Integral and systemic coaching

1. Introduction

Version followed: Integral Coaching® as published by Integral Coaching Canada (ICC) in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice 4(1) (Hunt, "Transcending and Including Our Current Way of Being"; Hunt, "Transformational Conversations: The Four Conversations of Integral Coaching®"; Frost, "Integral Perspectives on Coaching"; issue year not printed in the copies cited, probably 2009 [uncertain]), as the core procedure. Systemic coaching is represented by John Whittington's constellation-based approach (Systemic Coaching and Constellations, 3rd edn, Kogan Page, 2020) and Peter Hawkins and Eve Turner's multi-stakeholder approach (Systemic Coaching: Delivering Value Beyond the Individual, Routledge, 2020). For both systemic books only publisher pages, a table of contents and secondary reviews are drawn on, so their procedures are given in outline and tagged [uncertain].

"Integral and systemic coaching" is not one published model. It is a grouping of two related coaching schools: integral coaching, built on Ken Wilber's AQAL integral theory and developed into a trademarked method by Joanne Hunt and Laura Divine at ICC (Ottawa), and systemic coaching, which coaches the individual or team in relation to the wider system they belong to. Both are coaching, not psychotherapy. They are offered to well-functioning people working on a chosen topic. A psychotherapist using them is stepping into a coaching role and should contract for it as such (see the boundary sections below).

How change happens, in the schools' own theory. ICC holds that a client's present way of seeing (perceiving), going (acting and speaking) and checking (judging results) forms a Current Way of Being (CWOB) that operates as an unconscious driver; Hunt calls it "an unconscious driver in the client's life". Naming it in a co-created metaphor turns it from something the client is into something the client has (Kegan's subject–object shift, which ICC adopts). Structured practices between sessions then build the capacities of a New Way of Being (NWOB) until it becomes the new default. In Wilber's phrase, which ICC uses, development "transcends and includes": the CWOB is kept, not removed; Hunt writes "The CWOB never disappears, nor should it." [source: Hunt, Transcending and Including; Frost] These are claims of integral theory and ICC, not established findings. Systemic coaching holds that a person's difficulty is partly an expression of the system around them. Change comes from seeing the whole system (Whittington: coaching "with the system in mind") and from coaching that serves the coachee's stakeholders and wider context, not only the coachee (Hawkins & Turner). [source: CoachHub summary of Whittington; Routledge/Taylor & Francis description of Hawkins & Turner] [uncertain: primary texts]

2. Framework

Integral Coaching® programme: four conversation types [source: Hunt, Transformational Conversations; Frost]

Conversation	Goal	Timing and format	Move on when
1. Intake	Coach and client get to know each other. The client names a topic and why it matters now. Both decide whether to work together. The coach gathers a picture through the AQAL lenses.	One meeting. Coach explains the method: practices between meetings, cycles of development, meetings every 2–3 weeks. The coach then prepares an "offer" before the next meeting.	Go/no-go: mutual resonance; the client feels understood; the coach can take the client's perspective and understands the topic; the client is open to this method; no indicators for referral to mental-health care (see 4.1).
(Between) Coach preparation	The coach immerses in the client's profile and builds the CWOB/NWOB offer. Hunt mentions meditation and somatic work by the coach here.	Not a session.	Offer drafted.
2. Offer	The "backbone" of the programme. Five parts: re-check the topic in the client's words; offer the CWOB; offer the NWOB; set the written coaching agreement with developmental objectives; launch the first practices.	One meeting, about a week after Intake in Hunt's worked example. Client receives the agreement and practices in writing.	Client has reshaped and owns both metaphors and has agreed objectives and a first practice.
3. Cycles of Development	Build capacities in sequence, each enabling the next, until the NWOB takes root.	Repeated meetings every 2–3 weeks. The number of cycles varies with topic and pace. Brief check-ins between meetings if needed. Each meeting: review the last practice period → link to objectives → design the next practice → set next date.	Development is stable, objectives are embodied (shown by evidence, not just self-report), and both agree to close.
4. Completion	Look back at the journey, look forward at likely challenges and support needs, close the relationship.	One meeting. Optional touch-base later (Hunt mentions six months as an example).	Programme ends. ICC recommends a break before any new topic; clients often return 4–6 months later with deeper topics.

