Our Charter

Together at The Ethical Coaching Company, we are committed to actively creating a safer, more transparent, and responsible coaching industry. A move that we are hoping will spark a movement, a conversation and a rise in standards across the board.

Here we set out how we will intentionally operate to ensure that high-impact, high-quality, trusted coaching is our baseline.

Transparency

At all times we will be open and transparent about our prices, how we can support you and the tangible impact we can have on your business.

There are no smoke and mirror tricks here. We will be abundantly clear on how we operate, the services we offer and how we can or cannot help you. 

If we are not the right support for you, we will let you know. We have an abundance of other support we can signpost you to if necessary.

Excellence

Excellence is a core value for The Ethical Coaching Company – we strive to deliver excellent standards throughout your experience with us. We strive for excellence in all aspects of our business and ourselves.

This includes the continuous development of the company and the personal growth and development of all our partners.  

Marketing

There is so much psychological manipulation when it comes to marketing in the online Coaching space. We declare we will NEVER knowingly use any kind of manipulation tactic.

Such unethical tactics we see are listed below courtesy of TheEthicalMove.org and how we intend on opposing them:

Charm Pricing – We will be very clear about the investment of all of our products. We will actively do our utmost to not use numbers to trick people into thinking our service is cheaper. This is an area that keeps evolving and we are committed to constantly learning.

Countdowns – We will not have timers to instil false urgency on our offers.  If a service is timebound we will be very clear on the timings and why.

False Scarcity – We will not mislead people about the capacity of an offer by advertising there are limited spots left when it isn’t true. When we say spaces are limited or only one left, we will be clear about why spaces are limited and be open about the number of spots left.

Lead Magnets – When offering free resources, we will always be clear about what your email will be used for and make it easy to unsubscribe.

Bait and Switch – We will always provide transparency on what to expect. Our offer will match our marketing.

Woke Washing – We will only commit to pledges & statements that we are committed to carrying out. Our actions will always match our words. We will do as we say we will, unless for a very good reason then we will be transparent about the change, we will never knowingly mislead people.

Secret Recipe – We do not declare to have the secret recipe or blueprint to success. There is more than one way to the success you desire. We are committed to supporting you in the best way for YOU and YOUR business.    

Psychological Manipulation – We will NEVER use techniques such as NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) in our marketing to manipulate the buyer.

We are always learning and aiming to improve. We will do the most ethical thing with the knowledge that we have at that moment in time and commit to continuously reviewing our sales and marketing processes to ensure they benefit the greater good.

We want to empower our clients to invest, we want to give them the space they need to make an ethical choice as to whether or not our service is the right one for them.

Certifications

The Coaching and mentoring industry is currently unregulated in the UK. Meaning anyone, regardless of how much or little experience they have can call themselves a coach. There are no requirements to hold a certain number of hours of practice or acquire a certain qualification before they can declare themselves as experts.

This can be dangerous and we have all seen the fallout from this with the rise of ‘coaches’ and the reputation of the coaching industry plummeting. Ultimately, diminishing the impact high-quality coaches can have on a business.

We are using certifications, and qualifications alongside experience as the baseline to ensure all of our coaches, mentors & consultants are educated within their field. There is a LOT more that goes into the rigorous application to become a trusted partner, but this is the baseline.

Partners

We commit to do our due diligence when choosing our partners. The Coaches, Mentors & Consultants that partner with the Ethical Coaching Company must demonstrate and provide the following as a minimum to be considered a Partner:

·         Qualifications, certificates & any further education in their chosen field of expertise.

·         Up-to-date and current insurance to cover their dedicated practice.

·         Multiple testimonials with contact details and permission for The Ethical Coaching Company to contact them independently.

·         A reference from a peer or leader within their industry to vouch for their practice ability. Also, with contact details and permission for The Ethical Coaching Company to contact them independently.

·         Vast experience in their field of expertise including a number of practice hours.

·         Commit to comply with our Ethical Charter (that you are reading now).

·         Align with our core values and mission.

·         Committed to their personal development and growth as a coach.

The process is intentionally difficult with the bar set high. We only want aligned coaches who are committed to improving the standards in the coaching industry, strive for excellence within their field and align with our values and mission.

Curiosity

We don’t declare to know everything, and neither should anyone. We are committed to being curious and self-aware. Challenging the norms, assumptions, and the way we do business to continuously try to challenge ourselves and improve.

We aim to be the leaders in our field by being at the forefront of change within our industry. This comes through the art of curiosity and not settling for the status quo.

Boundaries

All of our coaches are aware of their own scope limitations and boundaries. When something falls outside of their ability, we are very open. We have a process internally to be able to signpost clients to the best person / organization to help them. We do NOT declare to heal trauma, counsel or provide therapy to our clients.

It is with respect to our clients and the professionalism of our coaches that these strict boundaries are complied with at all times.  

Language

We aim to remove all the fluffy language around the coaching industry by keeping it as simple and clear as possible to articulate exactly what we do, how it helps you, what’s involved and the investment attached.

We will avoid using ambiguous terms such as quantum leaping, paradigm-shifting etc. We want to remove the ambiguity from the coaching process, and our marketing and copy will aim to be simple, clear and transparent.

Pay to Play

In the online coaching space ‘Pay to Play’ is a very common tactic but it’s not always transparent, resulting in the clients and audiences being misled. We will NEVER pay for any of the following:

·         To win an award

·         To be featured in a magazine

·         To be included in a “Top Coach List”

·         To speak on stage

If you see The Ethical Coaching Company represented in any of the above capacities it will be through merit NOT because we have paid for the privilege.

This document is constantly evolving with us as a business, if you can see where we can improve our charter please reach out to us and let’s chat.

We are taking OUR responsibility seriously to help make a change within our industry and make ethical, impactful coaching accessible.

Kirsty &

The Ethical Coaching Company Team