Coaching isn’t just about asking great questions. It’s about choosing our interventions with intent.

In this month’s Choice magazine, I explore how a supervision-based framework can help coaches make more deliberate, catalytic choices in the moment.

If we want clients to be intentional, we need to model it first.

Last Friday, 6th March, around sixty coaching supervisors gathered in London for what was modestly billed as an ‘in-person’ EMCC UK event with Robin and Joan Shohet. In truth, it could easily have been called a supervision symposium. But the low-key framing was simply perfect. It created a space for connection, renewal and replenishment - exactly what many of us needed.

Among the many gifts from the session, one learning in particular has stayed with me: the invitation to notice love, fear, curiosity and judgment, and to treat them as data.

I’m excited to launch CORE: Coaching Observation & Reciprocal Exchange.

CORE is a new peer-to-peer practice space designed for coaches who want to stay sharp, reflective and connected to the heart of their craft.

The space will open four times a year on Zoom for coaches to practise, observe, reflect and grow together. Each session offers a simple but powerful rotation: coach, be coached, observe. The result is a supportive environment where insight, confidence and capability deepen through real experience and constructive feedback.

In 1963, Eric Berne wrote about the structure and dynamics of groups. I’ve been mulling over his ideas as I think about my coaching supervision groups.

I run several supervision groups. The smallest has two coaches, the largest has five. These are ‘closed’ supervision groups, meaning that they are not open to new supervisees joining. They form and then remain together for several years. Occasionally, someone might choose to leave a group, resulting in an opening for someone new to join. This happened recently in one of my groups.

I do not believe enough has been written about what makes a good coaching contract. Over many years of coaching, I have developed my own contracting model, which I outline here.  

Contracting comprises the verbal agreement I make with my client, which is reinforced with a written agreement. Contracting is about establishing a working alliance before the coaching starts. I like to keep things as simple as possible – and I love working in threes – so, for me, contracting covers coaching goals (outcomes), the boundaries of the coaching engagement (process) and the nature of the coaching relationship. It is also an opportunity to outline who I am as a coach and the expectations my client and I have of each other.

In The Shadow of the Object (1987, Routledge), psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas explains how our psyche carries traces of early objects (caregivers, environments, emotional climates). These traces shape how we perceive ourselves and others. They can appear in adult life as sudden shifts in self-experience. They are ‘shadow’ because they are felt (preconsciously) but not symbolised, meaning we have not absorbed them consciously into our self-image.

Athletes know that strengthening their core leads to better balance and stability, more efficient and powerful movement, and reduced risk of injury. Strengthening your coaching core leads to enhanced presence, more effective coaching and reduces your risk of isolation and burnout.

Practising our coaching is the most important way to develop our practical coaching skills. Co-coaching or peer coaching is a great way to experiment with new techniques and learn from others.

CORE is a new, peer-to-peer practice space for coaches who want to deepen their craft through real, relational learning.

People are really good at keeping themselves stuck by playing the victim. Perhaps they are genuinely unaware of the problem or, if they recognise there is a problem, they engage in what I call BMW (bitching, moaning and whingeing – ie, they blame others for the problem and complain about it, or they either make excuses for why the problem cannot be fixed, or wait and hope that someone else will rescue them.

These are powerless behaviours. People exhibiting these behaviours keep themselves stuck by ignoring aspects of themselves, others or the situation that might help them become unstuck.

The Steps to Success model (Julie Hay, 2009) is a framework from Transactional Analysis that coaches can use with their stuck clients to help them metaphorically step up to adopt some powerful behaviours by addressing what they are discounting.

There is a mismatch between the attitude coaches have toward supervision and their actual engagement with it. In a nutshell, coaches believe they should have supervision, but many find reasons not to.

In this article, I will share the evidence, address some of the challenges that get in the way and make you an offer you can’t refuse!

Group supervision is a powerful form of reflective practice and represents a wonderful opportunity for personal and professional development. It is often undertaken in small, closed groups, and while it is less expensive than 121 supervision, it can still be a substantial outlay for coaches, particularly those who are just starting their coaching career. To date, I have only offered 121 and small group supervision. However, larger groups can be effective and typically cost around 50% of closed group supervision, making them an ideal way to get started with coaching supervision.

Is 2026 the year to engage in supervision? I have two immediate opportunities to join a supervision group…

New to coaching?

Just qualified and launching your practice?

Starting out can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone. Supervision offers a safe, reflective space to build confidence, explore your identity and grow into the coach you aspire to be.

Join me for a free coaching supervision webinar designed especially for coaches in training and those at the start of their journey.

As we reach the close of another year, I want to thank you for being part of Unleash Your Coaching Talents. Your engagement, curiosity and commitment to growth make this community such a joy to nurture.

I wish you a peaceful and restorative festive break, and a happy, prosperous New Year filled with possibility and connection.

Starting out as a coach is exciting, yet it can also feel daunting. You’re building your practice, finding your voice, and navigating the challenges of confidentiality, boundaries and ethics. At times, you may wonder: Am I doing this right?

That’s where coaching supervision becomes your greatest ally.

This free webinar is designed especially for coaches in training or those who have just qualified and are launching their practice. It will show you how coaching supervision provides a safe, reflective space to explore dilemmas, strengthen your coaching identity and grow into the practitioner you aspire to be.

Coaching often begins as a calling, inspired by service, growth, and human connection. Yet for many, it must also become a sustainable livelihood. Passion alone doesn’t pay the bills, and in today’s crowded marketplace, coaches need to know how to attract clients. Competitive advantage is about choosing a strategy that delivers both impact and income, helping coaches thrive while remaining true to their purpose.

The coach's strategy clock (see picture) is inspired by how businesses think about competitive advantage (see Exploring Corporate Strategy, G. Johnson, K. Scholes & R. Whittington, 2006, Prentice Hall).

In a market with many providers of coaching services, prospective clients choose which offering to accept based on their perception of value-for-money, a combination of price and perceived benefit. The eight numbered zones and the central zone represent possible positions for your coaching strategy.

There is a common understanding among experienced practitioners that professional values are less relevant to practice than the professional bodies might wish. We choose to abide by others' codes when they align with our personal values. However, we are our values, that is, they are an expression of our needs. So, there appears to be a hierarchy, whereby some values are more important than others. Intuitively, this makes sense.

Whether you earn £8k or £60k per year from coaching, I have an affordable coaching supervision plan for you. Perhaps now is the time to invest in coaching supervision to become a better, safer coach, so your clients receive better, safer coaching.

Some people don’t like the word ‘intervention’ because it’s used in therapy, addiction and manoeuvres by the government or the military. However, an intervention is an ‘intentional action taken to change a situation, to improve it or prevent it from getting worse’ (Cambridge Dictionary).

I’m coming to a milestone in a huge project that has kept me absorbed for most of the year. I’m writing a book. It’s a book that sets out the NEEDS framework (a framework that helps coaching supervisors intentionally choose their interventions to meet their supervisees’ needs) that emerged over several years of research into coaching supervision. I have enlisted 17 coaching supervisors to write case studies that help bring the framework to life. It has been a mammoth task thus far in writing half the book and editing the contributions that make up the other half. I’m at the point where the manuscript is nearing readiness for submission to the publisher. Woohoo!

Let’s name the elephant in the coaching room: supervision sounds like surveillance. Its etymology - ‘super’ (above) + ‘vidēre’ (to see) - evokes control, oversight and judgment. No wonder coaches sometimes shy away. The term conjures memories of being watched, corrected or found wanting. But what if the discomfort isn’t just semantic? What if it’s covering something else?