The missing piece in supporting internal coaches

By Martin Vogel and Hetty Einzig

All professionals need to make time regularly to reflect on their work and how they are developing in the role they play in the workplace. This is good professional practice not just to keep their expertise up to date but also for their own wellbeing. It stops us falling into habitual ways of doing things and habitual patterns of overworking or reacting to pressure that may be unhelpful for us and for those we work with. This is even more imperative if your job involves working with others.

Supervision is a means of providing just such reflective space. It’s considered normal best practice for professional coaches to have regular contact with a supervisor to review their work, their practice and their sense of being in the world. In complex and fast-moving organisational settings, where corner-cutting and groupthink can lead to questionable practices, supervision provides a space to find one’s ethical ground.

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Internal coaches need external supervisors

By Martin Vogel

It’s considered best practice among professional coaches that they work with a supervisor, someone who creates space for them to reflect on their work. But how common is this among internal coaches?

There’s a long tradition of supervision being provided to support people who support other people. It grew up as a discipline to help professionals such as psychotherapists, teachers and social workers. In the competitive market for professional coaches, savvy clients understand that they should only work with a coach who is supervised. Clients of internal coaches need this assurance just as much. As do people whose managers seek to lead with a coaching style.

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