Within any conversation ICC uses a simple arc: a beginning (connection and check-in), a middle (most of the time) and an end (next steps and date). Hunt also notes that each meeting re-establishes trust. No session length or total session count is published in the sources [uncertain]. Coach training is separate: Frost describes Module 1 as five months and Module 2 as nine months. [source: Hunt, Transcending and Including; Frost]

Developmental frame. ICC treats most coaching as horizontal development within one stage ("altitude"). A single coaching contract is not expected to shift the client's stage. Within a stage, cycles are described as moving from "wobbly" entry, to solid, to "disintegrating" exit. [source: Hunt, Transcending and Including; Frost]

Systemic coaching overlay [uncertain: outline from publisher tables of contents and secondary summaries]

Hawkins & Turner (2020): the book's chapters run from multi-stakeholder contracting (ch. 5), to "the systemic coaching process" (ch. 6), methods and tools (ch. 7), eco-systemic coaching (ch. 8), group and team work (ch. 9), supervision (ch. 10), systemic ethics (ch. 11) and evaluation (ch. 12). The stages of the ch. 6 process are [uncertain]. Hawkins' earlier CLEAR sequence (Contracting, Listening, Exploring, Action, Review), from his supervision and coaching work of the 1980s, is described in secondary sources and can be used as a session structure. [source: Routledge page; HotPMO summary of CLEAR]
Whittington (2020, 3rd edn): chapters move from the principles of systems (belonging, conscience/guilt/innocence, "the universal language of systems", time) to "Map making" and "Living maps" (constellations). Then come one-to-one practice, systemic team coaching, "Sticky moments" (difficulties), further applications and systemic supervision. In practice a constellation is one intervention used inside a coaching session, not a phase. [source: Skillsoft listing of contents; Ramanathan review]
Integration [synthesis]: ICC's four conversations give the programme structure. Systemic work adds (a) stakeholder-aware contracting at Intake/Offer, (b) a system map or constellation as part of Intake or a development cycle when the topic involves relationships, teams or organisations, and (c) completion criteria that include evidence from stakeholders, not only the client.

3. Guiding principles

Integral Coaching® [source: Hunt, Transformational Conversations; Hunt, Transcending and Including; Frost]

Transcend and include. Do not try to remove the CWOB. Honour what it has done for the client and add new capacities around it.
Make the subject an object. The main early task is helping the client see the CWOB, through metaphor and self-observation, before trying to change it.
The topic is not a problem to fix. At Intake, explore what gave rise to the topic, what has been present or absent, and what has been tried. Do not jump to solutions.
Offer, do not assert. Hold your view "on an open palm". The client has "the final say" and may reject or rework any part.
Metaphors in "soft clay". Interpretations stay provisional and co-owned (Hunt citing Kegan). A metaphor describes how the client handles one topic, not the whole person.
Look AS and AT the client. Alternate between seeing the world through the client's eyes and assessing competencies, situations and people from outside.
Use all quadrants. Pay attention to interior and exterior, individual and collective (the four AQAL quadrants), and look for the ones the client under-uses.
Equal but asymmetric relationship. The client is the expert on their life. The coach is the expert on the method. Coach and client are not mutually disclosing as friends would be.
Not too loosely and not too tightly. Balance support and challenge. Do not chastise a client for missed practices.
Evidence over self-report. Self-report is filtered through the CWOB, so ask what actually happened.
Competence comes from practice, not excitement. Design practices the client can actually do. If they can't, make them smaller instead of blaming commitment.
Horizontal before vertical. Build capacities within the client's current stage. Don't promise a stage shift in one contract.
Self-authoring is the goal. Close cleanly, recommend a break, and let the client find out which capacities hold without scaffolding.
The coach's own development is part of the method. ICC trains coaches in six areas (Mind, Heart, Body, Relations, Spirit, Morals), plus shadow work and a professional code of conduct.
Know the limits and refer. ICC says coaches are "ethically bound" to refer clients with addictions, severe depression, debilitating anxiety, rage or post-traumatic symptoms, or abuse or violence (Hunt). Frost adds that coaches must explain how coaching differs from other professions.

Systemic coaching [source: Ramanathan review of Whittington; CoachHub summary; Routledge description of Hawkins & Turner] [uncertain: secondary]

The part in the whole, and the whole in the part (Whittington, as quoted by CoachHub). Read the individual's issue as information about the system. Fixing only the individual may remove a symptom while the underlying dynamic stays.
Place. Where people and elements stand relative to each other (distance, direction) carries meaning. Map it.
Time and order. Who came first, who arrived or left, and in what sequence all shape the system. Ask about history and sequence.
Exchange. Whittington holds that a "dynamic balance of giving and receiving is critical". Explore what the client gives and receives, and how they perceive that balance.
Belonging. Whittington's book opens its principles with a chapter called "Belonging". Ask who belongs, who has been excluded or forgotten, and what that costs the system. [uncertain: chapter content]
Offer sentences lightly. Offer systemic observations evocatively, curiously and without judgement, and accept the client's rejection.
Value beyond the individual. Coaching should benefit the client's stakeholders (team, colleagues, investors, customers, partners, community, wider ecology), not only the client (Hawkins & Turner).

