For those of us who have been developing the practice of coaching supervision for many years now, it was encouraging that ICF has recently announced its support for coaching supervision and its awareness of the difference between mentoring and supervision.
ICF defines Coaching Supervision as follows:
“Coaching Supervision is the interaction that occurs when a coach periodically brings his or her coaching work experiences to a coaching supervisor in order to engage in reflective dialogue and collaborative learning for the development and benefit of the coach and his or her clients.
Coaching Supervision is distinct from Mentor Coaching for Credentialing. Mentor Coaching focuses on the development of coaching skills mainly in the context of initial development. Coaching Supervision offers the coach a richer and broader opportunity for support and development. In Coaching Supervision, the coach is invited to focus much more on what is going on in their process and where the personal may be intruding on the professional. “
This is great news as it means that many more coaches will be encouraged to benefit from this fabulous form of CPD. Of course, I’d say that, I’ve been training executive coaches to be coach supervisors for 7 years! However, it pleases me each time a new training programme begins and we – the CSA training team – see happy faces leaving the training room.
Just last week, I was in Avignon to begin our first coach supervision programme in France and it was such a joy to see the positive responses to a rich 3 days where delegates learned new maps and models, took their first not-so-tentative steps in practise triads, watched supervision demos, and enjoyed creative explorations of advanced dialogue process, reflective practice and even used sections of ‘The King’s Speech’ to hone supervisory skills.
Our profession deepens and opens easily to new learning – no wonder we enjoy what we do!
Edna Murdoch 2012
Edna Murdoch October. 2012
