The Value of Supervision
Supervision is a confidential formal process of professional support. It provides continuing professional and personal development, a way of ensuring quality and effectiveness of the coach’s practice, and a means of providing protection for the coach’s client/s.
The Three main functions of Supervision
Quality Control
All coaches, no matter how experienced, have issues they don’t see, communication they don’t hear, and challenges they don’t communicate. Effective supervision ensures the coach’s work is appropriate and falls within defined ethical standards. It also ensures the coaching is aligned with organisational objectives.
Coach Development
Supervision addresses the skills, understanding and capabilities of the coach through reflection and exploration in order to:
- Understand the client better
- Become more aware of their own reactions and responses to the client
- Examine the dynamics of the coach / client interaction
- Explore other ways of working with this and other similar client situations
Emotional Support
Inevitably, coaches will be affected emotionally by being present and empathic with their coaching clients. To remain effective, coaches need to attend to themselves so they avoid over-identifying with their clients or defending against being further affected.