Looking for a Coach Supervisor?
Alice is a qualified and accredited coach (EMCC Senior Practitioner) with 13+ years coaching experience. She qualified as a Coaching Supervisor in June 2021, having spent eight months completing a Diploma in Coaching Supervision with the International Centre for Coaching Supervision (course accredited by the EMCC, AOC, and ICF). In 2023, she became an EMCC accredited Coach Supervisor.
Alice brings a variety of extensive coaching experience and knowledge to Supervision. In the past, she has offered Life Coaching, Business Coaching, Employee Coaching, and run management workshops. She now coaches those looking to make a career change. Since Alice qualified as a coach in 2010, her niche has been focused on coaching those in their 20's and 30's, having researched the Quarter Life Crisis as part of her MA in Coaching Practice. You can learn more about Alice here, and on LinkedIn.
As an EMCC accredited Supervisor, Alice is friendly, warm, approachable, professional, fairly informal, enjoyable to work with, open-minded and non-judgemental.
What is Coach Supervision?
The majority of the more established coaching bodies (e.g. EMCC, AOC, ICF, etc) all recommend that every coach has a Supervisor, and many make it a prerequisite for becoming an accredited coach. Any coach adhering to the Global Code of Ethics is also required to be “engaging in supervision with a level of frequency appropriate to their coaching”. So, what is coaching supervision, exactly?
Whilst coaches do offer different forms of coaching supervision, the purpose and function of supervision is commonly referred to as threefold:
Formative - Sessions are there to discuss and share coaching tools, reflect on and hone your coaching skills, and identify patterns in your coaching behaviour. Supervision aims to help you develop your coaching skills to the best of your ability. Working with a highly experienced coach can really help your growth as a coach in that they can impart knowledge, share models and theory, of which you may not be aware. They can also help raise your awareness of patterns in your practice that you may not be conscious of, helping you to adapt and grow as a coach over time.
Normative - The coaching industry, whilst unregulated, is party to a Global Code of Ethics, which most credible and well-trained coaches adhere to. Supervision sessions create room to discuss ethical dilemmas that arise in your coaching, as well as a safe, non-judgemental space to discuss how you are managing your boundaries as a coach, and to explore best practice when working with clients.
Restorative - Despite what you might glean from Instagram, coaching is hard work. It's not all motivational quotes and easy outcomes. It is a professional skill that has to be learnt, and that requires continuous professional development to stay fresh and effective. Supervision is there to check in on your resourcefulness as a coach, how you are feeling as a coach, what feelings and emotions are coming up before, in, and after your sessions. Coaching can be an isolating profession so it’s important to reflect on how you are now and again. The emotional load can build up over time - Supervision is a cathartic, catalytic, and supportive place to reflect, process, and work through some of those feelings so you can be of best service to yourself and your clients.
And how do we do the above?
The usual format is that, in-between Supervision sessions, the coach keeps a log of successes and challenges that arise in their coaching, which they might want to discuss with their Supervisor.
For example:
At the start of the session, you're asked you what you want to discuss today, what’s motivating you to bring that, and what outcome you would want from the discussion. This means that the Supervision remains flexible to what is coming up for you as coach, but with an agenda to keep us on-track and focused. At times, you’re also asked about topics that you’re not currently considering bringing to Supervision - what topics are you avoiding, which clients are going so well you’re not discussing them in Supervision, etc. This means that you're encouraged to bring into Supervision areas you might not immediately think to, or even want to discuss.
The aim? 'Super' vision
The main aim of Supervision is in the name really, ‘super’ vision. Sessions are there to offer you a wider perspective on what’s going on in you and your coaching. Using a well known Supervision model (the Seven Eyed Model), you’re encouraged to examine the challenges you bring through a variety of lenses. This helps provide a more objective take on the contributing factors to the situation - what’s going on for you, the client, and both your wider systems. It’s so easy to get drawn into the relationship with a client that we forget to step back, reflect, process, and learn from what’s going on between us. Supervision provides just that, ensuring that, as a coach, you continue to remain self-aware, present, mindful and conscious of the intricate factors at play within and surrounding your coaching relationships and general practice.
Only by regularly reflecting on these areas can a coach continue to hone their coaching craft and grow into the best coach that they can be for themselves, and for their clients.
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If you’d like to discuss Supervision, please contact Alice on coaching@alicestapleton.com or telephone/text/WhatsApp 07545592909. We can arrange a complimentary 30 minute call to discuss working together in more detail, and then go from there.
Fees
After the initial 30 minute call, sessions are charged individually at £95 per hour. Alternatively, four sessions can be paid for upfront for £360.
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Alice coaches those who want to change career but don’t know what they want to do instead. She offers Career Coaching designed to help graduates, early to mid-level career-changers, and parents returning to work gain a clear vision of what career is right for them, and how to achieve it. She is also an accredited Coach Supervisor, and host of The Career Change Diaries podcast.
