Coaching supervision     I believe that coaching supervision is essential for executive coaches today. Working in a co-created learning relationship which is safe, coaches are able to talk openly about their work and reflect on it. They can receive feedback and guidance. It's here that they can develop ethical competence, which in turn enables them to practise safely and confidently with their clients.       > See some of the workshops I have developed and facilitated in the field of coaching supervision My role as coaching supervisor encompasses all aspects of the coaching relationship. Since I continue to work as a coach myself, my coaching supervision is grounded in the issues and realities of executive coaching. I offer individual and group supervision, encompassing five key areas... > Creating the coaching contract, both with the individual and the organisation > Managing the coaching process and relationship with the coachee > Developing professional coaching skills > Ensuring the emotional safety and wellbeing of both coach and coachee > Facilitating ongoing learning and development Coaching supervision is concerned with making sure the executive coach is practising effectively. It is about protecting the coach and their client – the safety and wellbeing of them both is a fundamental issue. I like to take a holistic approach, looking at the client-coach relationship, the coach-supervisor relationship, and the bigger corporate system in which the coach is practising. You may be having highly charged or emotional exchanges with your client, so we would explore why that is happening. Is it because of your own history? Is it because anyone would have that response to them? Is it because your client's behaviour to their staff reminds you of someone who did the same thing to you in the past? We would also explore how you are managing your reactions and the interventions you are making, and ask whether you are delivering an effective service as a coach to your client. Or you might come to me for supervision and always talk about your clients, or you might only bring certain types of clients, or you might only talk about the same client in your portfolio. My role as coaching supervisor is to highlight the patterns of what you bring, open up what happens between you and me, give you feedback about my experience of working with you, and help us both look at what's going on in the whole system of which we are part. An important aspect of the supervision process is that we have a parallel relationship as you're managing and running a coaching contract. You come to me consistently throughout the contract and we talk about how it's going, what you're doing, what your contact person is doing, what are the issues, and how the experience is for you. My role as supervisor is to help you see what is coming from you, and what is coming from the organisation. Often what happens is that you may be feeling anxious, fearful, agitated or angry, and it's actually not your feelings, it's what is going on in the organisation, which you have picked it up. Helping you separate it is an important part of "staying clean" in the relationship. Because I have nothing to do with your client, I can help bring you objectivity to identify the issues, and to decide the best courses of action to take. Once you start working with your client, as objective as you might strive to be, you are inevitably a part of their system. A key aspect of supervision is what is known as the parallel process. This is thought to happen in two ways. Firstly, it might be that what you experience as an external practitioner, going into an organisation and working on with your coachees, is an indicator of what is going on in the organisation. Looking at how the organisation interacts with you helps you diagnose some of the individual issues that you may meet in the coaching relationship. The second aspect of the parallel process is what happens between you and me. My role as supervisor is to notice and highlight what is happening between you and me – for example, when you are angry or anxious, easy or relaxed – and how this may be a symptom of what is happening between you and the client. These parallel processes provide vital clues about what is happening in the organisation, and enable you to operate in safety and in a creative and productive way. Our aim is to co-create a working alliance and collaborative learning relationship in which we constantly explore those skills and qualities in your practice that are effective. We also explore how you might adapt your approach when your interventions may not appear to make a difference. At the same time, through our dialogue and inquiry, we discover new understanding and appreciation for individuals' capacity and readiness for change. The coaching supervision relationship is also an opportunity to "rest in the not-knowing", and be supported and supportive when we or our clients appear to be "stuck". Note: Coach/mentor supervision is an emerging field and there is no one, universal set of standards or code of ethics either for coaches or coach supervisors. However, all the major coaching associations in the UK are defining standards of practice and encouraging individual accreditation to ensure that we practise professionally and ethically.  Coaching supervision is becoming an increasingly acknowledged essential. Please click here to read about my commitment to ethics, standards and evaluation. Also see here some of the workshops I have developed and facilitated in the field of coaching supervision.       Click here to view a video interview with Alison. "Sitting in the supervisee's chair can inform you about how your client may be experiencing you..." Video also available in Real Player and Quicktime format.       © Alison Hodge 2009 Tel: 020 8995 5485