The CoachCertified™ Coaching System

(CCS) Interaction Standards: Specific

The following list of standards outlines the limits and behaviors of our coaching system.  This system is designed in conjunction with the EI Theory of Performance, the EI Consortium Guidelines on Bringing Emotional Intelligence into the Workplace and our own experience over time with coaching systems that produce measurable results.

The system is based upon creating clear lines of power, accountability authority and responsibility in a business or organizational system.  This requires a structured approach to creating the coaching system from a macro as well as a micro-system viewpoint--based on our philosophy as outlined by founder Mike R. Jay.

The micro-system standards are outlined below and the macro-system standards are based upon a structured scope and proposal process of identifying the issues present in the system, what solutions are required to address those issues and the role of coaching in the process.

Once the Micro-system has been engaged, the following set of standards can be modified for each particular situation.  In general, these guidelines state the conditions under which the individual coaching will occur.  In all cases using the CoachCertified™ System, a sponsor is required and in many cases a dual-sponsorship is ideal, where a member of the organization has been designated as the sponsor once-removed.

1. Contacting your coach for coaching

·         You will call the coach for a verbal check-in whenever possible.  If the coach doesn’t answer the phone, please let it ring into voice mail, or followed prescribed procedures for contacting your coach in real time with Microsoft Instant Messenger. If the coach is on the phone or away, leave instructions for how to you.  If some unforeseen event has occurred where the information is incorrect, or the coach is unable to call you back, the coach will notify you to reschedule the call.

§         If the coach doesn’t call within 5 minutes, we will have to reschedule the call.  If you do not call within the 15 minutes after the scheduled time, the coach will assume the session to be held and will bill appropriately for scheduled time. 

§         If you call late and the coach is still available the coach will spend whatever time was originally scheduled with you, although a late charge will apply.  We realize that sometimes there are things that come up and we are not able to meet scheduled appointments.  We need to give each other the benefit of the doubt, however if you miss one or more it will be of some concern and we should talk.

§         The procedural standards for call content are listed below.

2. No Legal Contract, Agreement, Advise or performance guarantee

·         Our interaction does not constitute a legally binding relationship.  While the coaching interaction is considered an exchange of business services, nothing we do in the form of our interaction will constitute a promise, professional advice, contract, agreement or business relationship.  Any advice given is given with the intent of expressing an idea based on opinion of the person coaching and is not to be considered expert advice, validation or a directive to act.

·         Disclaimer:  Any information you receive as a result of this exchange is not to be considered advice, legal counsel, or part of any guarantee of performance.  You should consult with an appropriate licensed professional for personal and legal advice as you deem necessary.  As a coach, I hold no power, accountability, authority or responsibility over your behavior and consequent outcomes.

3. No Power, Accountability, Authority, Responsibility (PAAR)

·         As coach, I hold, nor desire to hold any PAAR for any of the outcomes of this interaction.  I serve as a developmental guide for which, you as the person being coached has complete PAAR during the time we spend together and after the conclusion of our interaction.

·         Your relationship with the coach is for time scheduled in relation to the issues you wish to work on in the presence of the coach.  In large part, if you decide to forgo our scheduled time, I respect that decision and will wait to hear from you regarding continuing or moving forward with the schedule you have purchased from me.  In so much as I understand and support your decision to forgo, skip or miss your scheduled time, I like all professionals have an opportunity cost for the time you ask me to hold for you.  If I don’t hear from you, I will assume you mean for me to continue to hold time and therefore the appropriate fees are required.  If you wish to reschedule, then please follow those standards as outlined. Missed sessions may not be rescheduled, according to previous stipulations.

4. Developmental Purpose Only

·         The purpose of our interaction is to serve as a confidential interaction for your development in terms of the matters you wish to discuss and find important to accomplish.  I will not, nor will I ever recommend an action that is to be considered legal advice, financial advice or operational advice.  My role is to test your assumptions underlying your behavior and to participate in that interaction with you in a mutually voluntary conversation around your issues, NOT mine.

