Nine ethical guidelines for narrative coaches
As part of our due diligence as professionals, it is incumbent upon coaches to be aware of our own unconscious biases and preferences that shape what we see and do with people and the stories they share with us. What are the acceptable shapes of a life we find ourselves promoting based on our training, professional/business pressures and aesthetic preferences? What our preferred formulation patterns and how do they keep us from more courageously and cleanly meeting others and their stories? In closing, I would offer the following nine ethical considerations in working with peoples’ stories; they serve as the bedrock of a narrative approach to coaching:
- Coachees expect their coach to create a safe container for their storytelling.
- Coachees expect their stories to be heard in a nonjudgmental, non-assumptive manner.
- Coachees expect to have their community and cultural stories taken seriously.
- Coachees have the right to tell their own story in their own way.
- Coachees tell and understand their story as best as they can at the time.
- Coachees have the right to change their stories, lives and selves as they choose.
- Coachees are accountable for the impact of their stories on themselves and others.
- Coachees expect their coach to manage their own stories, agendas and participation.
- Coachees expect their coach to be exemplary stewards of the stories that are told.
I hope you have found these posts helpful in giving you some practical strategies for taking a more narrative approach to your work. We are scheduling master classes in various parts of the world for the latter half of 2010 and in 2011. It looks like Zurich and London will be next. Let us know if you’d like to host one in your area. You can reach us an director [at] narrativecoaching.com
Tags: clients, Coaching, compassion, consciousness, ethics, intention, Mindfulness, narrative coaching, practice, stories, wisdom
