Personal Coach Supervision

WHO IS SUPERVISION FOR?

Supervision develops and hones coaches’ skills in relating to a diversity of client personalities, circumstances and experiences, and the ability to use coaching approaches powerfully. Supervision also supports coaches to recognise where they are at a skills, personal or professionaly boundary, or where an ethical or professional contract is in danger of being compromised.

If you work professionally with people individually or in teams, supervision will

  • Support you as a person- learn to regulate your own experience and reactions to client/organisational behaviour and attitudes.
  • Develop you professionally- clearly understand dynamic interactions between yourself and clients, within organisations; learn tools, principles, models, foundations which create optimised environments for effective work and relationships.
  • Integrate knowledge, skills, and attitudes into pertinent cases; understand where you are in your professional development journey and strategise your path.

I work with a relational approach (working with what emerges in the relationship between you and me, as an echo of your other relationships) and integrative (calling on more than one modality so as to be responsive to your immediate needs). My primary psychological framework is transactional analysis, and I use this in a developmental way (acceptance of what is and was, with an intention to learn and grow!)

Supervision counts for credentialed coaches’ continuing coach education or professional development needs with many coaching bodies, like ICF – the International Coaching Federation. Read what ICF has to say on supervision here.

Coaches Starting a Practice

Every coach has started at the beginning. A hard truth is that many will not finish the journey. Navigating the pressures of a saturated industry and economically tough era can be daunting and poses unique challenges.

If you are a coach at the start of your own practice, supervision is ideal for developing competence-based confidence and your own strong style and identity in working with clients. Starting a practice poses a number of challenges, from learning the ins and outs of managing the technical aspects of your business to gaining experience with a growing variety of clients who may not be familiar with coaching yet.

I work with in an accepting and explorative way to recognise where you get in the way of yourself, with challenging clients and practice, so that you feel more grounded, can make more sense of what is going on and be more effective for your clients and business.

For new coaches, my closed supervision groups offer

  • a familiar and supportive space to experience a sense of close community and new opportunities
  • exposure to a diversity of coaching experiences and approaches
  • opportunity to reflect on own experiences in relation to others’ cases
  • lower rates than one-on-one supervision

WHAT IS SUPERVISION?

Simply put supervision is about recognising how you approach your practice and engagement with clients. It is about understanding your strengths with deep insight, so you can use them consciously and with intent as needed, and work on developmental areas to build yourself personally and professionally for the journey ahead.

You will be able to recognise patterns that emerge in the challenges you experience with your clients and the management of your practice as a business. This helps you avoid repeat difficulties whilst increasing your effectiveness as a practitioner.

WHAT SETS ME APART?

I work in a relational way, integrating expertise from various developmental frameworks into our work, to give you a human, valuable, and meaningful experience, so that you can do the same with your clients.

Here are a few things to consider when deciding which supervisor to work with

  • Trained coach supervisor vs experienced coach/coaching the coach. Supervision is a specialised practice, with some similarities to coaching but distinct from it in significant ways. Self-appointed supervisors will not have knowledge of or experience in working with inter and intra-psychic dynamics and how these show up in the coach/client/system. I am a trained supervisor with Diplomas in both Coach Supervision, and Coaching.
  • Coach supervisor vs academic/course supervisor. Behavioural standards are appropriately emphasised in initial coach training. Supervision however widens the scope to the nature and features of relationship. The content and mode of engagement in supervision are distinct from those in coach training.
  • Coach supervision vs peer supervision/practice analysis. Supervision brings meaningful insight into the coach’s inner experience in relationships with their clients and practice (the learning is about the WHO). Practice analysis leans towards a transactional review of the coach’s internventions, models, and processes in practice (the learning is about the WHAT).
  • Experience as a coach supervisor vs academic knowledge on supervision. Academically-oriented supervision tends towards practice analysis, shorter timed sessions, large numbers of group participants and an instructive approach. What you will gain in knowledge of “the what”, you will lose in understanding of yourself, “the who”.
  • Walking the talk (self-discovery vs lecturing). There is a natural expectation for supervision to be instructive, with many ‘supervisors’ practicing this way by default. Valuable supervision however models authentic and transformative relationships, in which deep learning happens co-creatively.

The work I do in supervision goes beyond using cogitive skills as a means of problem-solving. You can expect to experience a paradigm shift in the way you think and in your being: how you feel, your energy, your behaviour and your engagement with clients and your practice. The outcomes of supervision with me are whole-person focused and sustainable.

Having shifted into the space of working with people from an entirely different career, I have first-hand experience with the challenges that come along with starting and running a business from scratch.

In addition to case supervision I can guide you to a number of technical solutions and tools that make running your business easier and save you time.

If you would like to learn more about how we can work together, please use the booking facility at the bottom of this page or contact form on the home page.

Jens
Jens Kleis Frederiksen
JKF Coaching
Executive Coach

Alex has been supervising me for quite a long time, during which he has become an integral and highly valued contributor to my continuous learning and development. Despite the considerable distance between South Africa and Switzerland, I chose Alex as my supervisor because of his remarkably solid academic foundation, strong coaching experience and his straight forward, friendly and results-oriented approach. Coaching supervision is so much more than a tick-box compliance exercise and I cherish my sessions with Alex as opportunities to reflect, challenge my assumptions and design actionable outcomes. I recommend Alex to any professional coach looking for a top-tier, committed and highly competent supervisor.

Karolyne
Karolyne Williams
South African College of Applied Psychology
Head of Strategic Innovation at SACAP (The South African College of Applied Psychology) & CEO Coach

Alex is an insightful and supportive supervisor. I’ve very much enjoyed working with him as he gently asks thought provoking questions to help me reflect on my coaching practice. Alex adds value to enhance coaching mastery!

