One-to-One Coaching Supervision
In an environment of complexity and uncertainty, Coaching Supervision helps you to step back and take a broader view of your coaching practice. This deeper level of reflection allows you to uncover the blind spots - to see what you cannot already see in your coaching work. Supervision is a place to get support, but it's also a place to get the sort of challenging and authentic feedback that helps you develop your practice.
What happens in Supervision?
Supervision can be delivered either to individual coaches or to groups of coaches.
Supervision provides a safe place for you to to be supported in your professional and personal needs. It’s worth noting that the importance of supervision for ethical and effective practice has long been recognised in many other professions, such as psychology, social work and mental health services (Hanaway, 2021).
In coach training I often use personal training as a metaphor to describe how the client should be doing the ‘heavy lifting’ in coaching sessions. If we extend the personal trainer metaphor to supervision, no one wants an unfit PT – supervision is one way we as coaches can stay fit to practice!
As a new coach you might be very keen to establish yourself, which leads to taking on too much and trying to please everyone. Or as a more experienced coach, you might feel ‘worn out’ from years of compassion, caring and commitment.
Coaching Supervision is a vital service for the ongoing development and skill enhancement of coaches, resulting in the raising of coaching standards across the profession. It is a specialised activity provided by a qualified practitioner and is increasingly regarded as a key success factor to practice effectively as a professional coach.
According to the Association for Coaching, Coaching Supervision is “a formal and protected time for facilitating in-depth reflection for coaches to discuss their work with someone who is experienced as a Coach. Supervision offers a confidential framework within a collaborative working relationship in which the practice, tasks, process and challenges of the coaching work can be explored.”
- you, as the coach (the person receiving supervision),
- your coaching clients,
- the sponsor, where the organisation is paying for coaching, and
- the Coaching Profession (by developing standards, quality control, and ethical practice).
The coaching profession may still be young, but it has matured to the point that buyers of coaching services need ways to compare and differentiate between coaches. And having regular coaching supervision – whether one-to-one supervision, peer supervision or group supervision – is a clear indication of quality.
Who is supervision for?
Supervision can provide great support to coaches at any level of skill or experience because:
- all coaches should be commited to their ongoing development,
- all coaches encounter situations where guidance on different approaches would be useful, and
- all coaches have a duty of care to those they coach.
What the research shows
As a great coach, you are the instrument. And because you’re human you’re not a perfect instrument – none of us are. Coaching Supervision is a space where you can be imperfect. A place where you can ‘service’ the instrument, which is a bit like running an update on your PC! It’s a place where you can explore what you consider to be your mistakes or failures and share any ugly thoughts you might be having in a safe environment. It’s about becoming a reflective practitioner of your own work.
Supervision is about getting you to reflect on your coaching habits and pushing you to experiment more. In one-to-one supervision I may sometimes offer you feedback on where you are at and how you can improve, raise issues of self-deception, or highlight ethical concerns. One-to-one supervision is also a restorative space where you can reconnect with your confidence and recharge your batteries.
Different Types of Supervision
Supervision can be delivered either to individual coaches or to groups of coaches.
One-to-One Supervision, with a qualified supervisor
PAID SUPERVISION
In one-to-one supervision an appropriately trained and qualified supervisor will use different models of supervision to examine the issue you choose to bring to supervision – this could relate to client case, your own development, or your own welfare. The aim of one-to-one supervision is to develop your competence, capabilty and capacity as a coach.
Group Supervision, with a qualified supervisor
PAID SUPERVISION
One-to-One Supervision between qualified supervisors
RECIPROCAL
Peer Supervision Group, with no qualified supervisor
RECIPROCAL
HOW DO YOU FIND A SUPERVISOR?
Extract from Association for Coaching Member Guide,
written by Michelle Lucas.
As a professional coach you will probably always engage in some kind of supervision and it can be helpful to experience a number of different supervisors over your coaching journey. So the best starting point is to consider what your supervision needs currently are, including:
Practical Considerations
- Do you want to work face-to-face or are you happy to work remotely via videoconference or telephone?
- Do you want supervision one-to-one or as part of a group?
- If you want to work as part of a group, is it important that the group membership is fixed or would you be comfortable if it were to change each time you met?
- How often do you want to take part in supervision?
- What is your budget?
Professional Considerations
- What’s your previous experience of receiving coach supervision and how does that inform what you are looking for now?
- What kinds of topics do you believe you will be taking to supervision – and how will you want to be supported in the supervision discussion?
- What underpinning knowledge, theory, cultural perspectives and intersectional social categories such as race and class, informs your work – and how important is it that your Coach Supervisor comes from the same or from a different perspective?
