Do I need a coach supervisor?

Do I need a coach supervisor?

Yes, yes, yes! If your clients keep you awake at night and you find you are getting emotionally involved, if you are concerned about consistently meeting professional coaching standards, if you need ongoing professional development, if you need guided reflection, if you want to get deeper insights into your practice and your clients in order to be the best coach you can possibly be…and much more.

All professionals are supervised in their practice. If we are really serious about our standards then this is not an option. The 2009 CIPD Report “Coaching Supervision Maximising the Potential of Coaching” stated that “Coaches see the main benefits of supervision as developing coaching capability (88%) and assuring the quality of their coaching (86%).”

Do you know what referral means, how to notice the clues that mean you should be considering referral and then who to go to? Are you absolutely convinced that your ethical and boundary management is all that is should be?

All this and more is covered in supervision which is a thinking partnership between two professionals. It is not co-coaching.

When choosing a supervisor ensure you have one who is qualified, who understands your needs and can hold the mirror up to your practice. You should be able to discuss anything with him/her that may be affecting your coaching work. S/he should contract with you, agree objectives and agendas for sessions and carry out regular reviews. Some coaches use multiple supervisors for differing aspects, others may have mentors as well.

You then need to keep notes and reflect and a journal can help you to organise your reflections.

We are so committed to supervision that at The Performance Solution we have reduced the cost to £75 per hour plus VAT to ensure that even those coaches starting out can afford and commit to it. We have a cohort of qualified supervisors available.

If you are not in supervision – what’s the real reason and how do you justify ‘going it alone’?

By the way, this applies equally to NLPers!