While most coaching scholars and professionals focus on the role of codes of conduct in
sustaining ethical behavior in the practice of executive coaching, our research answers
the call to go “beyond the book.” Our study aims to describe restrictions identified by
executive coaches to the application of codes to ethical conflicts. The analysis of 27
coaches’ ethical challenges highlights three main types of restrictions that coaches
express: the code is not relevant, the code has shortcomings, and the code is an obstacle
to the ethics of the coach. The underlying legitimacy, efficacy, and value issues show
that codes do not fit all situations or all practitioners. We recommend altering codes so
that they better reflect the subjective, emotional, social, and value-oriented nature of
the ethical decision-making process in coaching. In particular, we suggest using an
interrogative tone and illustrative case studies written by different stakeholders.
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