Coaching Supervision
You already know why supervision matters – the ethics, the professionalism, the ongoing development, the reassurance for clients. But you need more. You need a space where you can lower your guard, admit what’s messy, and say the things you’d never say in the coaching forums. Support that steadies you; challenge that sharpens you. Someone willing to poke the untidy edges of those half‑formed thoughts and say, “go on – one step further.”
A lot of coaches struggle to articulate what they really want from supervision. Not because they don’t know, but because admitting it feels risky. There’s that unease that if you let the mask slip - if the irritation, the doubt, the boredom, the envy and the frustration actually make it into the conversation - the supervisor will blink, draw breath, and maybe decide you’re not quite the coach you appear to be. And the part of you that needs to have that conversation never quite gets heard.
It’s no surprise that so many coaches drift away from regular supervision: time, cost, finding someone who fits – and underneath it all, that quiet sense that you’re performing the role of “the coach” instead of exploring what kind of practitioner you really are. You’ve worked with supervisors who listened well, asked good questions and held the group expertly. And still, you never quite let yourself go all the way in.
I’ve tried to create the home that I would want for my work to be seen, the place where I could be me. If you want a different kind of supervision – one that brings irreverence to serious questions, that challenges without apology because that’s what you asked for, that’s willing to get things wrong in real time because that’s where real learning sits – then you’ll feel at home here.
Messy. Spiky. Inquisitive. Mischievous.
If that sounds interesting, then let’s work at the edge.
The process
Supervision works best when the fit is right — not perfect, just real. Before we begin, we’ll have a short online conversation where I’ll share how I think about supervision and you can get a sense of whether this is a space where you can bring your whole self, not the polished version. Together we’ll explore what matters for your practice, what doesn’t, and what work you actually want to be doing. I don’t believe in supervising you as a coach – we’ll be working together to unpack and develop all the facets of you and your work.
The place I would want to bring my work to doesn’t separate different areas of supervision – the work isn’t clean and to pretend otherwise is performative. I don’t do performance and I don’t do platitudes. What I am interested in doing is understanding why you bring certain things to supervision – the little irritation from a CPD workshop that you can’t let go; the feeling of the invisible policeman waiting to catch you in the misdemeanour of offering advice; the nag that you should know the tools “better”, whatever that means.
Drawing links between the different areas that come up helps to highlight the underlying themes that inform your coaching, and how you think about your practice as a whole – because that’s the most important thing for how you are with your clients. Not what name you give the work, but how you are when you’re in it. How do we break down the barriers and free you to do more of that? Sometimes this needs specific exploration of a particular tool, technique or skill; sometimes it’s a deep dive into an ethical dilemma; sometimes a seemingly rambling metaphor-driven journey that surfaces a deeper truth that you’ve been circling. Structure in the relationship, freedom in the moment.
I tend to work over an agreed period of time – most of my supervision relationships are in the order of years, not weeks. That longer-term engagement means that we get to know each other better, build the trust that allows deep challenge, and really learn from each other. The cadence and session structure is up to you – people need different things at different phases of their coaching depending on other commitments, how much you are coaching, or the goals you are after. I mostly work online, but in-person is excellent if you are near South Oxfordshire; 60-90 minutes is a common length of session, but some things need longer – we set the pattern to suit your needs, not mine.
This work can be done individually or as a group – some people do one, some do the other and some do both. Individual supervision allows us to go deep on what matters to you personally; group supervision adds different perspectives, challenge and friction. Supervision groups remain the same once they are formed to allow the camaraderie and trust to build, and for you to learn each other’s strengths. Whichever you choose you’ll find the same rawness, honesty, messiness and occasional spikiness, all wrapped in irreverent humour. We do important work with people and each other, but doing serious work doesn’t mean we have to take ourselves too seriously.
FAQs
What is the difference between supervision and coach mentoring?
Like so many of the irritating answers that you get in coaching - it depends! This time it depends on who you ask though. Coach mentoring is an ICF-specific element that is mandated as part of their re-accreditation process and involves evaluation and development of your coaching skills. All good supervision should do that anyway, but that isn't always the case. Supervision should include the development of your coaching skills (a la coach mentoring) but also cover ethics, your wellbeing and aspects of the business.
Is coaching supervision required for accreditation?
For EMCC accreditation you are required to engage in ongoing supervision, a minimum of one session every 35 hours for coaching with a minimum cadence of one every 3 months. For ICF ACC, PCC or MCC supervision is not a requirement although it is now strongly encouraged. IF you want to apply for the Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC) then you will need 5 hours of team coaching focused supervision. For AC accreditation the requirement varies depending on the level that you are accredited at but beyond foundation level is either a 1:15 or 1:30 ratio for hours, and a minimum of 6 sessions in a 12 month period.
How often should I have supervision?
This mainly depends on two things – how much are you coaching at the moment (how many hours per month) and what are your aims for supervision more broadly? Either way, most professional bodies (and professional coaches) would recommend at least once every 2 months as a minimum requirement. Experts such as David Clutterbuck recommend one supervision session every 20 hours of coaching, but the complexity of the cases, the context of the work (internal vs external; team vs individual) will significantly affect the requirement as well. Finally, if you have a specific development goal in mind you may opt for more frequent sessions as you embed the new learning, easing back off to the more “normal” cadence later. When considering the cadence that works for you, consider the points above as well as the elements that are restricting you from going more frequently.
Who am I?
I didn't come to supervision through the usual route. I came through twenty years of developing and supervising military flying instructors — work that demands that you learn to challenge clearly, hold pressure lightly, and give people room to find their own limits with enough honesty to tell them when they've missed it. That's the lens I bring to coaching supervision.
That background shows up in how I supervise coaches. I'm direct. I'm comfortable with discomfort. I'd rather sit with a genuinely difficult question than move past it politely. And I've learned that the feedback which changes practice is rarely the feedback that feels good in the moment — it's the kind that won't let you go afterwards.
I hold ICF and EMCC accreditation and supervise both internal and external coaches, individually and in small groups. But credentials tell you I'm qualified. They don't tell you whether you'll trust me with the messy stuff. That's what the first conversation is for.
