Professional Coaching Literature List: Focus–Coaching Supervision

Michel Moral, EIA Master (EMCC) (2015) Supervision of Coaching in Europe: Situation and Trends. Library of Professional Coaching. https://libraryofprofessionalcoaching.com/concepts/strategy/future-of-coaching/supervision-of-coaches-in-europe-situation-and-trends/
Members of the helping professions share a basic principle that is illustrated with the following analogy: « It is difficult to make your bed if you stay in it. In other words, a coachee needs a dialogue with someone else, a coach, to find fixes to his or her concerns, challenges and issues. Similarly, a coach needs a dialogue with someone else to find responses to his or her professional difficulties and development ambitions. More specifically, what is unknown by the coach about him/herself, but which the coachee can see, might impact the coaching process. Blind areas, blind self, blindspot, deaf spots, limiting beliefs and values, implicit theories, etc.… need to be made conscious. More generally, the coach might need support if something in his or her activity make him or her feel bad, need some kind of help for his or her development and need some kind of help to understand why some of his or her professional acts do not work as anticipated.

Brock, Vikki (2015) Gold Rush Coaching Supervision: Professional coaching and the dangers of coaching supervision. Library of Professional Coaching. https://libraryofprofessionalcoaching.com/concepts/strategy/future-of-coaching/gold-rush-coaching-supervision/
Professional coaching burst onto the world stage in the early 1990s, though a form of coaching had been practiced since the 1930s. Much has been written about coaching in research, articles, books and papers since, and coaching supervision has been touted as the next extremely lucrative revenue stream for coaches. There is a paradox between coaching and mentoring which has roots in person centred humanism and the control by professional coaching bodies as highlighted by Bob Garvey in Part 1 of this special issue of e-O&P focusing on the future of coaching and mentoring. This article explores the potential for detrimental consequences and inappropriateness of imposing mandatory ‘supervision’ on coaching practitioners, versus the established mentor coach approach.
Developments in the International Coach Federation (ICF) towards mandatory imposition of practice supervision framed on models applied in psychotherapy, counselling and clinical psychology are used to highlight key developments in America, which could herald a significant culture shift within the profession if they are to be accepted by the wider, global ICF community of practice. With the ICF being a leading coaching professional body, where the ICF goes other organizations may follow.

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