Even though the term “social interest” may not be commonly used, coaches and coach organizations are currently engaging with related issues. The Association of Coach Training Organizations (ACTO) describes itself as “…calling forth, honoring and inviting the uniqueness of all individuals and diverse life experiences” (https://actoonline.org/) and the Graduate School Alliance for Education in Coaching (GSAEC) has set academic standards requiring preparation in Cultural Diversity, Individual Differences, and Multiculturalism (https://gsaec.org). Thus, the meaning of social interest is acknowledged in coaching.
However, at least three related challenges remain for future coaches to fully draw on the contributions of “Grandfather Adler.”
Ethical Challenge
Ethical standards for coaches (for example, see https://coachfederation.org/code-of-ethics) and discussions of ethics in general have focused almost entirely on the relationship between coach and client, whether individual, group, team, or organization: definitions of roles, contracting, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and so forth. More recently, ethical questions regarding the relationship of coaching per se to wider social issues have emerged in publications such as Complex Situations in Coaching: A Critical Case-Based Approach (Louis & Fatien Diochon, 2019).
For Chapter 4, Values in coaching, Louis and Fatien Diochon invited co-author Page to comment on a case entitled “Working for the Big Bad Wolf” (2019, pp. 73-80). The coach (Martin) in this case puzzles over whether to accept an assignment to work with senior executives in a mining company that had engaged in environmentally destructive practices, actions inimical to Martin’s personal values. On the basis that he would end up with very few clients if he excluded those with whom he disagreed, Martin takes the case.
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