater personal, family and social availability

– Reconnect with forgotten motivations and paths abandoned in the inevitable “formatting” of professional life

– Finding a new life balance

And much more

A supervised, professionalized profession

ICF Code of Ethics

1. INTRODUCTION

The ICF Code of Ethics describes the core values of the International Coach Federation (ICF Core Values), as well as the ethical principles and standards of ethical behavior for all ICF professionals (see Definitions).

Adherence to these ICF ethical standards of behavior is the first of the ICF Key Competencies of Coaching (ICF Key Competencies). This means “Demonstrates ethical practice Definition: Understands and consistently applies coaching ethics and standards.”

  • The ICF Code of Ethics serves to uphold the integrity of the ICF and the coaching profession worldwide by :
  • Establishing standards of conduct consistent with ICF’s core values and ethical principles
  • Guiding ethical reflection, teaching and decision-making
  • Determining and maintaining ICF coach standards through the Ethical Conduct Review (ECR) process.
  • Providing the foundation for ICF ethics training in ICF-accredited programs

The ICF Code of Ethics applies when ICF professionals refer to their ICF membership as such, in any type of coaching-related interaction. This applies regardless of how the coaching relationship (see definitions) has been established.

This Code sets out the ethical obligations of ICF professionals in their various roles as coach, coach supervisor, mentor coach, coach trainer or trainee, or who exercise leadership functions within the ICF, as well as support staff (see definitions).

Although the Ethical Conduct Review (ECR) process applies only to ICF professionals, like the Ethical Commitment, ICF staff are also committed to ethical conduct and to respecting the fundamental values and ethical principles underlying this ICF Code of Ethics.

Working ethically inevitably leads ICF coaches to face situations requiring them to answer unexpected questions, resolve dilemmas or solve problems.

This Code of Ethics aims to support the professionals bound by it, by guiding them towards the set of ethical factors that may need to be taken into account, and by helping them to identify the different ways of approaching ethical behavior.

ICF professionals who commit to the Code of Ethics make every effort to be ethical individuals, even if this means making difficult decisions or acting with courage.

2. KEY DEFINITIONS

  • “Client” – the person or team/group being coached, the coach being mentored or supervised, or the coach or student in training.
  • “Coaching” – partnering customers in a creative and challenging process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.
  • “Coaching relationship”: a relationship established by the ICF Professional and the client(s)/sponsor(s) under an agreement or contract defining the responsibilities and expectations of each party.
  • “Code” – ICF Code of Ethics
  • “Confidentiality” – protection of any information obtained during the coaching engagement, unless consent to disclosure is given.
  • “Conflict of Interest” – a situation in which an ICF Professional is involved in multiple interests in which serving one interest may conflict or be in conflict with another. This may be financial, personal or otherwise.
  • “Equality” – a situation in which all people experience inclusion, access to resources and opportunities, regardless of race, ethnic origin, nationality, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, immigration status, mental or physical disability and any other differentiating criteria.
  • “ICF Professional” – individuals who declare their status as an ICF member or accreditation holder, including, by way of example, coach, coach supervisor, coach mentor, coach trainer and coaching student.
  • “ICF Staff” – ICF staff recruited by the Management Company, who provide professional management and administrative services on behalf of ICF.
  • “Internal coach” – a person who is employed in an organization and provides coaching on a part-time or full-time basis to employees of that organization.
  • “Sponsor” – the entity (including its representatives) that funds and/or organizes, or defines the coaching services to be provided.
  • “Support function”: anyone working with an ICF coach
  • “Systemic equality” – gender equality, racial equality and other forms of equality institutionalized in the ethics, core values, policies, structures and cultures of communities, organizations, nations and society.

3. ICF CORE VALUES AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

The ICF Code of Ethics is based on ICF’s core values and the actions that flow from them. All values are equally important and mutually reinforcing. These values are ambitious and should be used to understand and interpret the standards. All ICF professionals must promote and disseminate these values in all their interactions.

4. ETHICAL STANDARDS

The following ethical standards apply to the professional activities of all ICF professionals:

Section I – Customer liability

As an ICF professional :

1. I explain and ensure that, before or at the first meeting, my coaching clients and sponsors understand the nature and potential value of coaching, the nature of confidentiality and its limits, the financial terms and any other terms of the coaching contract.

2. I draw up an agreement/contract with my clients and sponsors covering the roles, responsibilities and rights of all parties involved before the coaching service begins.

3. I observe the strictest levels of confidentiality with all parties, as agreed above. I am aware of and agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding personal data and communications.

