When should I intervene as a coaching supervisor?

A question I posed and still pose to myself, and one frequently posed by students joining me on the Henley Supervision Certificate is when should I intervene as a coaching supervisor?  Afterall, we are not just coaching the coach, we are supervising the coach and one of the functions of supervision is a “qualitative one”.  However, what does that really mean and does that give coaching supervisors a mandate, a duty, a duty of care to the supervisee’s clients and their systems, or an ethical responsibility to intervene?  Hawkins and Smith (2013) highlight that the qualitative function of supervision should be concerned with the quality of coaching provided, work standards and the ethical integrity of the coach which perhaps indicates there are likely to be occasions when we must intervene.  However, when are those occasions?  And, how can we/should we intervene as supervisors to maintain working in partnership and maintain an environment of psychological safety?

In thinking about this challenging question, I am reminded of Linda Aspey’s blog about “who is the expert in the room” and that there is the potential for us (without it being intentional), as supervisors, when intervening that we might shame the supervisee, and move the power balance to ourselves.  Therefore, should we intervene at all unless it is a clear red flag, and as Linda highlights these are extremely rare and that in non-red flag issues, we should provide the space and time for our supervisees to discover the boundaries of ethical practice for themselves.

However, might there be a danger of us colluding with our clients because we are unable to unknow what we have heard, and by doing or saying nothing we might be perceived as being complicit to the supervisee’s actions.  In addition, as highlighted above we have a role as supervisor to maintain professional standards and interrupt patterns of behaviour.  This means there are times when we might have to state our thoughts and then it is how we can do this in partnership, in a reflective way that sparks more thinking and reflection.  I find the perspective of Mary-Beth O-Neil who in her book “Coaching with Backbone and Heart” stated: “Backbone is about saying what your position is, whether it is popular or not.  Heart is staying in the relationship and reaching out even when that relationship is in conflict” (O’Neill, 2000:13).

Therefore, in sum, there is no clear easy answer to this question, and it is one that requires ongoing thought and reflection.  What I have learnt is that we can offer our position without attachment as a line of enquiry for reflection and maintain the relationship, but we can only do this if we are vulnerable with our clients and continue to reflect on our course of action in supervision.  One of my supervisors offered me the question – “how comfortable would you be if you had to justify your actions to a Daily Mail journalist?”  This is a question I use frequently as a starting point.

In the spirit of ongoing reflection, here are a few questions you may wish to reflect on when contemplating intervening:

• What are your own values, beliefs, morals and ‘lines in the sand’ which will determine when you feel you should intervene?
• How might you raise areas of concern and doubt without attachment to maintain the partnership?
• Can you sleep at ease at night and are you able to defend your course of action and decisions if you are cross-examined?
• What are you learning about yourself?
• What will you take to supervision-on-supervision for deeper reflection?