5. Discontinue Interactions at will

·         At any time, should you feel the need to discontinue these conversations, please feel free to do so and while payments for a period of time may be expected in advance to hold the time for our interaction in my schedule, you have complete freedom to discontinue the interaction at any time without notice. 

6. Payment to hold Scheduled Time

·         An agreed upon exchange of payment from you to me for these scheduled conversations is noted and in order to maintain that schedule you will need to pay in advance in order for those conversations to occur as scheduled.  At any time, should you or I feel uncomfortable in these conversations, I suggest we discontinue them with notice.  All monies paid in advance to hold the schedule would be returned to you within 10 working days upon that notice.  I reserve the right to discontinue the conversations and refund the balance of your retainer at any time without penalty. 

7. Procedural Standards

The procedure for our interaction is as follows:

·         We hold an informational call in order to discover mutual desire to have a coaching interaction and to create a scorecard using a specific process of engagement which is based upon discovery, disclosure and acceptance.

·         You may want to complete some pre-work around your objective and submit it to me before our first coaching interaction, however it is not required.  I will ask you in most cases to work with me to complete a scorecard which will serve as the PAAR for our interactions.  This structured plan will guide your performance and development process with me as your coach. 

·         The coach will review the form from a contextual point of view and note the times and schedule you have submitted and either agree or provide additional times according to our mutual schedule consideration as to when it is appropriate to interact or check-in.

·         The coach will provide you with a number to call at the designated time.  It may be listed in the information you receive from your coach, so be sure to file it somewhere you can refer to when required.

·         At or within 5 minutes of the designated time, you will telephone the coach, or meet with the coach over the Internet using technology provided if we are meeting virtually, otherwise we will make physical arrangements for coaching.

·         The appointment will considered to be cancelled if the coach doesn’t hear from you within 5 minutes of the scheduled time, at which time you will need to provide information as to why you were unable to attend as soon as possible and we can either reschedule the call or meet at the next designated time.  In either case, the fee for holding the scheduled time is to be paid for the missed call.  While there will be times when issues arise that prevent people from attending the scheduled interaction in a timely fashion, 3 business days prior notice is required before the scheduled call in order for you to not be charged for the schedule change.

·         You will responsible for your own long distance telephone charges, or any other costs of transportation or travel expense.  However, the coach may be available through instant messenger, and those exchanges are welcomed as long as they are less than 5 minutes or are not excessive in terms of time.  You are responsible however for acquiring the proper equipment, software and installation to make those interactions possible. If this method becomes intrusive, the coach will state so and you will be expected to pull back your requests immediately. This is an arrangement made between the coach and the person being coached and is not a general rule.

·         During the call, we will focus on your issues and agenda, so be prepared either from a previous interaction or from pre-planning to come to the call with the agenda.  The coach will NOT consider it their responsibility to hold you accountable for work and commitments that you alone have PAAR for and are accountable for in all cases.

·         What you get from the call is up to you and you should be cognizant of the fact that it is not my responsibility to see that you achieve your goals for the interaction. We can discuss these during the check-ins.

·         The call will run for the designated number of minutes.  If we are unable to complete the agenda at that time, the coach may continue depending on the issues present, however you may be billed for the additional scheduled time at the current scheduled rate. However, as a normal case, the scheduled time is adhered to without exceptional circumstances.

·         There may be issues during the call that you wish to spend more time on outside the normal schedule and the coach will make available for some exchange either through email or instant messenging if a mutual agreement to that effect is appropriate.  However, if this is continual and ongoing, you may be charged for this scheduled time based on the scheduled rate.

·         The coach will keep no notes during the call, except those that are entered into the scorecard. Any notes you keep are your personal property and should be disposed of or managed appropriately.   I keep no records of calls other than to invoice you for the retainer.

·         If you are managing the scorecard, then the coach will keep no notes.

·         The coach may choose to record our interactions to audio and will assume he/she has permission to do so for their own personal use. However, the coach will only hold the recording until the next interaction and record over the previous. Recordings can be made available to you for an additional fee, including transcription for an additional fee if agreed upon.

