Executive Development
Coach supervision is crucial for professional coaches, ensuring they maintain a balanced and ethical perspective on their clients. The supervision process allows coaches to reflect on their practice and consult with a more experienced coach when facing client challenges. A coach’s role is primarily as a sounding board rather than projecting themselves an expert in the client’s issues. Coaches are not consultants, and maintaining that wall of objectivity with clients requires an ongoing effort to manage personal judgments and opinions about their experiences and decisions. For an experienced coach working with long-standing clients, it is difficult to avoid the question, “What would you do? Or “What do you think I should do? These are the traps that an experienced supervisor and coach would work through.
A coach’s perspective, while based on solid experience, enters the realm of consulting when the conversation shifts from what the client is thinking to what the coach is thinking. It’s a fine line, yet every opportunity a client presents to shift gears into “tell” mode gives the coach further practice in turning their question into a question for them. (Such as, “What I think is less important than what you think. Which way are you leaning?”
HOW DOES THE SUPERVISOR WORK?
The role of a supervisor is provide a space to discuss issues that the coach is experiencing in working with clients. Even though most coaches go through a very thorough vetting process, there are times when the chemistry between the coach and the client hits rocky spots. A supervisor can help to parse the issues between the two by listening to recordings of the client sessions to gain insight into the flow of the conversations. Another way to support the coach’s development is to have a supervision session where the supervisor serves as a practice partner to try new angles, questions, or approaches.
There is no substitute for a supervisor listening to recordings of the coach-client sessions. It provides instant insight into the experience level of the coach, the sophistication in handling a session, and the types of questions the coach is using. After listening to several recordings, the supervisor can provide feedback on the style, approach, level of sophistication in question design, and other aspects of ethical and experienced coaching practices.
A coach is responsible for asking insightful questions that encourage clients to develop strategies for addressing problems and identifying opportunities for themselves. The coach’s job is to unearth the issues that are standing in the way of the client using their intuition, expertise, and experience to decide for themselves. If we get in the way of that, we truncate the development process for the client. Ultimately, we want to build the internal Q&A process inside the client so they can build confidence in their own decisions. In my experience, I’ve had clients tell me that when they are getting into a difficult situation, they will call on their “internal coach” to help them. And yes. Some clients say, “I listen for the voice of Dr. K in my head!”
There are times when a client tests one of their decisions on a coach. You are sophisticated enough to notice that. If the coach is unaware of the client’s finesse, the supervisor can provide the tools for dealing with this. Ultimately, turning these situations back around to the client provides that client with more respect for you, as they know it is not your job to tell them which decision is better.
Coaching is about creating a supportive space for clients to make decisions and do the necessary work. When a coach hires a supervisor, the supervisor assists the coach in recognizing when they may stray from this purpose. Doing that is unique to the contractual and working relationships between the coach and the supervisor.
Is Supervision only about the Coach’s skills with clients?
In my supervision practice, I occasionally support a new coach who wants to set up practice before leaving their full-time job. This allows the coach to get comfortable with the systems, practices, and time considerations in running the business. Establishing a business, attracting clients, writing contracts, and billing and receiving payments are the standard operating tools of any business manager. A coach’s supervisor may occasionally support and help with business operations, while a supervisor’s customary role is focused on improving coaching practices.