Professional-body principles [source: Global Code of Ethics summary (EMCC, AC and others, 2018); ICF referral guidelines (2018)]

Work within competence and refer. The Global Code (signed by EMCC, AC, APECS, AICP and others) requires members to have the skills to meet the client's needs and to refer to other professionals "should the need arise".
Contract transparently. Explain how you work, the nature of coaching, and the limits of confidentiality at the start. ICF's sample agreement wording: "Coaching is not therapy."
Use supervision. The Global Code requires regular supervision and raising ethical concerns there.

4. Intervention inventory

A. Integral Coaching® procedures (ICC) [source: Hunt, Transformational Conversations, unless noted]

4.1 Intake conversation with scope screening

Purpose / when: First meeting. Get to know the client, name the topic, decide go/no-go, and screen for needs outside coaching.
Steps: (1) Connect and explain how you work. (2) Ask the client to name the topic and why it matters now. (3) Explore what gave rise to it, what has been present and absent, and what they have already tried. Use questions from all six lenses (4.3). Do not problem-solve. (4) Listen with what Hunt calls embodied attention. Be receptive but actively question. (5) Check for referral indicators: addictions, severe depression, debilitating anxiety, rage or post-traumatic symptoms, abuse or violence (Hunt), plus the ICF indicators in 5.1. (6) Explain the programme: practices between meetings, development cycles, meetings every 2–3 weeks, an offer at the next meeting. (7) Decide together whether to proceed.
Example language (illustrative): "What's happening now that makes this the right time to work on it?" · "What have you already tried, and what did each attempt teach you?" · "Before we agree to work together, I want to check this is a coaching topic and not something better served elsewhere. Can I ask a few questions about how you've been sleeping, coping and feeling generally?"
Watch for: The client feeling understood. You being able to see the topic through their eyes. Openness to a practice-based method. Do not proceed if resonance is missing or if referral indicators are present. Refer, or agree to run coaching alongside treatment (see 5.1).

4.2 Looking AS and looking AT the client

Purpose / when: The coach's dual stance through Intake and Offer. It gives both an inside picture (felt resonance) and an outside picture (assessment) [source: Hunt; Frost].
Steps: (1) Looking AS: imaginatively take the client's position. How do they see the situation, what feels obvious or impossible to them? (2) Looking AT: note competencies, the situation and who is involved. (3) Compare the two pictures. Gaps show where the CWOB is limiting the client.
Example language (illustrative): "If I stand where you stand, it looks as if everything depends on you getting it right. Is that close?"
Watch for: Over-identifying with the client (all AS) or cold analysis (all AT). Frost presents both as method lenses.

4.3 AQAL lens profile (ICC's "AQAL Constellation™")

Purpose / when: Build a structured picture of the client in relation to the topic during and after Intake. It guides offers and practice design throughout [source: Frost; Hunt, Transcending and Including].
Steps (six lenses, per Frost): (1) Quadrants: which quadrant the client is oriented to (inner experience, behaviour, relationships and culture, systems), and how they see the others. (2) Level / centre of gravity: how the client makes meaning, and whether that stage is "wobbly", "solid" or "disintegrating". (3) Lines: rate six lines (cognitive, somatic, interpersonal, spiritual, moral, emotional) as low, medium or high for this topic. (4) States: resourceful or unresourceful, high or low energy. These are temporary and not a measure of stage. (5) Types: an Enneagram lens and a gender-type lens. ICC treats gender type as distinct from biological sex. (6) Method lenses: looking AS and AT (4.2), and Kegan's subject–object theory. Hunt also lists shadow elements among the horizontal capacities to note.
Example language (illustrative): "When this goes badly, where do you notice it first: in your thoughts, your body, your relationships, or the systems around you?"
Watch for: These are ICC's theoretical constructs. Use them as hypotheses, not diagnoses. Stage inferences in particular are the school's own developmental theory. Formal stage and Enneagram assessment needs ICC or equivalent training [synthesis]. Frost gives no scoring method [uncertain].

4.4 Mapping seeing, going and checking

Purpose / when: Make the CWOB concrete. It describes how the client perceives (seeing), acts and speaks (going), and judges results (checking). Frost calls these "a tight circle" [source: Frost; Hunt, Transcending and Including].
Steps: (1) Pick a recent, specific episode tied to the topic. (2) Ask what they noticed first and what they missed (seeing). (3) Ask what they did and said (going). (4) Ask how they judged whether it worked (checking). (5) Show how the three reinforce each other.
Example language (illustrative): "In that meeting, what did you notice first? … What did you do next? … And how did you decide afterwards whether it had gone well?"
Watch for: The client seeing the loop for the first time ("so I only ever check whether I was in control"). That shows the CWOB starting to become an object.

