International Coaching Psychology Review, 4.2, September 2009

Jonathan Passmore & Susan McGoldrick
practice. Coaches expected to feel safe and
comfortable in their supervision environment,
and able to discuss their issues freely
and openly without being judged. Particularly
important was the guarantee of confidentiality
in supervision and a freedom to
discuss important issues.
Supervisors also held expectations of
their coaches. There was an expectation that
coaches should be open to constructive challenge
and open to supervision in general
and be ‘present’ in the supervisory relationship.
One supervisor said that the coach
plays an active and primary role in supervision
and that ‘it is the coach that makes it work’
(S2: 13). The coach has a responsibility in
the supervisors’ eyes to be willing to stand
back and reflect on their practice, reflect on
themselves in the context of the coaching
conversation. In essence the coach needed
to be able to ‘sit in a different seat in the room …
and look at their work from a different angle’
(S2: 16–17).
A second theme was the coach’s attitude
towards supervision. Having a positive attitude
towards supervision was viewed as
important if the coach was to engage in an
open and constructive way. The coaches
reported adopting a proactive attitude
towards their supervision by actively looking
for issues in their coaching.
‘I don’t always bring something- sometimes
there’s nothing that’s cropped up in the month,
but I’m looking for things to bring if you see
what I’m saying.’ (C2: 39–41)
In addition, the coaches saw supervision
as an opportunity to reflect on their practice,
and as a resource with potential benefit for
their practice.
‘… if I’ve got a new client, I’ll be thinking
about using it as an opportunity, so where do
I feel least comfortable with this client, what
can I ask. So I think of supervision as a
resource that I can kind of latch onto and get
what I can out of it.’ (C2: 24–26)
A third influencing factor was the need for
supervision. The coaches in the study highlighted
how the need for supervision at specific
instances contributed to their practice.
Such incidents were often about difficult or
challenging themes within their coaching
work which they were unsure of how to
manage.
‘I went to the person that ran the programme
I was on and asked for a one to one
supervision session, because I just felt that this
was really important and I needed to do
something now.’ (C3: 41–42)
The supervisors also highlighted the need
for supervision, but held the view supervision
should be regular rather than only at
times of need. They highlighted that on
occasions there was value in discussing issues
which were outside of the immediate awareness
of the coach. Two of the supervisors
expressed concern for coaches who only
sought supervision when they had a particular
issue to discuss. One supervisor made
the interesting point that coaches can learn
from their good practice (to find out what
they are doing well) and not only from the
issues/problems they seek help with. Both
supervisors recommended that supervision
be attended on a regular, consistent basis,
and that coaches should be able to request
further supervision at times when there is a
particular issue they wish to address.
The process of coaching supervision
Coaching supervision is a dynamic process
between two people or more (for group
supervision), which takes place in a wider
coaching and organisational context. The
themes that emerged through the data
regarding the process of coaching supervision
were: the coach’s role, the supervisor’s
role, properties of coaching supervision, the
supervisory relationship and environment
and finally, a rather separate theme: the
process of group supervision.
As previously indicated, coaches tended
to take a proactive role in their supervision.
It became clear from the participants that
the coach’s role was not limited to the actual
supervision session. It involves a considerable
amount of preparation in the form of
active and ongoing reflection on their
coaching practice. In the actual supervision
150 International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 4 No. 2 September 2009