Confidentiality is critical in all aspects of my work. But, it becomes even more important when I coach employees in organizations. From an ethical and professional perspective, I’m obligated to keep anything I hear in the coaching session confidential. But, what about my comments?

I ran into this recently in one of my current projects. I have been working with this organization for over 15 years, so there have been lots of private coaching sessions touching on delicate topics. And each employee has an excellent memory regarding what went well, and what did not.

As I opened a session last week, I shared my commitment to confidentiality, as I always do. The employee looked at me with suspicion. She then shared that another coach, about five years ago, told her boss she was un-coachable. Her boss proceeded to share this comment all around the organization. The coach's comment was the breach that did the damage.

As I have the privilege of teaching up-and-coming career coaches in the Career Coach Entrepreneur Academy, (link to Academy website in comments below) we talk about protecting the integrity of the coaching relationship at length. But do I ever mention that the coach's comments can be devastating?

It’s a bit like a leader going to their team and vomiting all their frustrations. The team is poisoned by the data dump and the leader loses credibility. Similarly, when a coach misreads the relationship they have with a client’s supervisor and overshares, they set up a viral toxin that will be relentlessly spread within the organization.

The word impeccable comes to mind. As a coach, every word matters. If you are a coach or aspire to become one, you will be challenged in many ways. The most foundational practice you must commit to is both protecting your client's comments and monitoring your own.