This is a question that is often posed when I am tutoring on the coaching certificate at Henley so I thought I would check in with what the thinking was.
I was met with diverse perspectives, and vague and ambiguous guidelines.
A spread from not prescribing supervision but recommending it (ICF) to requiring supervision at a “frequency appropriate to experience, client load, and complexity of work” (AC and EMCC); and then more specific guidance e.g. 1 hour supervision for every 20 hours of coaching (Clutterbuck) or 1 hour of supervision for every 30-35 hours of coaching (Lewis).
I suspect that none of this is very reassuring or helpful to someone new in establishing a coaching practice. Therefore, maybe the starting point is rather than thinking about how often, to instead think about why engage in supervision and why it is important to coaching practice?
One of the roles of supervision is to provide the coach with the space to reflect on how they are engaging with the ethical codes of practice, and to provide the time to explore ethical dilemmas occurring in our work. If we expand this ethical lens a little further surely it is our ethical duty to engage in supervision – after all, what right do we have to expect our clients to show up and do some work if we are not first prepared to put our practice under the microscope and do our own work? I have always valued (whilst not always liking) Robin Shohet’s question – “what are you not bringing to supervision?”
This is the space for us to face into our practice and really think about how we are showing up as coach. So, in thinking about frequency of supervision an initial question to pose might be “how often do you expect your clients to enter your coaching room?” Your response may give you some guidance as to how often you might engage in self-work, of which supervision would be a key approach.
As I have written about previously, supervision is a dedicated and focussed time, which we have committed to where we can truly think about who we are as a coach and our client work. Reflecting on my own development I know that coaching supervision has been the most valuable in developing me as a coach both in terms of my professional approach (through tackling client dilemmas) and my authenticity as to who I am as a coach, and who I am becoming.
Coaching can be lonely, and we can be left holding some “heavy stuff” and therefore supervision can enable us to process “what we are left with” but also provide us with support and maybe in a group, a sense of community.
Whilst I was initially intimidated by the concept of coaching supervision when I started coaching, I now cannot imagine not having it and I know without it I would soon not be fit to practice. I recently took part in a panel conversation about supervision and was asked “how can we convince coaches to attend supervision?”
Firstly, coach educators must ensure they role model supervision and the power of it in any coach training programmes, where coaches in training are provided with frequent supervision, by suitably experienced supervisors, in small groups. A poor experience during coach training will inevitably lead to disengagement. Then as supervisors how might we invite and show those new to supervision it’s value?
In summary, when thinking about frequency and attending supervision you may wish to ask yourself:
Julia Carden is an Executive Coach and Coach Supervisor. Alongside Julia’s coaching and supervision practice she is a visiting tutor at Henley Business School teaching on the Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching, MSc in Executive Coaching and Behavioural Change and heads up the Professional Certificate in Coaching Supervision.
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Coaching & Supervising for insight & change through Self-Awareness.