Exploring Your Own Ethical Standards, Values & Attitude
Why Self-Awareness is the Foundation of Ethical Coaching
This compilation is an educational resource developed by the British School of Coaching. This series is compiled as a foundational resource for coaches in training. Each article introduces a practical coaching tool or model, grounded in theory and supported by real-world application. Whether you’re preparing for ILM coaching qualifications or looking to deepen your understanding of best practice in coaching, this series offers research-informed insights to strengthen your coaching toolkit.
Ethical coaching starts from within. While it’s essential to understand external codes of ethics and legal frameworks, equally important is developing self-awareness about your own values, beliefs, and ethical decision-making style.
This article introduces two structured approaches to help you examine your own ethical standards and reflect on how they influence your coaching practice. As a coach in training, this self-inquiry builds the inner alignment needed to coach with authenticity, courage, and integrity.
Why Explore Your Ethics as a Coach?
Coaches frequently encounter dilemmas or value tensions—whether in conversations with clients, contracting with organisations, or managing boundaries. Without clear self-knowledge, it’s easy to:
- Default to personal bias or emotion under pressure
- Impose your values on the coachee
- Struggle to uphold professional detachment when values clash
Self-awareness in this space helps coaches remain:
- Reflective rather than reactive
- Grounded rather than judgmental
- Open to difference while clear on their own limits
Two Tools for Exploring Ethical Awareness
1. The Ethical Type Indicator (Louie V. Larimer)
The Ethical Type Indicator is a self-assessment tool designed to reveal your preferred approach to resolving ethical dilemmas. It includes 42 reflective statements, each aligned with one of six ethical philosophies.
The tool helps you:
- Identify your dominant ethical reasoning style
- Understand the influence of values such as justice, care, duty, or consequence
- Prepare for handling future dilemmas more consciously
Example statements include:
- “Do you believe the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?”
- “Are the thoughts and feelings of close friends an important ethical consideration?”
- “Do you regard codes of conduct as useful tools in resolving ethical issues?”
The output allows for interpretation and personal reflection, and can also be used in group learning to discuss different ethical perspectives.
2. Ethical Virtuosity: Seven Steps to Ethical Practice
Also from Louie V. Larimer, this model outlines seven key practices to develop what he calls ethical virtuosity—the ability to do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons.
The seven steps are:
- Become self-aware – Understand your beliefs, assumptions, and triggers
- Seek ethical knowledge – Stay informed about ethical theories and real-life case studies
- Develop an ethical belief system – Clarify what guides your choices
- Practice emotional discipline – Manage emotional reactions when facing ethical tension
- Consciously exercise free will – Avoid automatic behaviour; choose intentionally
- Demonstrate moral courage – Speak up when necessary, even when it’s uncomfortable
- Act on your ethical commitment – Ethics is not just what you believe; it’s what you do
This approach is particularly useful in coaching supervision, where ethical reflection and real-world coaching decisions can be explored in depth.
A Third Exercise: Identifying Your Moral Compass (L.M. Hinman)
This shorter self-assessment asks you to rate how important the following concepts are in your decision-making:
- Religious commands
- Conscience
- Self-interest
- Duty
- Respect
- Rights
- Consequences for all
- Justice
- Personal virtue
You rate each on a 5-point scale from “Not at all important” to “Extremely important.”
Completing this exercise reveals the ethical foundations that underpin your coaching decisions.
An online version is available here: ethics.sandiego.edu/theories/Intro/index.asp
Conclusion
As a coach, your ethics are not just shaped by external codes—they are shaped by you. By engaging in tools like the Ethical Type Indicator, the Seven Steps model, or moral compass assessments, you strengthen your ability to coach responsibly and ethically—even when the way forward is unclear.
Ethical maturity is not about always having the answer. It’s about knowing who you are when faced with the question.
References:
- Larimer, L.V. (2001). Ethical Virtuosity: Seven Steps to Help You Discover and Do the Right Thing at the Right Time. New Training Ideas.
- Larimer, L.V. (n.d.). Ethical Type Indicator Profile. www.newtrainingideas.com
- Hinman, L.M. (n.d.). Moral Compass Exercise. University of San Diego. https://ethics.sandiego.edu
- International Coaching Federation (2021). ICF Code of Ethics. https://coachingfederation.org/ethics