4.5 Offering the Current Way of Being (CWOB metaphor)

Purpose / when: In the Offer conversation, after re-checking the topic in the client's words. The aim is to make the client's current way visible as an image they can work with.
Steps: (1) Prepare an image, metaphor or phrase. It should include the client's own self-view plus something fresh, and be neither too obvious nor too obscure. (2) Offer it tentatively, "on an open palm". (3) Explore how this way has served the client and where it no longer fits. (4) Invite the client to reshape the metaphor until it is theirs. (5) If it does not land, drop it, find what did work, and build a new one together. (6) Wait for the client to want something new before offering the NWOB. Hunt's example: a client's CWOB as an "Alpha Wolf".
Example language (illustrative): "Here's an image that came to me. Take it or leave it, and change anything that's off. It's of someone who… How has that way of operating served you? Where is it starting to cost you?"
Watch for: Recognition, often with humour or relief, and the client adding detail to the image. A flat or defensive response means the metaphor is off. Rework it, don't argue for it.

4.6 Offering the New Way of Being (NWOB metaphor)

Purpose / when: Straight after the CWOB, once the client is ready. It gives a new context for seeing, going and checking.
Steps: (1) Offer a metaphor for a new way of seeing, going and checking. It should not be a goal, a strategy, or simply the opposite of the CWOB. (2) Let the client take it in fully before moving on. (3) Build it together until it is theirs. (4) Show how it includes the healthy parts of the CWOB (transcend and include). Hunt's example moves from "Alpha Wolf" to "Legacy Athlete".
Example language (illustrative): "What if the next version of you isn't the opposite of this, but something bigger that still has its strength? Something like… What would you add or change?"
Watch for: Energy and curiosity in the client. A NWOB that is just the mirror image of the CWOB ("stop controlling") is a sign the offer is too thin.

4.7 Written coaching agreement with developmental objectives

Purpose / when: End of the Offer conversation. It anchors the programme and is the yardstick for progress and completion.
Steps: (1) Write down the topic in the client's words, why it matters, and the developmental objectives: the "new muscles" the NWOB needs (e.g. noticing body tension early, asking before deciding). (2) Agree the meeting rhythm. (3) Give the client a written copy. (4) [synthesis] For a therapist acting as coach, add explicit scope: this is coaching, not treatment; the limits of confidentiality; what happens if clinical issues come up (see 5.1). This is consistent with ICF's "Coaching is not therapy" sample wording.
Example language (illustrative): "So the three capacities we're building are… Does that capture what matters?"
Watch for: Objectives written as capacities, not outcomes the client can't control.

4.8 Focus (self-observation) practice

Purpose / when: First practice, launched at the Offer. It shines a light on the CWOB without trying to change it. Later focus practices are intense, short-term practices between meetings that target one capacity, and always include reflection.
Steps: (1) Name one observable moment linked to the topic. (2) Set a frequency (e.g. daily for two weeks). (3) Give two or three reflective questions to answer after each observation. (4) Explicitly ask the client not to change anything yet. (5) Write it down for the client.
Example language (illustrative): "For the next two weeks, notice two conversations a day where your 'Alpha Wolf' shows up. Don't change anything. Just jot down what set it off, what you did, and what happened in your body." (This adapts Hunt's example of witnessing two conversations a day.)
Watch for: Concrete observations coming back, not general impressions. The client starting to catch the pattern while it is happening.

4.9 Development practices (per cycle)

Purpose / when: In each Cycle of Development. They build the specific capacities in the agreement, in sequence, each enabling the next. Frost gives examples by line: mindfulness (spiritual line), staying with strong emotion (emotional line), strength training (somatic line).
Steps: (1) Use the AQAL profile, CWOB/NWOB, objectives and previous practices as a "compass". (2) Choose the next capacity. (3) Design a practice the client can actually do now. Break it down if it is too big. (4) Add reflective questions. (5) Give it a title. Hunt notes practice titles grow more complex over an engagement. (6) Over time, hand more of the design to the client.
Example language (illustrative): "Last cycle you learned to spot the moment. This cycle, when you spot it, take one breath and ask one question before you speak. Is that doable three times a week?"
Watch for: Practices getting done as designed and leaving evidence. If they aren't done, redesign (4.13). Don't blame commitment.

4.10 Foundation practices

Purpose / when: From the Offer or the second cycle onward. Long-term, regular practices that support the whole NWOB. Hunt's examples: strength training, meditation, yoga, diet, journaling, embodied reading.
Steps: (1) Pick one practice that serves an under-developed line in the profile. (2) Agree a sustainable rhythm. (3) Review it briefly each cycle. [synthesis] Clear physical practices with the client's doctor if there are health conditions. Do not set weight or exercise targets.
Example language (illustrative): "Alongside the cycle practices, is there one steady practice, ten minutes a day, that would build the calm this new way needs?"
Watch for: Consistency over intensity.

