THE MORAL NATURE OF COACHING

As a coach, especially a Meta-Coach, can you coach about morality? Should you? What is the role of ethics and morality in the experience of coaching? If morality is a legitimate subject for a coach, how do you effectively and ecologically coach morality?

I will start with the bottom line: Morality is inevitable in coaching because we human are moral beings. While psychotherapy in general and most coaching schools say almost nothing about morality, the place for discerning right and wrong cannot be eliminated from coaching (or therapy). After all, it cannot be eliminated from life or society. All society is based on morality—doing what’s right and not doing what’s wrong. Societal laws encode a basic morality: do not kill, do not steal, do not hurt, do not lie, do not deceive, treat people with respect, honor your commitments, tell the truth, etc.