Choosing a Coaching School

Spend your money on what you believe in and what is aligned to your values.

I get one or two requests a month to have a conversation on what coaching school someone should attend to become certified. These requests often come as a referral from one of my coaching clients or mentor coaching clients or coaching supervision clients. I’m always open to having conversations. And while I am a mentor coach for one program and I declare that up front. I am careful to ask questions and encourage the potential student to consider the following in making their decision:

• What kind of coaching are you interested in? What’s your reason for being trained as a coach?

• What association is the school accredited by and associated with?

• Do you know what their reputation is and in what circles especially the one you wish to work in?

• What kind of investment are you ready and willing to make?

• How do they view continuous professional development and coaching supervision?

And my two new questions - 1) does the school have cultural diversity in their faculty and 2) do they integrate diversity into the program or is it an afterthought or not at all? Especially if you are considering a global practice - do they reflect your potential future clients?

CoachGlobal Crises: The Triple Threat

In talking with colleagues and holding the space for clients and coaches, we are noticing a sense of heaviness and despair. The emerging coaching and supervision conversations are exacerbated by the layering of three main threats:  the COVID 19 pandemic, global warming, and equity and social justice issues. Taken individually these threats may seem manageable but combined, they create a sense of overwhelming discomfort.

We also have other issues affecting us personally. For example, for Damian living in the US, the political landscape and the daily upsetting news on how the government is mismanaging these three issues impact his mood and he needs to make a big effort not to bring his anger to his work. For Lily, living in Canada and working with Aboriginal clients, she is challenged with the added opioid crisis that is killing more people than COVID 19 in British Columbia, and implications for at-risk populations and sometimes feels the despair of facing discrimination as a person of color. How do we as coaches and supervisors, maintain balance and resilience in this challenging context and how do we introduce these topics in coaching if clients are not bringing it to the discussion? Is it our responsibility to do so?

For example, in a supervision group facilitated by Lily, nobody mentioned any of these issues so she “noticed” that the Triple Threat was not in the space yet; nobody had brought it into the discussion, and how might these threats be impacting the conversations with clients. By introducing this question, the coaches in the supervision group were able to acknowledge how these issues impacted themselves as well as their clients and the conversation was able to go to a deeper and more systemic level. Do we, as coaches and supervisors, have a responsibility to bring these issues up? We strongly believe it is.  Following the ICF coaching philosophy, we think we need to bring the systemic context to our conversations and ask the questions with no attachment.  This is consistent with Professor Peter Hawkins and Eve Turner´s position in their book “Systemic Coaching”.

When the pandemic first started, many believed that the lockdown and closing of public spaces were just for a short time. More recently, as places started to open, people reacted with hope and optimism. And now, with places being closed again for the second time, clients often say that it is difficult for them to “see the light at the end of the tunnel”. On July 28, 2020, Google communicated to its employees that they are not expected to come back to the work in their offices until next summer, so this fatigue will continue and possibly grow. In one case, a colleague asked when things would get back to normal. There is no going back to normal as we knew it, so how are we getting ready for the new normal? What will be the new normal for our coaching, mentoring, and supervision practices? What do you think it will be different? What will remain the same?

In these challenging times, the Triple Threat has highlighted the importance of relationships and family. People are searching for new meanings in life and the existential curiosity is bringing new ways to look at the world. Our values are being examined and priorities are changing.

It has also highlighted some opportunities for us as coaches and supervisors. More than ever, how do we create sustainable practices that will bring us back to the center so that we can be fully present for our clients? Some of our practices include breathing exercises, meditation, walking in nature, and joining communities where we can openly discuss what feelings we are moving through without judgement.

What practices are you engaging in to ensure that you are engaging in self-care and self-compassion?

Lily Seto, MA, CEC, ESIA, Mentor Coach, and Accredited Coaching Supervisor, lives in Canada. Her global clients range from executives (CEOs and VPs) to middle and front line managers, in public, private, educational, financial, and the non-profit sectors. www.lilyseto.com

Dr. Damian Goldvarg, MCC, ESIA, has thirty years of experience providing executive coaching, leadership training, and facilitation in over fifty countries. He is an Accredited Coach Supervisor (ESIA) and facilitates worldwide certifications in Professional Coaching, Mentor Coaching, and Coaching Supervision. www.goldvargconsulting.com

Sacred Space: What is Coaching Super-vision?

There are times when, as a coach, I wonder what I could have done better in a session that did not go so well. Perhaps I was triggered by the client, or I became directive. And, there are other times when I want to reflect on a very successful coaching session to discover what I did well that I want to pay attention to going forward. And, sometimes, I just need to process something out loud, in a safe place, where there are no judgements. Such is the space of coaching super-vision.

Super-vision is an emerging field. I have learned that in Europe, there are a growing number of organizations who require coaches they hire to be working with a supervisor. Super-vision is quality assurance for these organizations. 

As I go through my journey to become a certified coach supervisor, I ponder what sets a supervisor apart from a coach, or a therapist, or a mentor coach. The terms and roles seem to, at times, be interchangeable. So far, the terms seem to sit on an overlapping continuum. Coach to mentor coach, to coach supervisor. To me, a therapist is not a part of the continuum; however, knowing some of the psychodynamic theories and models helps a supervisor recognize patterns that we have, as coaches. And, when awareness is raised, we can better choose what to do about them.