4.11 Reflective questions

Purpose / when: Attached to almost every practice. They support insight and track learning [source: Frost; Hunt].
Steps: (1) Set daily questions tied to the practice moment and a weekly integrating question. (2) The client writes brief answers. (3) Review them at the next meeting. Hunt's example includes a weekly question about which parts of the self stayed "in the dark".
Example language (illustrative): Daily: "Where did I stand in that conversation, and how did I know?" Weekly: "What did I learn about myself this week, and what am I still not seeing?"
Watch for: Answers becoming more specific and more about the self over time.

4.12 Cycle of Development review meeting

Purpose / when: Every 2–3 weeks. This is the working session of the programme.
Steps: (1) Connect and check in. (2) Review the practice period: was it done as designed, and what evidence appeared? (3) Link progress explicitly to the agreement's objectives so the client registers it. (4) Design the next practice (4.9). (5) Set the next date.
Example language (illustrative): "Walk me through one time you did the practice. What exactly happened?" · "Which of our three objectives does that move forward?"
Watch for: Ask for concrete evidence, since self-report is filtered through the CWOB. Look for stakeholder-observable change too [synthesis].

4.13 Breaking down and redesigning practices

Purpose / when: When a practice was not done or did not work.
Steps: (1) Ask what got in the way, without judgement. (2) Treat non-completion as information about missing competence, not about commitment. (3) Shrink the practice or add a precursor practice. (4) Re-agree it.
Example language (illustrative): "It sounds like the practice asked for something you can't do yet. Let's find the smaller step that comes before it."
Watch for: Repeated non-completion with signs of low mood, exhaustion or crisis. Consider the referral indicators (5.1).

4.14 Shadow tracking ("I" → "Me/My", not "It")

Purpose / when: Throughout the cycles. Track whether the CWOB is becoming an object the client can own, without being disowned and projected [source: Hunt].
Steps: (1) Listen to how the client talks about the CWOB. (2) Healthy movement goes from "I am the wolf" to "my wolf" or "the wolf in me". (3) If it becomes an "It" ("the wolf made me do it", or seeing the wolf only in others), gently re-own it.
Example language (illustrative): "You said 'it' took over. Can we try saying 'my wolf part took over' and see what changes?"
Watch for: Projection onto colleagues. Strong shame or self-attack signals material beyond coaching scope [synthesis].

4.15 Completion conversation and recommended break

Purpose / when: When objectives are embodied and stable.
Steps: (1) Look back: review the topic and objectives, name what was developed, honour beginning, middle and end. (2) Look forward: possibilities, likely challenges, support needed to sustain the NWOB. (3) Close: say what each appreciated in the other and what needs saying. Plan any touch-base (e.g. after six months). (4) Recommend a break before any new topic, so the client finds out what holds without scaffolding and to avoid "development fatigue".
Example language (illustrative): "When you think back to the person who walked in with this topic, what's different now?" · "What's most likely to pull you back to the old way, and what will you do then?"
Watch for: The client describing the NWOB in their own words and practices they will keep. Dependency on the coach is a reason to keep the break [synthesis].

4.16 Coach preparation and self-development

Purpose / when: Between Intake and Offer, and ongoing. ICC treats the coach's own development as part of the method [source: Hunt, Transformational Conversations; Hunt, Transcending and Including; Frost].
Steps: (1) Immerse in the client's profile before building the offer. Hunt mentions meditation and somatic work. (2) Keep your own development practice going across the six ICC areas (Mind, Heart, Body, Relations, Spirit, Morals), including shadow work. (3) Take cases to supervision.
Watch for: Your own type or shadow colouring the metaphors you offer [synthesis].

B. Systemic coaching procedures [uncertain: from publisher tables of contents and secondary summaries of Whittington and Hawkins & Turner; the step detail is partly my synthesis and is marked]

4.17 System mapping (drawn or written)

Purpose / when: At Intake or early in a cycle, when the topic involves a team, organisation or set of relationships. It makes the system visible: who is in it, the relationships, tensions and points of influence [source: CoachHub summary].
Steps: (1) Ask the client to draw or place sticky notes for themselves and every person, group or force involved in the topic. (2) Add lines for relationships and mark tension, influence and distance. (3) [synthesis] Ask who is missing, who left, and who came first. (4) Ask what the map shows that the client hadn't seen. (5) Link the insight back to the coaching objective.
Example language (illustrative): "Put everyone who has a stake in this on the page, including people who aren't in the room. Who's missing? Who was here before you?"
Watch for: The client shifting from "it's about me" or "it's about them" to seeing a pattern in the whole.

