Coaching, Mentoring and Managing: A Coach Guidebook

• Confidentiality
  In order to push the individual to the next level, you must
  know his weaknesses and fears as well as his strengths
  and motives. Why would he confide in you unless there
  was a sense of privacy? The moment you repeat
  something told to you in confidence, you risk the loss of
  mutual trust.
  To illustrate this point for yourself, complete this
  short exercise, answering candidly in light of the
  information provided.
  You are in a private meeting with your brand-new boss,
  briefing him on the status of the work group you
  supervise. You are the third of four supervisors he has met
  with today. During the course of your conversation, he
  comments to you that 1) he probably wouldn’t have taken
  this job if the salary wasn’t “top dollar,” and 2) the
  supervisor just before you apparently “has a problem at
  home that occupies too much of his thinking.”
  In response to the questions, check the boxes true or false.

Coaching, Mentoring and Managing

3

I would not hesitate to tell this new boss my T F

personal problems.

I believe my new boss is fully committed to T F

company goals and employee development.

I can be completely confident that my new T F

boss will not talk about me behind my back.

Just because my boss gossiped a little doesn’t T F

mean I can’t trust him in other areas.

When the job gets long and the task hard, T F

I know the uncompromising character of

my boss will provide needed inspiration.