That “something” is often a blind spot.

Blind spots aren’t flaws. They’re the natural by-product of being human, experienced, and emotionally involved in relational work. Coaching supervision exists, in part, to help us notice what’s invisible from the inside.

This article explores what blind spots are, how they show up in coaching practice, and how supervision can work with them in a grounded, non-judgemental way.

What do we mean by “blind spots” in coaching?

In supervision, blind spots usually refer to unconscious patterns, assumptions, values, emotional triggers, and habits that shape how we work with clients without us being fully aware of them.

They might include:

• Recurring interpretations of clients’ issues
• Strong emotional reactions to particular clients or topics
• Unexamined values about “good coaching”
• Patterns of rescuing, colluding, avoiding, or over-challenging
• Assumptions shaped by culture, identity, or organisational norms

Blind spots aren’t about incompetence. They’re about proximity. You are inside your own thinking, history, and emotional responses. Some things are simply easier for another person to notice.

Why blind spots are so hard to see

From the inside, your judgements feel reasonable, thoughtful, and grounded. That’s because much of your sense-making is driven by:

• Heuristics – mental shortcuts shaped by experience
• Emotion – liking, irritation, protectiveness, urgency
• Values – what you believe is helpful, ethical, or growth-oriented
• Introspection – your felt sense of intention (“I meant well, so I wasn’t biased”)

This is why blind spots don’t feel like blind spots. They feel like insight.

Supervision adds an external perspective that can gently widen the picture:

“This might be one way of seeing it;  what else could be going on?”

How blind spots show up in everyday coaching

Blind spots often appear through patterns, not one-off moments. For example:

• You repeatedly feel responsible for certain clients’ outcomes
• You notice frustration with clients who avoid conflict
• You soften challenge with clients you like and intensify it with those who trigger you
• You avoid bringing particular clients or themes to supervision

None of these are “wrong”. They’re signals. They’re information about how your internal world meets the coaching relationship.

The role of supervision: not fixing, but seeing

The purpose of supervision isn’t to correct you. It’s to expand your field of awareness so you can choose your responses more consciously.

Supervision helps by:

• Slowing down fast sense-making
• Noticing patterns across your client work
• Naming emotional and relational dynamics
• Bringing in multiple perspectives
• Exploring how context, power, and culture may be shaping the work

In this sense, supervision is less about answers and more about widening the lens.

Working with blind spots without getting defensive

Blind spot work can feel exposing. A helpful stance (for both supervisor and supervisee) is:

Curious, not critical.
Exploratory, not evaluative.

Useful reframes:

• Blind spots are the shadow side of your strengths
• Your experience gives you pattern-recognition and potential rigidity
• Emotional responses are data, not evidence of failure
• Being influenced doesn’t make you unethical, being unaware of influence is the risk

When blind spot work feels safe, it becomes developmental rather than threatening.

Practical supervision prompts

These questions can help surface blind spots gently and usefully:

To explore assumptions

• What story am I telling myself about this client? What other stories could fit the same facts?
• What am I assuming is “typical” here?

To explore emotion

• What do I feel towards this client, and how might that be shaping my choices?
• Where do I notice energy, irritation, or protectiveness in myself?

To explore patterns

• Where does this client feel familiar to me?
• What themes recur across the clients I bring to supervision?

To widen perspective

• If another coach observed this session, what might they notice that I’m missing?
• What might I be underweighting or overweighting in my interpretation?

A simple supervision exercise: “Three lenses”

Bring a short client vignette to supervision and explore it through three lenses:

1. Your lens
   What you think is happening. Your interpretation. Your emotional response.
2. An alternative lens
   How else might this be understood? What different hypotheses could fit?
3. The systemic lens
   What might context, power, culture, role, or organisational dynamics be contributing?

This exercise often reveals how quickly we settle on one “true” story, and how much choice opens up when we hold that story more lightly.

Ethical practice lives in awareness, not perfection

Ethical coaching isn’t about being bias-free or blind-spot-free. That’s not realistic.
It’s about being in relationship with your limitations:

• Willing to notice patterns
• Willing to be influenced by supervision
• Willing to revisit your assumptions
• Willing to sit with uncertainty

Blind spots become risky when they’re unexamined.
They become developmental when they’re explored.

In closing

Your blind spots are not a problem to eliminate. They’re an invitation to deepen your practice.

Supervision doesn’t make you “better” by fixing you.
It makes you more spacious; more able to see, choose, and respond with intention.

And in relational work, that extra degree of awareness can change everything.

Executive Coach and Coach Supervisor Ian Coxan specialises in helping professionals navigate workplace challenges by transforming struggles into opportunities for growth. Through tailored coaching and practical strategies, Ian equips you with the tools to communicate effectively, manage conflict with ease, and thrive in any professional environment.