4.18 Tabletop constellation ("living map")

Purpose / when: One-to-one sessions, when the client is stuck in a relationship or organisational dynamic. Whittington calls these "Map making" and "Living maps" and acknowledges they derive from Bert Hellinger's family-constellation work [source: Ramanathan review; Skillsoft contents].
Steps (as described in the review): (1) Provide small objects: figurines, desk items or household objects. (2) The client chooses a piece for themselves and for each element of the system and places them. Distance and facing direction show relationships, and order shows sequence in time. (3) The client says what each piece is and why it is placed there. (4) The coach asks questions. The client may move pieces in response. (5) Pay attention to what the client feels as pieces move, not just what they think. (6) Influences that are not present can be represented by pieces set to one side. (7) [synthesis] Close by having the client place the pieces in a configuration that feels more resourceful. Name one action that follows from it. Then deliberately dismantle the map.
Example language (illustrative): "Choose something to stand for you and put it where you are in this system." · "Which way is it facing?" · "What happens inside you when you move that piece closer?"
Watch for: Shifts in emotion and posture as pieces move. Hidden or excluded elements turning up. Limiting beliefs coming to the surface. If personal or family-of-origin grief or trauma comes up, see 5.6.

4.19 Floor-marker and team constellations

Purpose / when: Group and team coaching. Whittington's book has a chapter on systemic team coaching, and the review notes that real people can stand for elements in team work [source: Ramanathan review; Skillsoft contents].
Steps: The facilitation steps for floor and team formats are not in the sources [uncertain]. [synthesis] At minimum: contract with the team and sponsor about purpose and confidentiality; make participation voluntary; let people choose positions or representatives; ask each position what it notices; debrief out of role; record actions.
Watch for: Power dynamics and psychological safety in the team. People experiencing the exercise as exposing.

4.20 Systemic sentences and offers

Purpose / when: During a map or constellation. Short statements offered to test whether something in the system needs acknowledging.
Steps: (1) Offer a short sentence evocatively, curiously and without judgement (review's description). (2) Ask the client to say it to the relevant piece or person, or just notice its effect. (3) Accept a rejection without argument. Whittington's 3rd edition adds material on "systemic questions" [source: Ramanathan review; Skillsoft listing]. The book's actual sentences were not available [uncertain].
Example language (illustrative): "Try saying to the founder's piece: 'You were here first.' Notice what happens." · "Try: 'I've given a lot here, and I need something back.' Does that fit or not?"
Watch for: A physical settling or a strong "no". Both are information.

4.21 Exploring place, time and exchange

Purpose / when: Questions grounded in the systemic principles. Use them with or without a physical map.
Steps: (1) Place: "Where do you stand in relation to…?" (2) Time and order: "Who was here before you? What happened to your predecessor?" (3) Exchange: "What do you give here, what do you receive, and how balanced does it feel?" (4) Belonging [uncertain]: "Who has been excluded or forgotten?" [source: Ramanathan review for place, time and exchange; Skillsoft contents for belonging; question wording is illustrative]
Watch for: Resentment or guilt around give-and-take. Whittington's book has a chapter on conscience, guilt and innocence, but its content is not drawn on here [uncertain].

4.22 Multi-stakeholder contracting

Purpose / when: At the start of organisationally sponsored coaching. It makes sure the coaching serves the client and their stakeholders (Hawkins & Turner, ch. 5) [source: Routledge page; detail uncertain].
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Hold a three-way meeting (client, line manager or sponsor, coach) to agree purpose and success criteria. (2) Agree what is shared and what stays confidential, in line with the Global Code requirement to be open about the limits of confidentiality. (3) Ask the client to collect stakeholder views (what the team, peers and customers need from them). (4) Review with the sponsor at the midpoint and at completion.
Example language (illustrative): "If your team were in the room, what would they want this coaching to change?"
Watch for: Sponsor agendas the client doesn't share. Pressure on confidentiality.

4.23 CLEAR session structure (Hawkins)

Purpose / when: A simple session arc for systemic or supervision-style coaching [source: HotPMO summary; secondary, uncertain].
Steps: (1) Contract: desired outcomes and ground rules for this session. (2) Listen: active, empathic listening to the current situation and what lies under it. (3) Explore: first how the situation affects people now, then what could be achieved. (4) Action: agree the way forward together. (5) Review: progress, and whether the process itself is working.
Example language (illustrative): "What do you want to leave with today?" · "Who else is affected by this, and how?" · "How was today's session for you, and what should we change?"
Watch for: Skipping Explore and jumping to Action.

4.24 Eco-systemic and "future-back" questions

Purpose / when: To widen the frame to future and ecological stakeholders. Hawkins & Turner cover eco-systemic coaching (ch. 8), and a reviewer describes the book as "future-back" and "outside-in" [source: Routledge page]. The specific tools are not drawn on here [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Ask the client to imagine stakeholders looking back from several years ahead. (2) Ask what they would need the client to start or stop. (3) Turn the answers into a development objective or practice.
Example language (illustrative): "Imagine it's five years from now and your customers and community are reviewing your leadership. What do they wish you had started this year?"
Watch for: Abstract answers. Ask for one concrete behaviour.

