Ethics & confidentiality

Confidentiality is architecture, not a disclaimer.

The boundaries change with the purpose of the work. Coaching, development, selection, succession, and sponsored assessment do not operate under one generic rule. Before the work begins, everyone should know what is private, what may be shared, with whom, and why.

The professional role, purpose, and information-sharing boundaries are defined before evidence is collected.

The role matters

Different work, different boundaries.

Think Hard Solutions may serve as a coach, assessor, or advisor. Those roles are not interchangeable. We clarify which role we are serving, what the work is intended to accomplish, and what information may be shared before the engagement begins.

Coaching

Private conversation in service of the participant.

Coaching conversations, personal reflections, session content, notes, transcripts, and verbatim comments are confidential. Organizational sponsorship does not create automatic access to what is discussed.

Development

Participant agency with agreed sponsor boundaries.

Development work may involve assessment, feedback, or manager alignment. What remains private and what may be discussed with a sponsor is agreed in advance, with the participant’s knowledge and informed consent.

Selection, succession & hiring

Evaluative work with disclosed information sharing.

Participants are told before taking part that relevant interpreted assessment, interview, 360, or impact findings will be shared with the organization or executive sponsor within the agreed scope.

Some engagements combine roles. A transition or onboarding engagement may include coaching, assessment, and advisory support. When the role changes, the confidentiality boundary is made explicit rather than assumed.

International Coaching Federation Code of Ethics →

Coaching & development

Sponsorship does not create access to the conversation.

Coaching and development work requires room for candid reflection. When an organization sponsors the engagement, we define what the sponsor may receive without turning a private developmental relationship into a reporting channel.

What remains private

The content of the work

The participant’s conversations and personal working material remain confidential unless a different arrangement is explicitly agreed in advance.

  • Coaching conversations and personal reflections
  • Session content and individual development discussions
  • Coaching notes, transcripts, and verbatim comments
  • Assessment results or interpreted findings unless sharing has been specifically agreed

What a sponsor may receive

Only what was agreed beforehand

Sponsor updates are limited to the terms established before the engagement begins. They may include:

  • Whether the engagement is active or complete
  • Participation, attendance, or completion
  • High-level focus areas or category-level next steps, but only when contracted and consented
  • No content-level summary and no material created for a personnel file

Shared conversations are planned, not improvised.

Any conversation involving the participant and a manager or sponsor is discussed in advance and aligned on purpose and boundaries. In coaching and development work, the participant retains agency over what they choose to share.

The organization may sponsor the work. It does not own the conversation.

Assessment & evaluative work

The purpose determines what gets shared.

Assessment information does not operate under one universal confidentiality rule. Development, manager alignment, selection, succession, and sponsored impact work have different purposes. Those purposes determine who receives interpreted insight and why.

Raw assessment data

Raw reports are not the deliverable.

We distinguish between raw assessment data and interpreted insight. Score sheets and raw reports are not distributed by default or prepared for personnel files.

The value comes from interpreting the evidence against the stated purpose of the work.

Development

The results remain with the participant.

Assessment results and interpreted insight remain with the participant unless another arrangement is clearly agreed before the work begins.

Manager alignment

Relevant patterns may be discussed by agreement.

With the participant’s knowledge and consent, relevant strengths, patterns, and risk conditions may be discussed to improve support and alignment. Raw scores and reports are not distributed.

Selection, succession & hiring

Interpreted findings are shared within the disclosed scope.

Participants are informed in advance that findings will be shared with the organization or executive sponsor. The findings are role-specific, contextualized, and treated as one of several factors in the decision—not as a diagnosis, guarantee, or certainty.

Information gathered to support a decision may be shared within the agreed scope. Information gathered for development stays confidential. We do not mix the two.

Participating in the work? See what to expect.

Informed participation

No one should have to infer the boundary.

Confidentiality breaks down when people learn the rules after the work is underway. Before participating, each person should understand the professional role being served, the purpose of the engagement, and how information will be handled.

01

Before the work begins

We clarify whether the work is coaching, development, assessment, advisory, or evaluation; what the engagement is intended to accomplish; and which confidentiality rules apply.

02

When a sponsor is involved

We identify what the sponsor may receive, what remains private, who will receive any shared information, and the purpose that information is intended to serve.

03

If the scope changes

A new purpose or audience requires a new conversation about the boundary. Information collected under one understanding is not silently repurposed under another.

The agreement is not administrative fine print. It is part of the integrity of the work.

Practice boundary

Some work requires a different firm.

Think Hard Solutions provides evidence, interpretation, and advisory judgment for clearly defined leadership questions. We do not turn confidential coaching or development work into an investigative, disciplinary, or documentation channel.

  • Coaching records

    We do not create or release transcripts, detailed session notes, or records designed to expose confidential development conversations.

  • Personnel-file assessment materials

    Raw assessment data and score reports are not prepared as permanent employee records or delivered without a defined, appropriate purpose.

  • Disciplinary documentation

    We do not convert advisory, coaching, or development work into written support for disciplinary or performance-management action.

  • Investigations or covert assessment

    We do not investigate employees, assess people without their knowledge, or present advisory judgment as an investigative finding.

  • Justification after the fact

    We can inform a live hiring, promotion, succession, or leadership decision. We do not create documentation to legitimize an outcome that has already been decided.

Evidence gathered for one purpose is not quietly repurposed to serve another.

Limits & accountability

Confidentiality has limits. Those limits should be named.

Confidentiality may be limited when disclosure is required by law, ordered through valid legal process, or necessary to address an imminent or likely risk of danger to the participant or others. When a limit applies, the situation is handled with care and with as much transparency as the circumstances allow.

Legal requirement

Disclosure required by law

Confidentiality cannot override an applicable legal obligation to disclose information.

Legal process

A valid court order or subpoena

Information may need to be disclosed when required through a valid and applicable legal process.

Risk of harm

Imminent or likely danger

Disclosure may be necessary when there is an imminent or likely risk of danger to the participant or another person.

Specific confidentiality and information-sharing terms are documented in the applicable engagement agreement. This page describes the practice standard; it does not replace the agreement governing a particular engagement.

If documentation, investigation, or leverage over an individual is the goal, this is not the right work—and not the right firm.

Discuss the decision See how evidence is used