{"id":14112,"date":"2024-09-06T11:25:31","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T10:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedcoachdirectory.com\/?p=14112"},"modified":"2024-09-06T11:26:10","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T10:26:10","slug":"supervision-a-route-to-self-awareness-or-self-delusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedcoachdirectory.com\/supervision-a-route-to-self-awareness-or-self-delusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Supervision: A route to self-awareness or self-delusion?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The definitions of coaching supervision also highlight its role in developing the coach, being a place for reflective practice and where the practitioner can step back and review one\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Recent research exploring coach self-awareness indicated that a key method in developing and deepening self-awareness was reflective practice, in particular coaching supervision.\u00a0 This is because supervision provides a dedicated and committed space where the coach steps up \u2018onto the balcony\u2019 with another professional (the supervisor) to \u2018look down, observe and reflect on the dance\u2019 between the coach and their client to gain a meta and helicopter perspective of the work.\u00a0 This will inevitably enable the coach to gain some new perspectives and thinking.<\/p>\n

This can be further deepened with reflective practices that draw on psychodynamic principles to explore the projection, transference and countertransference that maybe happening.\u00a0 In addition, when one has been working with the same coaching supervisor for a length of time the supervisor is able to identify patterns of behaviour and habits in the coach and shine a light on these. \u00a0It provides a place where we can put ourselves and our practice under the microscope and examine what is emerging.\u00a0 This very act of stepping back, being challenged, offered reflections and receiving feedback can give glimpses into our unconscious and provide new insights thereby increasing our self-awareness.<\/p>\n

However, the research also highlighted that we can only develop self-awareness if we really know what the construct is, are motivated to develop it and can manage our own \u2018storytelling.\u2019\u00a0 Alongside this we choose what to take to supervision, it is a self-reporting process so we can avoid taking what we perhaps most need to work on \u2013 and often we avoid taking what we are ashamed of or feel guilty about.\u00a0 Even if we have a strong relationship with our supervisor and take something we are a little ashamed of or embarrassed about we then must contend with our own \u2018ego defences\u2019 in exploring the enquiry.\u00a0 These \u2018defences\u2019 may lead to us shutting down, retreating, justifying, rationalising, intellectualising or any other protective mechanism we have learnt which makes reflection on the enquiry even more challenging.<\/p>\n

Therefore, to check in and ensure that self-delusion is avoided spend a few moments reflecting and asking yourself:<\/p>\n