Recently, I had the pleasure of completing an ICF-accredited Certification in Coaching Supervision. This journey was guided by the incredibly talented Mike Clarke and Judith Underhill, who expertly led me through the practical, reflective, and academic aspects necessary to ensure best practices in Coaching Supervision.
Now, you might be wondering, why, at the age of 62, did I decide to embark on this path? The answer, as it often is in life, is multifaceted:
- Coaching Supervision as a Best Practice: Today, more than ever, Coaching Supervision is recognised as a crucial component of good practice for coaches. It’s not just about helping others; it’s about ensuring that, as coaches, we are also supported.
- A Release for Coaches: Coaching can be challenging, and it’s important for professional coaches to have an outlet for the pressures they encounter while guiding their clients. Supervision offers that much-needed space.
- Revisiting Techniques: Supervision is an opportunity to revisit and refine techniques. In a supportive, learning-oriented group, we can see how we apply these methods in our practice and how others are integrating them into theirs.
- Supporting Our Business: I undertook this qualification to better support the coaches we work with in our business, ultimately benefiting our clients.
- Offering Supervision as a Service: For our clients who have internal coaching networks and practitioners, being able to offer Supervision as a service is invaluable.
- Personal Growth: Revisiting my own supervision allowed me to understand the benefits and challenges from a refreshed perspective. It also reaffirmed my belief in the Learning Triangle™ – a concept that encourages continuous growth and learning in both coaches and their clients.
- Practicing What I Preach: To truly live by the principles I advocate, I realised I needed to continue expanding my knowledge and refining my behaviours. This certification was a step in that direction.
And, as with anything in life, there are always more reasons!
In the spirit of sharing and connecting with fellow coaches and those considering coaching, I’ve decided to present some of the work I completed during this course. I haven’t edited these reflections, as I believe the “raw” nature of these insights may provide a more genuine understanding of why people coach and what they aim to achieve through their practice.
So, stay tuned for a short series of articles where I’ll delve deeper into the world of Coaching Supervision, offering tools and reflections that I hope will resonate with you as much as they have with me.