4.25 Systemic supervision

Purpose / when: Ongoing, for the coach. Required by the Global Code. Whittington (ch. on systemic supervision) and Hawkins & Turner (ch. 10) both cover it [source: Global Code summary; Skillsoft and Routledge contents].
Steps [synthesis]: Take cases where you feel stuck, over-responsible or drawn into the client's system. Map your own place in the client's system with your supervisor.
Watch for: Parallel process: the client's system dynamics showing up between you and the client.

C. Boundary and referral procedures

4.26 Referral conversation (ICF guidelines)

Purpose / when: When indicators in 5.1 appear [source: Hullinger & DiGirolamo, ICF 2018].
Steps: (1) Meet privately, unhurried. (2) Open with concern and care. (3) Describe the specific signs or changes you've observed. (4) Ask open questions, listen, validate, allow silence. (5) Ask how they feel about seeing a therapist. (6) Restate your concern. (7) Offer specific resources from a list you keep. (8) Offer to help them book during the session. (9) Leave the door open to come back to it. If they are reluctant, normalise it and give a medical analogy (for heart symptoms you see a cardiologist). Repeat the suggestion if the issue keeps returning. Respect their decision unless there is risk of harm to self or others.
Example language (illustrative): "I've noticed you've mentioned not sleeping in the last three sessions, and the practices feel impossible right now. I care about how you're doing, and I think this deserves support beyond coaching. How would you feel about talking to someone who specialises in this?"
Watch for: Relief or resistance. Follow up at the next session without pressing for details.

4.27 Deciding between pausing coaching and running it alongside therapy

Purpose / when: After a referral [source: ICF 2018].
Steps: (1) If the client functions day-to-day and is still making progress, coaching can continue alongside counselling. (2) If the issue blocks progress, pause coaching until the client is ready. (3) Liaise with the therapist only with the client's signed consent. (4) [synthesis] If you are the client's therapist as well, do not also coach them on the same topic without clear, documented role separation. Treatment takes priority.
Watch for: Whether the client keeps making progress in coaching. ICF treats this as the key test.

5. Handling problems

5.1 The coaching–psychotherapy boundary and signs that a coachee needs clinical care

How the bodies and authors draw the boundary.

ICF (Hullinger & DiGirolamo, 2018): coaching focuses on vision, the present and the future, and on performance, learning and development, with generally well-functioning people. Therapy addresses psychopathology, deep emotional issues, healing and trauma recovery. A coach does not diagnose or treat. ICF's analogy: an athletic trainer who refers to the team doctor when injury is suspected. The ICF Code requires coaches to explain the nature of coaching and the limits of confidentiality, and to suggest other professionals when appropriate.
EMCC and AC (Global Code of Ethics, 2018; also signed by APECS, AICP and others): practise only with the skills to meet the client's needs; refer clients on "should the need arise"; contract openly; be honest about the limits of confidentiality; use regular supervision. The summary does not mention mental health specifically [uncertain: full code text]. Maxwell (2009) notes that EMCC and AC expect practitioners to stay within their competence and training.
ICC (Hunt): refer to a qualified mental-health professional for addictions, severe depression, debilitating anxiety, rage or post-traumatic symptoms, or abuse or violence. Frost adds that coaches must explain how coaching differs from other professions.
Research note: Maxwell's interviews with eight coaches describe the boundary as co-created by the client's motivation and resourcefulness, the coach's competence and role, and the organisational contract. Psychological material often surfaces because "the whole damn human being" shows up. Six of the eight worked alongside doctors, counsellors or addiction specialists [source: Maxwell 2009].

Concrete referral signs [source: ICF 2018 unless marked]

Functioning: the issue interferes with self-care, work, home, leisure or social life, and has lasted weeks. ICF treats daily functioning as the most important single guide.
Distress signs: marked mood change (irritability, anger, anxiety, sadness); falling performance; withdrawal; neglected hygiene or appearance; weight change; sleeping far more or far less. One sign alone may not mean much. A cluster (e.g. outbursts, repeated excuses for missed practices, persistent fatigue) calls for action.
Condition-specific: worry on most days for months; low mood or loss of interest lasting more than two weeks, or grief that blocks any thought of the future; preoccupation with food or rigid food rules; intrusive memories, nightmares, flashbacks, avoidance or hypervigilance after a frightening event; escalating substance use, hiding it, or failing to stop; paranoia, hallucinations, delusional beliefs or incoherent speech; any suicidal thoughts, plans, giving possessions away, or hopelessness.
Progress signs: no progress after a reasonable time; a past issue keeps returning; the client keeps processing feelings without insight or action; self-defeating behaviour blocks change; persistent victim stance or ongoing effects of trauma.
Coach-side signs: feeling responsible for or anxious about the client; feeling out of your depth; the client becoming dependent on you; feeling you have failed them.
ICC-specific: addictions, severe depression, debilitating anxiety, rage or post-traumatic symptoms, abuse or violence [source: Hunt].
Integral/systemic-specific [synthesis]: a CWOB metaphor or constellation that triggers flooding, dissociation or intrusive memories; a client who hears metaphors or practices as literal or persecutory; foundation practices (fasting, diet, intense meditation or exercise) used compulsively or harmfully.

