What actually happens in coaching supervision? It is a question that many coaches ask, particularly early in their careers. In a fascinating conversation on The Coaching Supervision Casebook Podcast, I sit down with coach, supervisor and educator Auriel Majumdar to explore a supervision relationship that has evolved over almost eight years.
What emerges represents a robust challenge to the idea that supervision is simply ‘coaching the coach’ or a place where an expert supervisor dispenses wisdom. Instead, Auriel describes supervision as a deeply relational, co-created space, one shaped not by frameworks alone, but by the quality, trust and depth of the relationship between supervisor and supervisee.
Reflecting on her long-term work with ‘Alex’, Auriel speaks about the privilege of witnessing someone grow from a tentative new coach into a confident, highly skilled practitioner. The story is not simply one of one-way development. As the relationship matures, the learning becomes increasingly mutual. Both parties are Exploring, Noticing, challenging and learning together.
That mutuality is perhaps the most thought-provoking theme in the conversation. Auriel suggests that one of the most important shifts for supervisors is learning to ‘surrender their expertise’. Rather than clinging to the comfort of being the person who knows, supervisors can create richer possibilities when they allow expertise to ebb and flow between themselves and their supervisees.
The discussion also highlights how strong supervision relationships create the safety needed for honest challenge. From this secure foundation, difficult questions, hidden patterns and uncomfortable truths can be explored without judgement, opening the door to deep learning and growth.
But these insights only scratch the surface. The full conversation explores intimacy, trust, mutual learning, the NEEDS framework and why supervision can become one of the most transformative professional relationships a coach experiences. We learn that the supervisor is not simply the expert in the room. Perhaps they never were.
Listen to the full episode of The Coaching Supervision Casebook Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, …
The Coaching Supervision Casebook is available now in paperback and digital formats, and you can download a personal reflective journal to maximise your learning from the book in our online shop.