- Is it important that your Coach Supervisor is a trained, qualified, accredited professional? Or would you be inclined to engage with a peer for supervision?
Psychological Considerations
- How clear are you on what supervision is and how it might help you?
- What is your motivation for supervision? Is it because you have been advised, because you wish to become an accredited coach, or because you are wholly committed to it for your learning and development and to ensure you can be the best practitioner possible?
- What do you believe you will need from your Coach Supervisor in order to feel safe enough to display your vulnerability and thoroughly explore your client work?
What NOT to do when searching for a supervisor!
- Don’t choose a supervisor because you secretly hope they might open some commercial doors for you. It’s important that neither party exploits the relationship.
- Don’t choose a well-known supervisor just because you think they will raise your profile in the coaching community. If this is your motivation look for a mentor.
- Don’t work with a supervisor who doesn’t engage in regular reflective practice with a supervisor themselves.
Credit:
Extract from ‘How do you find a supervisor?’, Association for Coaching Member Guide, by Michelle Lucas.
A little bit about me
I am a qualified Coaching Supervisor, having completed Oxford Brookes University’s Professional Certificate of Advanced Study in Coaching Supervision. Since completing my original coach specific training through the Institute of Executive and Leadership Coaching (IECL), I have been engaged in continuous professional development to expand my knowledge of coaching theory and practice. I hold the ICF credential of Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and I am an ICF registered Mentor Coach. I am also accredited as a Professional Executive Coach with the Association for Coaching.
I am an experienced executive and leadership coach with more than 1000 hours of coaching experience. I work as an Associate Coach with several Australian and global coaching organisations and I am a member of many coaching panels, coaching people at all levels and from a range of backgrounds across Australasia. I have worked as an internal and external coach and I am involved in delivering ICF accredited coach training programs.
Prior to becoming a coach I held senior leadership roles in the higher education sector, mentoring and supervising individuals and teams over several decades. I now delight in mentoring and supervising other coaches, and leaders who have undertaken coach training.
Definitions of Coaching Supervision
In her book An Existential and Phenomenological Approach to Coaching Supervision, Monica Hanaway (2021) writes:
The verb to ‘supervise’ has its origins in the Latin ‘supervidere’. In business it is usually linked with hierarchy and it sits within a management function. The word comprises of two parts: ‘super’ meaning ‘over’ or ‘from above’, and ‘videre’ meaning ‘to see’. In supervising something you are generally overseeing a project, or the people working on it; this may include assessing what needs to be done, assigning the work, and making sure it gets done to a certain standard. In business it is focused on the needs of the organisation.
Other definitions of supervision include:
a place for the coach to reflect on the work they are undertaking, with another more experienced coach. It has the dual purpose of supporting the continued learning and development of the coach, as well as giving a degree of protection to the person being coached. (Bluckert, 2004)
a structured formal process for coaches, with the help of a coaching supervisor, to attend to improving the quality of their coaching, grow their coaching capacity and support themselves and their practice. (Hawkins & Schwenk, 2007)
is the interaction that occurs when a coach periodically brings his or her coaching work experiences to a coaching supervisor in order to engage in reflective dialogue and collaborative learning for the development and benefit of the coach and his or her clients. (ICF)
Coaching Supervision for ICF Credential Renewal
The purpose of coaching supervision is to generate coach insights through guided reflective enquiry that will improve the quality of your coaching; and hence expand your coaching capability and confidence.
For this reason, the ICF allow you to count up to 10 hours of Coaching Supervision toward the 40 hours of Continuing Coach Education (CCE) you require for credential renewal.
Further information about Continuing Professional Development (CPD) – including information about what can be counted as Core Competencies and what is counted as Resource Development – is available on the ICF website.
Please check the ICF website for up-to-date information.
Testimonials from coaches I have supervised…
“Thank you so much for today’s session. Always delighted! and everytime I feel like I learn more and more and gain more and broader perspectives about what a professional coach should be. It gives me space to grow not only as coach but also as an individual. THANK YOU!”
Rini, ACC, Jakarta
“As my coach supervisor she has been supportive and challenging at the same time. She gives me a safe space to reflect and look at my growth areas with kindness. She also offers much needed guidance and suggestions from her experience and referring to coaching frameworks. Working with her allows me to reflect on my coaching with kindness and my learning journey with optimism. Julie also provides an amazing space of companionship where just hearing “I’ve been there too, this is normal and I’m here for you” has been so important for me.”
Lucy, ACC, Brisbane
