CASE STUDY: THE NEW COACH*
You are a relatively new coach who for the past year has regularly taken free online courses that claim to address professional coaching skills and provide participant group discussions about how best to coach clients. You have completed college, having earned a degree in English with a minor in television and film. You were drawn to coaching because of your fascination with people and what makes them tick. You began actually coaching people in a one-to-one format about six months ago, and you started to charge money for your services last month. Other than service work as a restaurant host (you tallied the nightly dinner cash receipts and distributed the pool of tips to the other service staff) you have no other business experience.
You keep handwritten notes of your client sessions in a spiral-bound notebook that you keep in the bookshelf behind your desk for easy access. As you have gained more clients, you’ve begun noticing how hard it is to keep straight what each client expects to accomplish. On occasion, you’ve even accidentally written notes about one client in the section reserved for someone else.
- At first glance, what concerns you and/or about what do you need more information?
- What guidelines from a recognizable Coaching code of Ethics might apply?
- Imagine that this new coach under the described circumstances has approached you. What recommendations would you make to assist him or her in becoming a more competent, ethical coach?