8. Confidentiality

·         At all times, these conversations are to be maintained with the highest confidentiality.  No reference to anything discussed in these interactions is permitted to go beyond the interaction without permission of both the person coaching and the person being coached.  Under no circumstances, unless there has been a law broken, will any information be divulged to any third party regarding the interaction without mutual consent or agreement.  And in such cases, it is not the coach’s responsibility to account for or determine the legality of any actions you take on your own behalf.

·         As a person coaching and as a law abiding citizen, the coach is required to report to the proper authorities any notice or observation of any violation that would constitute the breaking of the law by any reasonable person, or be held accountable for withholding information.  Therefore, the coach is required to  report to your sponsor or your organization any evidence I have of unlawful activity.

·         Regarding confidentiality and other mediums such as voicemail, regular mail, email, fax and other forms of communication not listed, confidentiality applies.  Unless some other agreement is made regarding these mediums, you, your sponsor and the coach are the only people that will see these exchanges.  PLEASE be aware that company email, voicemail and other mediums are owned by the company.   Therefore these communications are subject to ownership and may not remain confidential if you choose to communicate with me through your company’s mediums.

9. Questions

• If you have any questions about information contained in this document or need further clarification regarding the issues contained herein, please contact the coach at your convenience.

10. Employer-Employee Distinctions

• Any conversations, interactions or contact that we might have during the course of our scheduled time together does not constitute in any way, shape or form an arrangement between an employer and an employee.  As a person working in a mutually agreed-upon developmental relationship, I retain complete control, as do you, over any of the issues that are presented in terms of our conversations.  In no way is this relationship considered to be an employment contract for purposes of the IRS or for any other entity that may or may not be involved now or in the future as a result of these interactions.

11. Abandonment

·         It is your decision to attend or not attend scheduled interactions.  If you attend the calls you are billed for the time.  If you do not attend the calls and do not give prior notice of cancellation, you will be billed for the time.  If you give no notice of discontinuing the calls or cancellations, those times that were scheduled will be billed for the duration of your retainer.  At such time of declared abandonment in writing by the coach, no additional fees will be charged and the retainer regarding times will be assumed to be abandoned. However, no refunds will be given to pre-paid coaching, unless appropriate mitigating circumstance are mutually agreed upon.

·         Should you decide to recreate the relationship and have exceeded the retainer paid for time, you may not presume the time will be held.  In the case of a retainer being paid for a period of time and no notice of discontinuation or cancellation is made during that time and time remains on the retainer, you may utilize the time available scheduled by the retainer to return for coaching.  Once the retainer has been utilized, you will have to reschedule the retainer. No sessions will be made up that have been missed.

12. Closure

·         These interactions end when you have completed the desired amount of developmental work as decided by you.  They can last as long as a feeling of mutual desire for these exchanges is maintained in the interactions.  At time of notice that the interaction has ended, no responsibilities from either party are required to complete closure.  Closure may and will occur at such mutual time as both or either parties agree to end the interactions with notice. 

·         Notice is deemed to be served by either party by contacting the other in any form by telephone, email, fax or written letter delivered to the contact point listed on the Coaching Intake Form or used by the person being coached to contact the person coaching during scheduled times.

13. Obsolescence Policy

• The coach is also required to respond to subpoena regarding records, notes, correspondence and other forms of contact records.  The coach has an obsolescence policy of destroying all notes taken during the session, if taken, immediately upon the end of our session.  I maintain any records or personal assessment data for a period of six months and then systematically destroy those through confidential and secure means of deleting, shredding and disposal.

14. Referral Policy

• If at any point in time, the coach or client feels that the subject of the conversation is best managed in a professional relationship with another provider who is professional trained in a specific area, either the coach, or client, or both should agree to a refer-out policy. Coaching may or may not continue based on the ability to separate other issues from the issues deemed best supported through coaching.

Coaches may refer you to a professional for support with issues which are deemed outside the area of practice, or scope determined in the initial scope of work. These professionals may include trainers, mentors, facilitators, therapists, counselors, or other consultants specifically trained with expertise in the area of concern.