Take Note, Coaches...... How should a coach record their sessions? What is legal, what is practical? Notes provide a quick way of reminding the coach of: ♦what has been discussed ♦ Work undertaken and progress ♦ Homework assignments ♦other actions the coach needs to take for the coachee or themselves prior to the next session Note-taking is not just a memory aid for coaches, it is also a record of your work together which may help to mitigate risk if a complaint was made against you as a coach or if there was a situation or event that involved your client from a legal or health perspective. Notes are confidential, although as part of your contracting you should always make clear the limits of confidentiality which is often to do with terrorism, money laundering, abuse (harm to client/others). Asking a health and well-being question in contracting and recording it, is also helpful should the worst happen. On occasion, I have discussed with clients about them accessing therapy at the same time as coaching and have logged this in my notes particularly if the client drags their feet on this action. Be clear with clients why you are taking notes and where they will be kept and abide by the GDPR guidance of your coaching body (especially if keeping them digitally) and what the notes are for. Don’t write anything in them that you wouldn’t be happy others seeing if you ever had to (i.e if the Police had a legitimate interest and court order). Examples might be a coachee involved in financial irregularities in the workplace, terrorism/radicalisation or suicide/suspicious death. Talk to your coachee first if you are allowed. Some Insurance companies would take a dim view if you handed over your client records to the Police without doing a number of things first: 1. Contact your coaching body who will have a helpline/ethical guidance 2. Contact the legal helpline of your insurance company 3. Talk to your supervisor Handwritten notes have the advantage of not being hacked although you will still need to keep them locked away for 6 years (as per your insurance policy) and then shredded securely after that time. Also, consider having one named person who can access your records if you were incapacitated or died. You may want to use something like the Professional Executor Service for Therapists, Counsellors, and Coaches (£30 per year), rather than leave this to a loved one. Do not keep your notes all in one journal/book unless you can detach pages. You are taking a risk carrying all your notes around with you if they were lost/stolen. Many coaches still do this as a hangover from their training schools. Use initials not full names of coachees and other stakeholders referenced, with an indexing system that you can use to keep your client’s details (full name, organisation, address) separate from their notes. You may also want to keep separate your own reflections on your performance and learning as a coach. During coach mentoring supervision coaches find it useful to be able to reflect across a number of coachees therefore the way notes are set up can ease this process of spotting patterns. Encourage coachees to make their own notes for learning purposes and don’t get sucked into writing up reflective notes for them no matter how persuasive. Whether they do or don’t take notes/take action is data that might be useful in the coaching itself. Watch out for your own rescuer tendencies especially f you are working harder than your clients! Notes for Internal Coaches: There are considerable differences between coaching internally and being an independent external coach. If you are coaching someone as part of your managerial function then most times the notes you would take and keep would be the same as for other processes such as appraisals, performance interviews, 1:1’s, etc. Keeping them confidential and secure would also be exactly the same. If you are part of a coaching pool, then there should be a system in place for storage in a password protected file and again some limited access if the coach became incapacitated or left the organisation. Some internal coaches report doing coaching outside their organisation, either paid or pro bono. Either way, a notes system should still be set up. You will need your own Professional Indemnity Insurance too. You can still be sued even if they are not paying! Coaching outside your organisation means you are more vulnerable as you are not covered by the processes and systems of the organisation. Take advice from a coach supervisor if you are intending to do this as it is much more complex around the law and data protection. Also, best not to enter into a formal coach relationship with family, friends, or the under 18’s Supervisors need to be particularly clear on notes/record-keeping if they have coaches who are working with more vulnerable clients such as in certain charitable/health settings or high-security contracts. Julia Menaul www.sparkcoachingandtraining.co.uk ©2020