4. I clearly understand how information is exchanged between the parties involved during coaching interactions.

5. I clearly understand, together with customers and sponsors or stakeholders, the conditions under which information will not be kept confidential (e.g. illegal activity, if provided for by law, following a court order or valid subpoena; imminent risk or potential danger to self or others, etc.). If I reasonably believe that any of the above circumstances exist, I may be required to notify the appropriate authorities.

6. As an internal coach, I manage potential and existing conflicts of interest with my clients and sponsors through coaching agreements and ongoing dialogue, including the definition of organizational roles, responsibilities, relationships, records, confidentiality and other reporting requirements.

7. I maintain, keep and destroy all records, including electronic files and communications created in the course of my professional interactions, in a manner that preserves confidentiality, security and privacy in accordance with applicable laws and agreements. In addition, I seek to make proper use of emerging and developing technological tools used in coaching services (technology-assisted coaching services) and to be aware of the various ethical standards associated with them.

8. I remain alert to signs of change in the coaching service. If this is the case, I modify the service or encourage the client(s)/sponsor(s) to seek out another coach, professional or resource.

9. I respect the right of all parties to terminate the coaching relationship at any time, for any reason, during the coaching process, subject to the provisions of the contract.

10. I am sensitive to the consequences of multiple contracts and relationships with the same customer and sponsor simultaneously, in order to avoid conflict of interest situations.

11. I am aware of and actively manage any power or status differences between myself and the Customer that may be caused by cultural, relational, psychological or contextual issues.

12. I inform my customers of any compensation or other benefits I may receive for referring my customers to third parties.

13. I guarantee consistent coaching quality, regardless of the amount or form of remuneration agreed.

Section II – Responsibility for the practice of the trade

As an ICF professional :

14. I abide by the ICF Code of Ethics in all my interactions. If I become aware of a possible violation of the Code of Ethics, or if I identify unethical behavior on the part of another ICF Professional, I respectfully raise the issue with the individuals concerned. If this does not resolve the problem, I refer it to an official authority (ICF Global, for example).

15. I require all support staff to adhere to the ICF Code of Ethics.

16. I am committed to excellence through ongoing personal, professional and ethical development.

17. I am aware of personal limitations or circumstances that may place me in conflict, interfere, or alter my performance or professional relationships. I will seek external support to determine the appropriate course of action. If necessary, I will promptly seek relevant professional support, or even suspend or terminate my coaching service.

18. I resolve any existing or potential conflict of interest by addressing the issue with the parties involved, seeking professional assistance, or temporarily or permanently suspending the professional relationship.

19. I respect the privacy of ICF members and use ICF member contact information (e-mail addresses, phone numbers, etc.) only after being authorized to do so by ICF or the ICF member concerned.

Section III – Responsibility for professionalism

As an ICF professional :

20. I describe in detail my coaching diplomas, my level of competence, my expertise, my experience, my training and my ICF Certifications.

21. I make accurate and precise verbal and written statements about what I offer as an ICF Professional, what is offered by ICF, about professional coaching and the potential value of coaching.

22. I communicate and educate those who may need to know about the ethical responsibilities defined by this Code.

23. I take responsibility for being aware of and setting clear, appropriate and culturally sensitive boundaries regarding interactions, physical or otherwise.

24. I do not have a sexual or romantic relationship with the client(s) or sponsor(s). I will always ensure that the level of intimacy is appropriate for the coaching relationship. I will take appropriate action to resolve the issue or terminate the engagement.

Section IV – Liability towards the company

As an ICF professional :

25. I avoid discrimination by maintaining fairness and equality in all activities and operations, while respecting local cultural rules and practices. This includes, but is not limited to, discrimination based on age, race, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, disability or military status.

26. I acknowledge and respect the contributions and intellectual property of others, claiming sole ownership of my own work. I am aware that any violation of this rule may expose me to legal action by a third party.

27. I am honest and respect recognized scientific standards, applicable guidelines and the limits of my competence when conducting or communicating about research.

28. I am aware of the influence I and my customers have on society. I adhere to the philosophy of “doing good” as opposed to “avoiding evil”.

5. THE ICF PROFESSIONAL’S ETHICAL COMMITMENT :

As an ICF Professional, in accordance with the rules of the ICF Code of Ethics, I acknowledge and agree to honor my ethical and legal obligations to my clients, sponsors, colleagues and the general public.

In the event of any violation of any part of the ICF Code of Ethics, I agree that the ICF, in its sole discretion, may hold me accountable. Further, I agree that my liability to the ICF for any violation may include sanctions, such as a requirement for additional coaching or other training, or the loss of my ICF membership and/or ICF Certifications.

For more information on the Ethical Conduct Control process, or for links in the event of a complaint, please click on the button below.

Adopted by the ICF Global Board of Directors in September 2019

2020 International Coaching Federation

Source : https://coachingfederation.org/