Mentor Coaching Confidentiality: What I Do When I Recognize the Client

I'm Cherie Silas. I hold the Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential awarded by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and I mentor coaches. Tandem sells mentor coaching and trains mentor coaches, so you should know that as you read.

Under the ICF mentor coaching requirements, a coach preparing an ICF credential application at the Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Professional Certified Coach (PCC) or MCC level works with a mentor coach on recordings of real coaching sessions. The guidance I see on confidentiality in coaching speaks to the coach who makes the recording: how coaches maintain client confidentiality when they record a session and share it. Coaching ethics has a listener's side too.

This is that side, from my own coaching practice. What happens if you get a recording you're reviewing and you think, "I know this client"? That has actually happened to me more than once, as a mentor.

Stop Listening the Moment You Recognize the Client

Here's one of those times. The coach had permission from the client to submit the recording. The coach didn't know that I knew the client. The coach and the client lived clear across the country from one another.

When I heard the client's voice, I thought, "I think I know this voice." And when I heard the scenario, I thought, "I know who this person is."

So I stopped the recording and didn't listen to the rest of it.

That was my first move, before the rest of the coaching conversation played and before I said a word to the coach. For me, mentor coaching confidentiality begins with the listener: the moment I recognize the client, I stop hearing their coaching session until they've had a say in it.

ICF sets its own wording on confidentiality. Stopping was my call as the mentor. It's my way of honoring confidentiality in my practice, and how I protect client privacy when I'm the one listening.

The Client's First Yes Was to "Your Mentor"

I went back to the mentee and told them, "I know who this client is. I understand they gave you permission to share it with your mentor, but they didn't know I was your mentor."

The reason is in that sentence. What the client agreed upon was a mentor they didn't know. A mentor who knows them is a different listener, and the client’s yes didn't reach that far.

ICF's wording frames this. The ICF Code of Ethics defines confidentiality as "the protection of any information obtained in or around the coaching relationship unless there is a legal reason or requirement, a threat of harm, or written consent to release is given by the client." Its standard 2.1 reads: "Maintain the strictest level of confidentiality with all parties involved, regardless of the role I am fulfilling." Mentor coach is one of those roles. When I review a mentee's recording, I maintain confidentiality for their client as well, and everything I hear on it is confidential information about that client.

ICF describes mentor coaches as experienced coaches who give feedback on observed or recorded coaching sessions, so a coach can develop their coaching skills in line with the ICF Core Competencies. Mentor coaching exists for coaches to learn from that feedback, and every recording puts a real client's privacy in the mentor's hands. The first of the six Mentor Coaching Competencies, "Models and Promotes Ethical Practice," reads: "Models ethical standards and encourages the mentor coaching client to do the same." Those six describe mentoring a coach, a different framework from the eight Core Competencies that describe coaching a client. They sit behind the ICF Mentor Coach Specialization.

Two Questions Go Back to the Client, Through the Coach

Then I told the mentee what I needed: "I need you to go back and ask them whether they're okay with you sharing your coaching sessions with me, and whether it's okay for me to listen to the one you already submitted."

And I told them why:

I'm not going to listen to it until I have their permission.

That's two questions. The first is about the coaching sessions still to come. The second is about the recording already in my hands. Each one gets its own answer.

The coach needs to go back to the client, and I asked the coach to do the asking. I didn't contact the client, and I didn't decide for them. The coaching agreement is between the coach and their client, and the coach is the one who has to maintain trust with that client. The client consent I needed was consent for me in particular.

On the mentee's side, preparing for mentor coaching means sending a consent form with each recording, from every client whose session you share. Knowing someone in a recording also raises conflicts of interest and bias, and the bias check for familiar faces covers that part.

Wait for the Answer, and Take a No as Good News

Then I waited for the client's answer.

It turned out the client said, "I don't want her to listen to that recording. But now that I know who your mentor is, I won't bring topics that person shouldn't hear to the sessions we record for you to turn in."

Perfect.

That's how we handled it.

The client said no to one recording and set their own terms for the sessions they would record later. It's their coaching engagement, and what they share in confidence with their coach is their call.

I asked for an answer, and I got one. A no is an answer. The question went to the person it belonged to, and they decided who hears their sessions.

If You Mentor Coaches, or Send Your Recordings to One

If you mentor coaches, or you're a mentor in training, here's what I did, in order: I stopped the recording, told the coach, sent two questions back to the client through the coach, waited, and took the answer I got.

If your recordings go to a mentor, your mentor may come back to you one day with those two questions. The answer is your client's to give. When you choose a mentor, ask how recordings stay confidential. And if you want a mentor coach for your own credential, Tandem's mentor coaching for ACC, PCC and MCC is where to start.

Frequently Asked Questions About Client Confidentiality in Mentor Coaching