What is the most valuable support I have found to keep growing in my knowledge and experience as a coach?

For me, it is undoubtedly Coaching Supervision.

Many coaches receive supervision during their training, but once they are active they no longer use this space. In the beginning we need to receive feedback on how to use coaching competencies well, provided by a more experienced coach who observes us doing an actual coaching session. In ICF nomenclature, this practice is called Mentor Coaching and we will occasionally go to it especially to apply for or renew a credential. But over the years, even if we are fluent in the methodology, the daily work with clients still generates questions. Or at least this is my case! These are the doubts inherent in a job that is done by creating a professional relationship with a client, where by being part of that relationship, the coach often does not see everything that is happening.

Reflecting on my coaching practice and on specific processes and clients with the supervision methodology gives me the opportunity to have a personalized development, because we work right where I need it.

It's funny that I didn't really discover its benefits until I decided to train as a Supervisor myself, looking for a methodology to further assist the coaches I was mentoring. Applying the knowledge gained to my own processes has been a before and after in my coaching, and together with supervision facilitated by others has become a crucial pillar of my ongoing development.

Supervision, Peer Supervision, Group Supervision and Coaching the coach

I currently have my permanent supervisor, with whom I have sessions every two months. Knowing that I have this periodic space with him has the effect on me of a safety net under the trapeze: I know that he is there for whatever may happen to me in the development of my work.

I also participate in Peer Supervision, through an international circle of qualified supervisors: each member supervises another and we rotate every four months. This system is of great value to me because of the enormous diversity of supervisory approaches and styles offered by these colleagues.

Another experience that I have loved is group supervision: two years ago, I had the opportunity to do an eight-session course with three other coaches from different countries. The richness of this format consists in receiving feedback from several people to your supervision question, thus multiplying the perspectives on the case.

The European Mentoring and Coaching CouncilEMCC), a professional association to which I belong, recommends that a coach should receive at least one hour of supervision for every 36 hours of coaching he/she does. As this "Coaching the Coach" is such an interesting space for me, I prefer to integrate it into my monthly schedule, regardless of the hours of coaching I do.

In terms of issues to bring to supervision, if I think about my own process over the years, you see how naturally the three main areas of work are addressed: quality, development and self-care.

Quality, Development and Self-Care

To ensure the quality of my work with clients and find ways to improve it, I have raised in supervision processes where my clients were not making the progress I anticipated, and I didn't quite know how best to help them. Sometimes it was a matter of finding new approaches to try with the client, revising the partnership or coaching objectives, or becoming aware of external factors that were acting on the client's situation.

In many cases however, improving the quality of the coaching process involves a review of myself as a coach, to discover what needs to change in me, so that the change the client needs can happen. Rediscovering what your role is in each process, where it challenges you personally, how to maintain self-management and not fall back into directive coaching, how to empower the client to face an ethical dilemma without putting yourself in the role of judge are some examples. Each of these cases provides me with a concrete opportunity to expand my skills and awareness as a person and as a coach.

I have also taken advantage of the supervision space to work on blocks related to the development of my business, time management and work-life balance. Lastly, and in line with this last point, supervision has helped me to work on my resilience, sometimes strongly challenged, to take care of myself and to be in shape to accompany others to go through their valleys and surf their waves.