Transcending Ethical Dilemmas in Coaching and Supervision: A Model to Develop a Transpersonal Perspective

Abstract

While it is not uncommon to react to ethical dilemmas in coaching with a reactive mindset looking for the "right answer", this approach to dilemmas limits capacity to navigate them as a source of transcendence of conflicts. This paper explores how coaches and supervisors can develop an ethically mature and transpersonal mindset, which allows us to investigate the dilemma in a way that reveals other perspectives and actions that transcend the conflict of the dilemma. Furthermore, the paper offers a six-step process which one can follow when faced with an ethical dilemma, which takes us from developing our mindset through to action and review, with practical examples to demonstrate some of the key steps of the process. While the paper focusses on coaching and supervision examples, the essence of the process can also be used by educators more generally, where they are seeking to transcend conflict and dilemmas in their field.