Coach the system, not the client

Mature coaches coach very differently to their less mature colleagues. It’s not just that they are less concerned with following process, it is that they attend very differently. At a base level of maturity, coaches see the client, the problem and the solution. It’s a very linear perspective, but it works (up to a point) with simple performance or skills issues. Gradually, they learn to pay attention to the client’s internal systems – what’s going on within them that is supporting or hindering the outcomes the want to achieve. Some coaches evolve to attend additionally to the client’s immediate systems – their family, boss, peers and direct reports etc – and the relationship between the client and each of these. This is what’s typically described as systemic coaching.

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International Women’s Day 2025

A few days ago, a newspaper item caught my eye. For the first time, young men entering the UK employment market were on average earning less than young women. I wondered: “Does this mean we are finally achieving a rebalancing of the gender pay gap?” Sadly, it’s a reflection of failures in education and social (more…)

Making hybrid working work

One of the first things we learned when a company I chaired in the mid-1990s moved to a hybrid model of working was that people have very different perspectives and needs. For some, being in the office most of the time was important to their identity, social engagement and sense of efficacy. At the other...

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My AI doesn’t understand me Part 2 (A fictional supervision conversation from the not-too-distant future)

I’ve written a lot in recent years about the coach-AI partnership and how it might work. I’m pleased to be part of a new research project, which aims to collate perspectives from experienced coaches, who already integrate AI into their professional practice. There  is also increasing discussion in popular literature comparing the relationships people build...

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Guidelines for virtual group supervision

In coming to virtual group supervision, people tend to have two main aims: Typically, a session would involve: Presenting an issue In presenting within the virtual environment, it is important to be succinct, to the point and open. Try to keep your explanation and scene-setting down to less than three minutes. In preparation, you should (more…)

Why mentors need supervision

All the coaching professional bodies in Europe and many bodies in other continents require coaches to have supervision. Few corporate buyers of coaching in Europe would hire a coach, who did not have a high level of formal qualification and regular, professional supervision. So why isn’t the same expected of mentors? The traditional response has (more…)

Using the Seven Conversations in Supervision

While most textbooks refer to the coaching conversation as if it were a single, discrete dialogue, in practice both coach and client carry out reflective dialogues in their minds before, during and after the spoken conversation. Each of these additional dialogues has an important role to play in the nature and the effectiveness of the coaching conversation. Within...

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The spectrum of supervision

When we talk about supervision in coaching and mentoring, the first association is with one-to-one intense professional oversight, as happens in counselling and psychotherapy. Yet supervision can come in many forms and for many purposes. It can be relatively expensive, or remarkable inexpensive. As organisations become more familiar with the supervision concept, we are gradually...

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Restorative role of a supervisor

The word restorative implies “putting back” or “regaining”. An effective supervisor helps you to restore what you need to be a fully functioning coach (which may not be that different from what you need to be a fully functioning individual, although the supervisor is not expected to be a counsellor or therapist). Coaching other people (more…)

Supervising team coaches

Coaches’ attitudes towards supervision vary widely, not least in reflection of what they see as the point or purpose of supervision. One position is that supervision is about helping new coaches embed and expand the competences they have learned in their initial training – after which it becomes an optional cost. The opposite position is (more…)