June 7, 2023
Supervision Explained – Breaking Through Myths and Misunderstandings
By Ken Giglio, Principal of Mindful Leadership
Coaching supervision is still relatively new to the coaching field, particularly in the Americas, and unknown to many coaches as an option to support their coaching practice. Among the questions I am asked most frequently as a certified coaching supervisor and faculty member for the Coaching Supervision Academy (CSA) are – what is coaching supervision? and how does supervision differ from coaching? A question that often follows is – how does supervision differ from mentor coaching?
Below are some of the ways I have answered these questions and others in training sessions and during presentations and demonstrations I have given to coaching audiences around the world.
It is important to note for us to truly understand anything, including supervision, we need to experience it. We learn to swim from being in the water. Reading books and watching videos can provide an introduction. However, supervision comes to life in session, in the reflective spaces between the supervisors and supervisees.
Supervision is a reflective dialogue.
The top coaching professional bodies all have definitions of supervision that highlight reflection—see the resources below. Reflective practice is what happens in supervision sessions, whether it is in groups or one-to-one. A supervisor partners with a supervisee as a co-equal colleague, guiding a process of examining a coach’s coaching work to build awareness and gain insights. Supervision does not mean supervising in the traditional definition of overseeing work and performance. Supervision (sometimes spelled Super-Vision) is about viewing coaching engagements as if from a balcony, so we can see the entirety of the coaching and all it encompasses—ourselves as coaches, our clients, and the systems (enterprises) in which they operate.
Unlike coaching, which is goal-oriented, supervision’s lane is reflection. And, unlike mentor coaching, which is focused on competence building and certification readiness, supervision is about building a coach’s capacity to be present with coaching clients. In other words, supervision enhances coach presence. Supervision evokes reflection in coaches so they can deepen and broaden their awareness of what is going on with their coaching work. Coaches working with leaders, teams, and groups are immersed in complex, evolving organizational systems.
Coaching Supervision creates the reflective and relational space for coaches to look through three lenses to learn and develop from a systems perspective in service of their clients and organizations. This means being attentive and present with the leaders we coach and reflecting on our work through these three lenses: Self (How is my coaching client’s situation affecting me?), Others (What is the quality of my client relationship and my relationship to the client organization?), and the System (What is happening within the system/s the client operates in, and what effects are being felt by the client?). I call the above approach to supervision the Tri-Lens Coaching Supervision Model™.
Supervision has its own competency model.
Supervision has its own competency model (see the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) guidebook), which is distinct from coaching and mentor coaching competency models—see the International Coach Federation’s (ICF) competency models.
Another way supervision is differentiated from coaching and mentor coaching is through its purpose, which is delineated in its Three Functions:
- Resourcing: Focus on increasing capability to work from ‘source’ versus effort to build resilience and resourcefulness. (well-being)
- Developmental: Focus on personal professional development; harvest learning and build capacity from what coaching practice presents.
- Qualitative: Focus on increasing the quality of the coaching work; attention to ethics, boundaries, and contracting.
Coaching Supervision Resources
As a member of the EMCC’s Center for Excellence for Supervision, I have had the honor of working with coaching supervisors from around the world to develop the EMCC Supervision Guidelines, which includes comprehensive resources such as a revised definition of supervision and a supervision competency model.
Among global professional coaching bodies, the ICF does not currently require its members to receive coaching supervision, whereas EMCC Global believes experienced practitioners require a minimum of four hours individual supervision per year, evenly distributed across twelve months. (Team Coaching is an exception; see the ICF website.) The ICF does present a position on supervision and encourages and supports it as a part of the organization’s development hour recertification process.
During the past five years, I have given numerous presentations on supervision, sometimes with colleagues and many with my friend and fellow CSA faculty colleague, Lynne DeLay. A version of one of our presentations will provide you with additional resources on the why, what, and how of supervision and includes visual representations of the Tri-Lens Model and of the differences and overlaps between coaching, mentor coaching, and supervision.
Finally, a metaphor offered by CSA: Supervision is like a walk in the garden, with the supervisor walking next to the supervisee coach at a pace that evokes reflection and learning. As they walk and share thoughts and feelings about the coaching work they ask—What are we noticing? What are we sensing in our bodies and in our surroundings?
Coaching Supervision is the least known and least understood aspect of the coaching field. It is also currently the least accessed by coaches, though this situation is slowly changing and use of it is increasing as the word gets out about the benefits of coaching supervision.
To my mind, if we are actively coaching others, as either a professional coach or a designated leader coach, we will best serve our clients if we have some form of supervision. It is our professional responsibility to reflect on our coaching work in dialogue with an accredited supervisor.
To learn more about Coaching Supervision and to experience it firsthand, please join my colleague, Lynne DeLay, and me on June 14th for a webinar presented through ICF Philadelphia. We are also hosting an open supervision group on June 15th.
And, if you are a certified coach, internal or external, who is looking for supervision to support your coaching practice, please feel free to contact me directly to discuss our customized offerings.