Angelina
Angelina Yonekura
Success | Development | Leadership Coach ⚬ First-Gen Graduate ⚬ Addictions Counselor ⚬ US & South Africa

Alex is beyond amazing when it comes to really connecting to the core motivation and challenges I have experienced as a coach. I respect his professionalism and keeping me aligned with ICF core competencies. He goes deep, but carries the conversation with empathy and genuine motivation in helping me find my strengths and desire to continually grow and find what style and methods work for me. Alex has been one of the most significant influences in my coaching journey with SACAP and I appreciate the work he has done to help me maximize my abilities, and compassion to understand the human side of the trials and successes in personal and professional development.

 

Althea
Althea Banda-Hansmann
Founding Director, Transformation Coach, Consultant and Facilitator

I left each group supervision session with Alex being expanded by his role modelling coaching supervision. My horizons were broadened by the individual learning and edge work of participant coaches, by the collective group learning and the sense of community that developed. A warm smile crosses my face, as I recall the clarity of intention and skill with which Alex fostered the coaching supervision environment by using creative structure. He is skilled at applying both supervision and Transactional Analysis theory to help coaches grow in their practice, in themselves as well as areas of vulnerability. I experienced Alex as grounded in his coaching supervision approach and resourceful in sharing knowledge, tools, observations and reading material for growth.

Kathy
Kathy Lewis
Leadership / Management Coach, Facilitator & Consultant

I grew in a number of ways through working with Alex as my coaching supervisor. His gently challenging attention kept me focused when I digressed. He is a master of asking questions that nudge (and sometime necessarily push) one forward and I learned a lot from listening to him question fellow coaches in the supervision group as well as from the results I derived from his questioning me. His approach of supervising in groups increased the scope and depth of learning. His broad theoretical knowledge expanded my coaching repertoire and his careful attention to detail and the bigger picture contributed significantly to my unfolding professional development.

Gaby
Gaby Leone
Goal and Purpose Coach: Free To Fly Life Coaching

I found my supervision interaction with Alex very useful. Through incisive questions and focussed listening, he helped me gain valuable insights into myself as coach.

Nkulu
Nkulu Madonko
Common Good
CEO

Alex has been a consummate professional in his Supervision of my Coach learning journey whilst completing my SACAP Post Grad Diploma in Coaching Internship. Alex provided me with relevant and informative reflection, and oversight of my coaching as practice. He attentively focused on: 1) my growth & development as a coach – enhancing my competence as a practitioner; 2) carefully supported and nurtured my role of coach as a person – deepening my confidence and self-belief of who I am as a coach; and 3) skilfully displayed what it means to be a professional coach – providing me a lived experience of integrity and collaboration in the way in which he supported our reflective dialogue. It has been an absolute privilege partnering and collaborating with Alex!

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Stephen Beukes
Stephen Beukes (Pty) Ltd
Professional Life Coach

I place great value on the contribution that the supervision work I do with Alex has made (and continues to make) to my coaching practice. His gently rigorous way of being has helped me negotiate tricky coaching challenges, develop practices that take care of myself and supported me to clarify the sort of coach I wish to be. I cannot recommend him highly enough.

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David Kossew
Software Architect and Leadership & Team Coach (ICF - ACC, ORSC)

Alex has been my supervisor since my business coaching internship in 2018. I have taken many varied and different things into supervision with Alex, from referrals, to incorporating assessments into my coaching practice, to conflicts of interest, and even team coaching with a co-coach.

I find Alex to be extremely knowledgeable, especially when it comes to Transactional Analysis (TA), the “7-eyed model of supervision” and other theory he draws from in the moment. Everything I’ve brought into supervision, we have looked at through the lens of one of these frameworks, and every time I’ve come away with more insight and awareness of what I am responsible for in these coaching relationship systems.

A supervision session feels challenging, insightful and highly rewarding, as long as you work for it and are willing to be honest with yourself in terms of thoughts, feelings, judgments and decisions.

HOW DO WE WORK TOGETHER?

I work with my clients through encrypted online video calling. This provides convenience, saves resources, time and allows global connection with the ease of a click. 

I supervise coaches one-to-one ad-hoc or monthly. For coaches wanting to learn in community with others, I host supervision groups in monthly sessions over 6-month terms.

HOW WILL IT HELP?

In coach supervision you can expect to resolve the challenges you experience with clients and in managing your practice. I supervise professional coaches both new to the field and experienced, whether working with individuals or groups, or at executive level in organisations.

I am passionate about helping coaches to grow their online and face to face businesses. In addition to supervision, I share a number of business tools and best practices to help coaches enhance their approach to their practice and engagement with clients.

SUPERVISION PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS

I am certified by EMCC Global as coach/mentor supervisor (ESIA) and Accredited Coach (EIA) at Senior Practitioner level, and hold a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential with ICF.

I supervise using a co-creative and appreciative approach, aligned with supervision’s core of psychological mindedness. I use transactional analysis as a framework to help explore experiences and relationships. I maintain professional practice by working with my own supervisor and other continuous professional development training.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT TO COACHING?

As a practitioner working within the field of personal and professional development with other human beings, you will always be one element of the dynamic in these relationships.

Whether working with individuals or the more intricate environments of organisations, the nature of these relationships can present ethical dilemmas, personal triggers and complexity. Often dynamics emerge between the coach and the client, outside of the coach’s direct awareness. Within supervision we will together recognise where you are effectively managing these issues, so that you can build those skills with more intent, as well as where you are getting stuck in the issues, so that you can respond effectively, safely and ethically.