Searching for common interests with top colleagues from friendly coaching and supervision associations at the Comic Museum.
The location was interesting, and as we know from coaching and supervision settings, it is the location, the setting that influences the atmosphere and the setting. I had the pleasure of co-designing the meeting in my role as chair of EASC!
It was an experiment: three European associations from the fields of coaching, supervision and mentoring had come together on 11 October to discuss ethics, standards and trends. The preparation process took several months until enough trust was built up to look for common ground, despite all differences, to see where we could strengthen each other and come closer to our common goal of giving more attention to coaching and supervision in Europe.
The three associations EASC, EMCC and ANSE then looked for interested people in their ranks who wanted to accompany this process and so a group of professional coaches and supervisors came together who wanted to exchange ideas and see what was possible.
And what came out above all was that it should continue, that we want to look together at where we can develop something. In the field of ethics, ANSE and EASC will check whether we can sign the EMCC Code of Ethics and bring our issues into the further work. Together we want to set up an international online working group in which colleagues can reflect on ethical dilemmas across associations. We want to see if we can discuss common approaches in the area of "compliance with ethical guidelines". The topic of "safety on the net" could also be on the common agenda.
However, what marked the day the most was the atmosphere, which was carried by mutual listening, trust and the search for common ground. To be heard in Europe and at national levels and to give coaching and supervision the place they deserve, to develop new fields, all this works better together. To take competition as a positive stimulus and as an incentive to become better, and to show that associations in these two sectors can achieve a lot together, this is a spirit that needs to be pushed forward.
We are looking for forms, there are ideas, e.g. to create an interest committee in the European Parliament, to continue to work on the topic of trends and tools in both sectors, maybe with a European project, etc.
But the most important thing of the first meeting seems to me to be two things: it was a pleasure to exchange with so many professional colleagues from different associations and that we continue to talk, see where we can recognise and support each other, and also break new ground together - there is still a lot possible here - let's do it!
Susanne Rieger