Is it possible for a coach to be neutral or impartial?
Commonly, these two words are used interchangeably, and, from my perspective, that is a mistake. Since the moment the coach is present and interacting with the other person, neutrality is not possible. The right way to refer to this situation is saying that the coach has to be impartial.
Impartiallty refers to the consciuos and voluntary effort of the coach to remain objective as much as they can. One skill that requires impartialiaty is the third level of empathy. Based on Paul Ekman, empathy functions at three different levels: cognitive, emotional, and compasionate. The compasionate level y the one requiring impartiality. Once the coach recognizes the emotional state the other person is feeling, they should come back to their own reality and use that knowlege to help the coachee in the best way possible. They trap here is to get driven by the emotional state of the coachee. If that happens, we could say that the coach is not being impartial.
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