In the blog post of a few days ago, the question of whether you can coach a friend led toExecutive Coaching considering a particular situation. Now, look at this potential scenario.
A friend is a high-level executive and their company pays for coaching.
Before considering the questions below, evaluate your ability to separate coaching a friend from you obligations to a company paying for your services. Consider the potential for future conflicts of interest. Look at the first three questions listed in number one of the post from a few days ago. If you remain confident that this coaching relationship makes sense, continue your evaluation with the series of questions below.
Step 1: Ask yourself: Does the company have a policy against hiring friends and/or family? Does the company restrict selection of coaches to those on a list provided by Human Resources officers? Does the company have a conflict of interest policy that applies?
If you answer no to all of these questions, then explore opportunities for disclosing the relationship with the company, confirming in writing their agreement to hire a friend as a coach to an employee.
If you answer yes to any of these questions, the clear policy indicates that the company would not knowingly hire you as a coach.
Step 2: Ask yourself: Does who is paying for the coaching affect contract or agreement negotiations? Is your friendship the only reason the company would hire you? Does the necessary conflict of interest protection in an agreement create concerns?
If you answer no to all of these questions, then write a specific proposal, statement of work, and process for dealing with conflicts of interest. Compare this with your code of ethics. Provide it to the company for review.
If you answer is yes to any of these questions, consider the value of not creating even the appearance of unethical behavior.
In the next blog post, evaluate a third possibility for coaching a friend.