Immediate risk. If there is risk of harm to self or others, ICF advises contacting emergency services, staying with the person, arranging for any means of harm to be given to someone safe, and contacting crisis lines. A psychotherapist working as a coach should step out of the coaching contract and follow their own clinical risk-assessment and safeguarding procedures and local law [synthesis].

5.2 Stuck client (no movement across cycles)

Check whether the practice was actually done as designed. If not, use 4.13: shrink it, find the precursor capacity, and don't blame commitment [source: Hunt].
Check the metaphors. A NWOB that is just the opposite of the CWOB, or a goal rather than a new context, gives the client nothing to grow into. Rebuild it together [source: Hunt].
Check whether progress is being registered. Explicitly link each piece of evidence to the agreement's objectives [source: Hunt].
Map the system (4.17–4.18). The client may be blocked by a dynamic (an excluded predecessor, imbalanced give-and-take, or sponsor pressure) that individual practices can't shift [synthesis, drawing on the CoachHub summary of Whittington].
If stuckness persists with distress signs, apply 5.1.

5.3 Resistance to a metaphor or systemic offer

ICC: the offer is held "on an open palm". Let it go, find what did fit, and co-create a new one. Don't defend it [source: Hunt]. Systemic sentences likewise may be rejected [source: Ramanathan review].
[synthesis] Ask what's wrong with the image. The correction usually shows the client's own self-view, which the next metaphor should include.

5.4 Non-adherence to practices

Treat it as information about missing competence or overload. Redesign. Avoid chastising [source: Hunt].
Watch for "development fatigue". ICC recommends a break after completion partly for this reason [source: Hunt].
[synthesis] If non-adherence comes with low mood, sleep loss or withdrawal, treat it as a possible referral sign (5.1), not a motivation problem.

5.5 Overwhelm in session

[synthesis] Slow down. Bring attention to the present room and the body (feet, breath). Step back from the metaphor or constellation, physically moving pieces off the table if needed. Return to the practical topic.
[synthesis] Check afterwards whether the reaction belongs to the coaching topic or to older material. If older material, discuss referral or a parallel therapy contract (4.27).
Maxwell's coaches managed depth by keeping conversations more intellectual, linking behaviour to work relevance, and stopping when the link to work was unclear [source: Maxwell 2009].

5.6 Constellation-specific difficulties

Constellations derive from Hellinger's family-constellation work (Whittington acknowledges this). In a coaching contract, keep them to work, team and organisational systems [synthesis].
If the client places family members, bereavements or abusers, or reacts with grief or traumatic intrusion: stop adding elements, let the client say what they need, dismantle the map, ground them (5.5), and consider referral [synthesis].
Don't interpret placements as revealing hidden facts about the client's family or history. Treat everything that appears as the client's current experience and perspective [synthesis].
Whittington has a chapter on "Sticky moments". Its guidance is not drawn on here [uncertain].

5.7 Ruptures and relationship problems

ICC re-establishes trust and connection at the start of every meeting. Use that check-in to name strain early [source: Hunt; Frost].
[synthesis] If the client feels judged by a CWOB image, acknowledge the miss, take responsibility, and rebuild the image with them.
The client becoming dependent, or the coach feeling over-responsible, is an ICF referral or supervision signal [source: ICF 2018]. Therapist-coaches in Maxwell's study were especially alert to transference and collusion [source: Maxwell 2009].

5.8 Sponsor and stakeholder conflicts (systemic coaching)

[synthesis] If the sponsor wants information or outcomes the client doesn't agree to, go back to the three-way contract and the agreed confidentiality limits (Global Code). If they can't be reconciled, renegotiate or end the contract openly.
[synthesis] If coaching uncovers misconduct, bullying or safeguarding concerns, step outside coaching and follow legal and organisational duties. The Global Code requires members to obey the law.

5.9 Psychotherapist-specific pitfalls

[synthesis] Role drift: sliding into assessment, formulation of pathology, or trauma processing inside a coaching contract. Keep the written scope (4.7). If clinical work is needed, contract for it separately or refer.
[synthesis] Dual relationships: coaching a current therapy client on the same topic blurs consent and confidentiality. Most professional codes discourage it. Check your own licensing body's rules [uncertain].
[synthesis] Presenting theory as fact: Integral (AQAL) stages, lines, types and Enneagram, and Hellinger-derived systemic "orders", are the schools' own theory. Present them to clients as lenses, not findings about who they are.

Sources

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