Okay, here’s the text about coaching people who work together, formatted with headers and bullet points and with spelling corrections:

Coaching People Who Work Together: Navigating Confidentiality

Coaching is a confidential conversation. So, coaching people who work together poses a number of challenges. In particular:

  • How do you compartmentalise information from one person which is relevant to the issues on which you are helping the other? You can’t “unknow” information that you have. For example, what they think of each other, personal issues affecting their work or behaviour, or future career plans.
  • Being drawn into politics within the team. For example, if two team members are competing for the same role or the same resources, you may find yourself caught in the middle. Your role is to help each achieve their ambitions, but what if these are incompatible?
  • Worse, what if the relationship between the two has some friction or they are in conflict? The last place you want to be is where you are forced to take sides!

Managing the Challenges: The Importance of Contracting

Managing this situation begins with contracting. (If you find yourself already there, go back and re-contract!) Both coachees need to accept and have confidence that their conversations with you are genuinely private. It’s also useful to rehearse with them both your responsibilities and theirs if any of the issues above arise. Setting clear expectations now avoids recriminations later.

Handling Relevant Information Without Breaching Confidentiality

If you find that information you hold about one person is relevant and important to the other, you can ask questions such as:

  • Who else would it be useful to talk to about this?
  • What perspective might John be able to add?

The responsibility now lies with the coachee to initiate a conversation with their colleague; and the colleague has the choice of whether to respond. At no point should you indicate that you have particular information about the colleague; nor should you drop a hint to the colleague that they should talk to John!

Addressing Friction and Conflict

If there is friction between them, your knowledge of the other person and their views can be very useful. Invite the coachee to role-play the conversation they need to have with this colleague, with you playing the role of the colleague. Being careful not to break any confidentiality, you can offer new perspectives which draw upon your knowledge of the other person. The key is that the coachee should not be aware of what comes from your knowledge and what comes from your creative speculation.

You can also facilitate a session between them to resolve conflict. It is their responsibility for the two of them to agree between them that this is what they want to do, but if both refer to the issue, you can suggest to both that this may be a way forward. A very practical approach here is Fault Free Conflict Analysis.

Self-Monitoring and Boundary Awareness

Having knowledge about two people is therefore not always a problem and may sometimes be an advantage. The keys to managing the situation well are firstly, to ensure that everyone understands the boundaries you must operate within, and secondly, to self-monitor – making sure that you are aware at all times where those boundaries lie.

© David Clutterbuck, 2015