Organizational Psychology

The initiative for professional standards regulation for all professions has come from the Russian State in 2012. A Presidential decree was issued in May 2012 introducing development of professional standards for all professions not having standards. The corresponding government regulation wasissued in January 2013. The approach to professional standard regulation is blended: involvement of both the state and of the professional communities is implied. The state has issued the general regulation, at the same time thegovernment regulation suggests that the standards are developed by professional bodies/associationsand submitted for approval to the Ministry of Labor. Thus the introduction of professional standardsfor all professions became part of social and professional reality. The primary initiators of “Coach”professional standard development were three professional bodies: National Guild of Professional Consultants, Professional Association of Russian-Speaking Coaches, and ICF-Russia chapter. Approach. The approach taken by the group of developers has been to develop the standard in the 'soft'/'frame' mode in line with ICF-compatible understanding of coaching. The 'soft'/'frame' mode means outlining the minimal frame requirements, suggesting that more specific norms can be definedby professional bodies, including more detailed standards and ethical codes of Russian coachingprofessional organisations, and transparent guidelines for hiring a coach. The group of standarddevelopers wanted to avoid a "rigid" approach based on pre-set strict criteria that might reflect theinterests of a certain professional-educational lobby group. So far there are some side effects of coachingnot being recognised. E.g., currently, according to Russian legislation legal registration of a professionis a requirement necessary for professional liability/indemnity insurance. For this reason professional indemnity for coaches is currently non-existent in Russia. The prospective standard should also serveto protect coaching clients from the flood of self-named coaches following no standards or with selfproclaimed qualifications.