When I think about supervision in coaching I have the impression that everything or almost everything has already been said about it, while not everything seems to have been heard. I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that what can still be done in this matter is to set a good example, use supervision on a daily basis and talk about it loudly, show in practice how an essential and indispensable part of professional coaching is a conversation with an experienced coach.
Because what is supervision really if not a conversation about our own doubts that we encounter in our coaching work? Meeting another person, accompanying him in his development, we experience multiple dilemmas. Sometimes purely instrumental, technical, sometimes we fail to understand the process our client is in, sometimes conducting the development process affects us so much that it is a huge challenge for us, and sometimes we simply don’t cope, feel powerless or observe the ineffectiveness of our methods.
Then there are the ethical issues, which often require careful analysis and a conversation with someone with clearly more experience than ours. The work of a coach is fraught with dilemmas, dilemmas and question marks that we carry within us and, most importantly, no one expects us to know the answers to all these questions. Even more importantly, the feeling that I know how to solve all these issues on my own would indicate a misunderstanding of the coaching profession, a lack of self-reflection and an avoidance of my own development.
I am fortunate and privileged to work in an environment where supervision is a natural need. In the team we have not only experienced accredited coaches, but also coaching teachers and international ICF examiners. All this is why, caring for the quality of our coaching, we have developed the habit of supervision. And both the individual one and the group one, i.e. intervision meetings, where we look at the dilemmas brought together. In coaching, we often say “deal with what you have influence over.”
Putting this rule into action, we teach the habit of supervision in our Academy.
Our students have been supervising themselves since the beginning of their education. First “taming” this type of work and development in individual sessions with an experienced tutor, in a further stage of learning by sending your sessions to a Kingmakers supervisor, until the final exam which is a supervised session in the ICF standard. This results not only in the fact that the habit of responsible approach to the profession is built, but also the development of skills, competence and attitude of the coach is extremely dynamic and the coach himself becomes effective and aware in a faster time.
We are happy to see this process later when our Alumni join the monthly Kingmakers’ Intervision Groups and we have the opportunity to support, learn and grow together. If we are to talk about ourselves and our experiences then one more aspect is worth mentioning. We teach business coaching at Kingmakers Academy and provide coaching mainly in business.
We are observing with surprise and joy the dynamically growing awareness on the part of business clients of what the effectiveness of coaching comes from. Increasingly, clients are asking not only about a coach’s experience, his or her level of accreditation, but it has also happened to us on several occasions that our coaches have been asked if they subject their craft to supervision.
We are certainly at a moment of professionalization of our profession and growing awareness of its users. What I think is worth hearing not only from supervisors, ICF, Chamber of Coaching, EMCC but also from our clients is that they value coaching that is strong, wise, ethical and professional. And when I get a question from people who trusted me and chose me as their change companion I will answer them with a smile: #I’mreliable #mamsupervisor #mamsupervision.
As Kingmakers and Kingmakers Academy, we would like to initiate a campaign to spread the word about what professional coaching and regular supervision is. We encourage our coaches and the industry as a whole to write about how you are growing as a coach, how often you have supervisions, and to take and share photos of your placards with the hashtag: #isemreliable #isemreliable #mamsupervisor #mamsupervision.
Together let’s build an image of strong coaching and reliable coaching.
