What is Coach Supervision?

In a nutshell, coach supervision is reflection on your practice for the purpose of growth.

As coach supervision gains visibility in the US, many people are searching for the definition or for an understanding of what it is and if it would be useful to their practice. Like coaching used to be, coach supervision is difficult to get your head around until you experience it from a quality supervisor. 

Personally, I relate to supervision as more of a “space” than a set of skills. Supervisors are trained to read and inquire about the space that comprises the supervisor, the coach, the coachee and system influences. They are also skilled at reading what begins to take form within the space, called “sensing”. If there is any central skill in supervision, it is the ability to sense changes in the field(s) surrounding that which is already manifested and currently manifesting in each moment. This allows us to “bring to light” that which is needing attendance.

What is the difference between coach supervision and coach mentoring?

There is a lot of confusion between coach supervision and mentoring because there is a certain degree of overlap. Supervisors, as well as mentors, encounter some of the same concerns from coach-clients: ethical issues, competency questions, and debrief of coaching sessions for improvement for example. However, mentoring extends into preparation for credentialing, which requires specific training to speak to and train the competencies and requirements set by the ICF as well as the ability to accurately assess a coach's current competency levels. Supervision extends out into a different direction. Just like a coach mentor’s specialty is credentialing, a coach supervisor’s specialty is developing the coach’s being. The main principle in supervision is “who you are is how you coach”  referring to the coaching space as being an extension and reflection of the coach’s personality, growth mindset and capacity to allow anything to arise in an intentionally co-created space.

Why should I want to be “supervised”?

“Supervision” isn’t the best word to describe the experience of this highly intentional relationship between coach supervisor and coach-client. We have not yet found a better word so until then, this one stands. In the interim we like to call it “Super-Vision” in an attempt to create a built-in explanation. If you think of it as “Super-Vision” or looking at the wider picture, you can get a sense of how supervision supports observing more of what is going on with yourself, with your client and with the relationships you co-create.

In a supervision session, a coach supervisor offers a place of respite - an opportunity for coaches to take a deep breath, put everything into perspective and remember or embody why they became coaches in the first place. Your coaching purpose becomes a guidepost that helps you reconnect and grow the foundation of who you are at the core of your being. Many coaches can recall the central experience in their coaching program - some level of profound personal change - that sent them on the journey toward “becoming coach”. But, once we start working with clients and get into the hustle bustle of life and commitments and problems, we have a tendency to lose track of the central energy that drove us here in the first place. Often, this can be felt as burnout, stuckness, a challenge in accessing depth in sessions, or a desire to level up and uncertainty about how to do so. Alternatively, we might just be experiencing dissatisfaction with something we thought was going to be, or once was, very fulfilling. Having experiences like these is a good reason to engage with a coach supervisor at any level of credentialing.

Putting the spirit back in coaching

Because the coaching profession needs to anchor itself in competencies and be highly “professional” to both be seen as legitimate and to reach people at all levels of development, we tend to leave out some of the more spiritual or mystical aspects of coaching. These aspects, in my experience, are deeply related to our connection with our core being and our core purpose. When we purposefully or even accidently set them aside, we slowly begin to degrade our relationship to our work. This concept really stood out among the 50 coaches I surveyed in 2023, indicating this is more prevalent that we would like to admit. Coach supervision intervenes in this degradation. Supervision allows us to return home to this spiritual core and hang out there for a while with another human that understands us and knows how to elevate the energy, awareness and connection with ourselves, life and each other.

Choosing to be supervised

In my practice, I make the present moment central to our engagement. From here, we can work out anything you have going on either personally or professionally. In the case of supervision, being and sensing is more powerful than questioning. If this aspect of being present, of sensing energy, of reading the moment and of connecting in this way excites you and brings you back “home” to yourself, then my style of coach supervision is right for you. 

Coach supervision can take many functional incarnations, some more economical than others. Group supervision in its many forms is typically the most accessible to all levels of coaches and offers a dynamic interaction that can bring all kinds of revelations into a space. At Secret Sauce Coach Supervision, I offer training on the core essence of being a coach - the present moment- and support each coach’s development through community, connection and customized interactions.

At Secret Sauce, supervision is the manifestation of a space of development rather than development of skills. It is the exploration of the spaces we create together, which not only inform our personal and professional growth, but our ability to fully embody our core self. The embodiment of who we really are, in turn, has a significant impact on our coaching outcomes with clients and on our quality of life. In this way, coach supervision is everything you want and need it to be for your development and your fundamental connection with life.