ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the structures and processes for creating and updating a living relational contract. It discusses how the contract varies between different contexts and how the dual concepts of empathy and rigour always inform the approach. The chapter includes one-to-one, three-way and multi-party contracts, levels of contracting (the social, professional and psychological) and ways of working with group and organisational contracts. There are three key concepts that inform the contract and underpin the way one think about the supervision relationship: How one can establish good contact between us? How one can ensure that we are working in a way that is rigorous? How one can ensure mutuality? Everything about the supervision contract applies to the coach-client contract – the importance of the social or 'business' level, the need for established competence at the professional level and so on.