Super-vision is about working in partnership to clear the field of anything getting in the way of me bringing my best to my coaching. Some of the topics that Michele and I have taken to super-vision and/or had supervisees bring to us include:

• Perceived breaches of confidentiality
• The feeling of having plateaued in skillset and ability as a coach
• Concerns around ethics as an internal coach who knows many people in the system and maintaining confidentiality under pressures to disclose
• Wanting to be more challenging as a coach
• Contracting with sponsors
• Understanding the coach’s  self development within the context of leadership coaching
• Practice innovative use of skills with the supervisor to expand coaching proficiencies
• Fine tune one’s intuitive capacity to positively affect the coaching conversation/relationship
• Identifying one’s blind spots and patterns of communications
• Increasing and expanding perspectives when feeling stuck with the client
• Exploring the role and contribution that coaching can make in the system 
• Expanding one’s understanding of the importance  of relationship in creating success in coaching
• Wanting to still the mind of “gremlins”
• Having a difficult time coaching one gender in particular
• Boundaries between being a coach and having direct influence/authority over the coach’s work
• The struggle of defining the line between coaching and therapy
• Insecurities around “not being enough” 
• Wondering whether coaching is the right profession 
• Feeling the need to protect a client from the organization or from another person
• Feeling ashamed of being “hooked” or drawn into the client’s story

The role of the supervisor is to create the space for this important work to occur because even for me to admit any of these scenarios feels vulnerable. It feels like a very sacred space that needs to be co-created. A space where I can speak freely and feel no judgement; just empathy and curiosity from someone who is fully present and who will work as my thinking partner to help me figure out what is going on. So, what would be the elements that I need in order to open myself to being vulnerable? To me, the most important is relationship. I need to be able to trust my supervisor to hold my confidences and work with me; to probe gently and make observations and to also show his/her vulnerabilities.  And, I need space for quiet reflection. It almost feels like slowing things down so that I am able to take the time to reflect as needed.  It’s like someone holding up a mirror and being in slow motion.

While there are tools to learn, super-vision is not a prescribed process, nor does it work from a template. It feels like Tai Chi, a slow motion exercise between two people, bending and yielding, and stepping forward and back in synchronicity. There is an energy field that feels different and yet oddly familiar. And, there is total trust in my partner to bend and yield together with me. And, sometimes, it feels like the Cha-Cha, and, at other times, ballet in motion.

What is getting in your way as a coach? And are you willing to risk being vulnerable in order to increase your effectiveness as a coach? How do you clear your own field?

Lily and Michele

Sacred Space: The Journey Begins

As accomplished coaches, who do we process our “stuff” with? Who can we trust enough to bare our souls; our deepest, darkest vulnerabilities and fears to? Do we even need to, and are we even willing to? Is it enough to have reached a level of designation from a credentialing organization? 

This is the intersect into coaching supervision. 

The term “coaching supervision” carries a great deception - it leaves one with visions of being evaluated by someone holding a clipboard checking off little boxes in judgement of your demonstrated skills. The concept of supervision is just that - a concept, a social construct. 

We, Lily and Michele, are two coaches on a journey into the heart of coaching supervision, the space created where a new truth can emerge. When two or more people come together in a connected relationship, accompanied by presence and curiosity, magic can happen.

We are learners participating in the first North American cohort of the Coaching Supervision Academy Diploma Course (http://coachingsupervisionacademy.com/). We welcome you to join us on our journey, as we blog about our experiences as supervisors and our learnings from the course.

Lily’s journey

About a year ago, I recognized that I had plateaued in my coaching practice. In searching for how to deepen my own coaching practice, and to add value to the internal coach development work that I am responsible for, I stumbled upon supervision. I quickly realized the value of working with someone who could create a sacred place with me to work on what was getting in my way of moving from a good coach to a better coach. I have come to appreciate the sacred space that can be created for the deep work that happens between the supervisor and the supervisee. The freedom to process whatever I need to process and to say whatever needs to be said without being judged is a very unique and special space. It's where I can grow and deepen my ability to be fully present with my clients, dancing in the moment. I'm looking forward to blogging about my journey to become a CSA coach supervisor.

Michele’s journey

After 15 years of practice I stepped onto the path of coaching supervision seeking to reveal a deeper understanding of “Who” I am and “How” I want to be as a coach. I wanted to reignite the intimacy with the sacred space that lies within; rekindle the joy of coaching that comes in the beginning when we sit for the first time, in front of the client, with a beginner’s mind. 

About a year ago while coaching a client, I suddenly witnessed myself feeling a great deal of doubt about the value I was adding. Later that day, I felt discouraged because I realized I had not challenged the client’s thinking and perspective on the topic at hand. In that moment, I had relinquished my coaching skills and fallen into collusion with the client. It may have been triggered by what the client was saying, or could be that my attention was being pulled away because I was overriding an emerging feeling, possibly being triggered by the client’s story.

I wanted to discover what was at play when coaching this client. I asked myself what stopped me from challenging him. What pulled me off course and caused me to lose my way in that moment? I needed a space where I could partner in reflection and be held by deep acceptance and allowing. Now having experienced supervision, I know it would have enabled me to inquire into my experience of angst and doubt. It would have revealed a hidden reality that wanted to be seen and would have informed, more fully, my coaching relationship with this client. 

Lily and I would like to invite you to join us on our journey. We will share our stories of learning; the joys and challenges that will reveal themselves to us as we walk this path together and find our way back to the sacred space within.

Michele Roy can be reached at CoachRoy@telus.net

Lily Seto can be reached at lilyseto@telus.net