Professional Supervision for Coaches & Mentors
Supervision as an important component of an effective 'best practice' and professional development process. The New Zealand Coaching & Mentoring Centre provides professional supervision for practicing mentors and coaches.
What is supervision?
Supervision is a formal arrangement for coaches and professionals to discuss their work regularly with someone who is experienced in coaching and supervision. The task is to work together to ensure and develop the efficacy of the client work. The agenda for supervision is the coach/professional work together with the supervisor's reactions and comments. Thus supervision is a process to maintain adequate standards of coaching provision. It is also a supportive process.
Why supervision is desirable for the practising coach and professionals
By its very nature, coaching makes considerable demands upon coaches and professionals who may become over-involved, ignore some important point or have undermining doubts about their own abilities. It is difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to be objective about one's coaching or professional work and the opportunity to discuss the work in confidence with a suitable person is invaluable. Good professional development also requires the coach or professional to relate practice to theory and theory to practice. Supervision can help the coach and professional to evolve practice and in this sense is one aspect of continued training.
Through the supervision process, the primary concern of the supervisor is to ensure that the coach or professional is addressing the needs of the client as well as monitoring the relationship between the coach/professional and client to maximise the effectiveness of the relationship. In addition, Supervision is also a way of ensuring that ethical standards are adhered to throughout the coach/professional work practice. As a secondary position although Supervision is not concerned primarily with training or line management, it is legitimate for supervisors to encourage and facilitate the ongoing self-development, continued professional development and learning and self-monitoring of the coach or professional.
The Benefits of Supervision can therefore be summed up as follows:
Protection
- Protection of the client
- Protection for the organisation purchasing services
- Protection for the coach or professional
Development
- Opportunity to monitor client work and develop existing/new skills in a supportive environment
- Opportunity for coach's or professional's personal development
- Ethical Standards
- To ensure work practices are applied ethically and effectively
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