THE COACH

There are similarities in skill set between a coach and supervisor. Similarly, the supervisor is usually working with the coach to explore their thinking and generate their own insights.

However, the supervisor may also use interventions in a different way to those used in coaching. The supervisor's role requires the capacity to take appropriate authority, and to support the quality and standards of the services that the coach is practicing. Therefore, a supervisor may be more directive, informing or prescriptive than a coach would be.

Supervision is for coaches and other practitioners at all stages of their development.

The focus and nature of supervision may change depending on the experience, level of skill or specialism of the coach, but the need for supervision does not diminish with experience as a coach.

We all have blind spots, and we all have the capacity to be caught up in the moment with our clients. Therefore, having an unbiased qualified person to chat various issues or concerns with, is imperative. It helps the coach to keep their own perspective and to continually grow, observe best practice, and celebrate successes.

We all have the capacity to get caught up in unconscious “stuff” whether we are working as coaches or therapists, and we all have blind spots.

Supervision is about developing us as professionals as well as helping us to work more effectively, confidently, and professionally.

Though the type of work we do as coaches differs in quality, scope, and depth from psychotherapy, for instance, everyone has vulnerabilities.

People going through significant transitions, supported by any helping professional, need to be able to feel supported and 'held' in that relationship, and that requires that the practitioner themselves is held in an appropriate supporting and challenging relationship with their supervisor.

Peer supervision can be a valuable part of a support network for practice as a coach or other helping professional.

There is a need to make sure that the relationship is appropriately contracted, and that supervision is structured and boundaried.

A “chat back at the office” does not constitute appropriate supervision and is inappropriate and potentially unethical.

As dual relationships often occur in organisations, it is important to be clear about situations when the relationship is or could be compromised.

Working with a supervisor is a personal thing. Like coaching, the relationship is fundamental - there must be trust and a capacity to challenge on both sides.

It can be useful to have a detailed discussion and/or a trial session before choosing to work with a supervisor.

You should check that a potential supervisor is suitably experienced and has a robust qualification or accreditation in supervision. All supervisors that are part of the Supervision Collective, are all suitably qualified.

This partly depends on how much coaching you are doing and also your experience as a coach. A rough rule of thumb is to access supervision at least every 4-8 weeks. If you have more client work, you may want to have supervision more often, though it isn't necessary to bring all of your client work to supervision. Supervision should be a planned activity, not for dealing with ad hoc crises in your work, though being pro-active if there is a difficult client issue to address is also important.

We have noticed many coaches don’t know what supervision is or how they could benefit from it. And some may think they do not need it. Also, because some coaches are unsure and associate supervision with being overseen, monitored or policed.

They may assume they know everything they need to or worry that they would be seen to be somewhat sub standard in some way. However, when they research supervision further, they soon discover the opposite is true. 

It is often the more experienced and more competent coaches and those seeking to become experienced and competent, who are the ones embracing supervision to further their personal and professional development, as well as to enhance their business. They also discover that a growing number of organisations won’t even consider a coach, unless they are in supervision.

The only real way of finding out what it is and experiencing the benefits is to try it out.

We can learn from the counselling industry, where supervision is widely considered essential for a practitioners sustained development and the experience of their client.