Community and Health Research Unit

A new book, Values and Ethics in Coaching, co-authored by Rachel Hawley of CaHRU will be published next month. Rachel is Project Manager of the HEI Challenge for Patient Supported Quality Improvement led by CaHRU.

The book, which is the first complete guide to exploring values and ethics in coaching, will guide readers through the responsibilities of coaching practice, and helping people recognize and reconcile common ethical dilemmas and choices. Part I explores the theory and research underpinning ethical coaching practice, and invites you to examine own personal and professional values. Part II delves into the key ethical considerations in the coaching relationship, including contracting, confidentiality and understanding boundaries. It explores each issue in depth, and offers implications and suggestions for practice. Part III examines individual professional contexts, including coaching in business, sports and healthcare with real life examples and reflections from practising coaches.

Reviews of the publication have been complimentary. Jonathan Pashmore wrote: “Coaches occupy a privileged position, with access to unspoken thoughts, dilemmas and confidences. The ability to understand and work sensitively guiding oneself and clients through the complexity of moral choices that leaders face in modern organisations is a key factor that differentiates excellent coaches from good ones. This book is essential reading for those seeking to put ethical sensitivity at the heart of their practice”. Mike Chitty, Head of Applied Leadership, NHS Leadership Academy said, “An excellent and cleverly pitched contribution to the coaching literature. Very readable, but more importantly readily applied to developing as a coach. The writers have managed to integrate theory and practice in an accessible way that will help coaches to continually strengthen the role of ethics and values in their practice.”

For further information: Iordanou, I., Hawley R. and Iordanou, C. [(2016) Values and Ethics in Coaching: Sage, London and Thousand Oaks, CA, (2016)

A new book, Coaching in Professional Contexts, edited by Christian van Niewerburgh, features a chapter on coaching patients authored by Rachel Hawley who is Project Manager for the HEI Challenge for Patient Supported Quality Improvement at the Community and Health Research Unit (CHRU), School of Health and Social Care.

The chapter, ‘Coaching Patients’, aims to encourage readers to reflect on their own experiences of health and health care and engage in a critical dialogue with the dominant discourses of coaching theory and practice. The idea of “making every conversation count” is a philosophy that underpins this chapter. In her coaching teaching and practice Rachel is committed to the view that through open and creative dialogue, coaching patients can open new opportunities for achieving improved health and wellbeing. In turn, this supports wider engagement in health care practice and learning.