I shudder at the thought of recently trained, unsupervised coaches practising their newly found coaching skills on clients. Specific competency standards for coaching and coaching supervision are now in place in the UK. Yet many newly-trained coaches are still released unchecked into the business world.
Recent developments in the coaching organisations that set the standards for the industry state that coaches must be in regular supervision with qualified supervisors. This means supporting the coach to stay ethical, to be in continual professional development and to have the chance to review all aspects of their work with clients.
Supervisors are experienced coaches who support newly qualified coaches, preventing them from getting into bad habits or becoming complacent. They are trained to ensure coaches are competent, have confidence and that they are continuing to learn and be creative.
The best schools of coaching include supervision in their programmes and encourage newly qualified coaches to continue supervision following accreditation. Without such supervision, I dread to think what support coaches are offering. If they do not have this, a newly qualified coach may not get to the next stage of their development.
Poor quality coaching will affect perceptions of what effective coaching can achieve. Coaching should stay unregulated, but to remain bureaucracy-free and still to be considered a professional service, coaches need to take responsibility for their own ongoing support and development.
Enlightened HR buyers know that effective external coaches are in regular coaching supervision and will ask who is supervising them. So when you are in the process of engaging an external coach, ask such questions. If not, how will you know that they are able to stay at the cutting edge of the work they do?
Karen Frost is a qualified professional business coach and director at Values Based Leadership, an organisation that works with organisations to create and run development programmes that improve business performance • www.valuesbasedleadership.co.uk