Jeanine: Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Where ever you are based in the world. I'm here today with Marie Quigley. This is Jeanine Bailey. Welcome to the Empower world leadership and coaching podcast.

Marie: Hi Marie. How are you? I'm good Jeanine. How are you?

Jeanine:  Yeah very well. We're in two parts of the world again. You know like you're the warm part, I'm in the cooler part.

Marie:  Yeah. That’s often rare for me to be in the warm world part. Yes it’s true.

Jeanine:  Yes. So lovely to see you and hear your voice as well. It's been a little bit of time. So it's great to be back here on the podcast and you know given that what's been going on in the world has been gosh there's been so much going on with the pandemic, with the rioting that's really started across the world, there's just incredible events. Just astonishing. At times at feels like I'm in a film, in the midst of a film. And as a consequence I'm hearing a lot of coaches also speaking about this for themselves and speaking about this with their clients speaking about this with other coaches in terms of you know “where do I go?” So many challenges. And so we thought today that perhaps one of the things that can support coaches to really support themselves through any type of challenge whether it be now or in the past or going into the future is to actually look at supervision. And both you and I Marie we've been involved in a lot of supervision lately, supporting coaches around the world. And it is an incredible way to be able to support ourselves to be the best coach that we can be to support our clients.

Marie:  Absolutely Jeanine you're right the world is turning in a way that can make us question what is going on and what is our purpose in this. And I remember I think it's Peter Hawkins that asked a question you know “coaches where were you when the world was falling apart? Where were you when these things were happening? What is your part in this as a coach?”. And that keeps running through my mind as I'm looking at these world events, feeling emotional at the terrible things that are happening to innocent people and looking at, as a coach how am I impacting the world in a positive or not so positive way. You know I noticed a lot of people are posting about this. I'm wondering is a post enough? You know what kind of action we need to be taking? And I know I'm bringing all of this reflection to my supervision work that I'm doing with my supervisor, as are the people who are working with me as supervisees.

Jeanine:  Yeah. I came together with a group yesterday, a supervision group and so what was coming up in the world was something that we brought to that group supervision and I have to say it was very in the end very uplifting in terms of the connections that we made and we also, each one of us, recognized we’re all, as a coach, we're all able to influence even the most smallest of things that can create a positive ripple effect. And so it was through this beautiful supervisory call where the supervisor held the space for each of us to share what was coming up in that place and to actually recognize that we as coaches, we can hold the space for our clients to also be able to dig deep into their resourcefulness to look at how we can be the change as coaches, as people, as clients, you know, whatever role we take, to be able to potentially see it through. Navigate what's coming up, because I think most coaches would be saying that you know all of this upheaval and challenge and really, truly horrendous situations… it potentially is the birthplace of something hopefully, really something amazing. I think we're all hoping for that. We're all looking towards that re-birthing and who knows how long that will be. But it's being able to, I guess, support one another through this. To be really present, to hold the space, to allow us to, I guess, really dig deep and navigate those rocky waters.

Marie:  Yeah I'm just thinking Jeanine, so there are some coaches who know what coaching supervision is and there are others who have not experienced it and isn't even on their radar so it might be useful to talk a little bit about what coaching supervision is and what it offers coaches and why we both believe it's such a vital part of our professional growth.

Jeanine:  Yeah that's a great realization and recognition. I guess we're so immersed in this world now. And yes it is that beautiful place where we can come together as coaches whether it be a one to one with a supervisor or, as we've been talking about, the group sessions as well. Where it's coming together to do that reflective work that enables us to identify what are the learnings, what can we learn from what we've experienced in the past and how we can move forward with that learning. So it is a very reflective practice and there’s the normative, the restorative and I forgot other one Marie maybe you can add.

Marie:  Formative.

Jeanine:  So those three beautiful ways that we can be supported as coaches to be able to really look at how we're being as a coach who we're being as a coach so that we can again be the best we can be to serve our clients. And we know Marie, there's so much to this supervision. It brings in so many different forms of looking at different perspectives. It brings in different therapies. It's just a beautiful deep process that enables us to go on a journey of discovery through reflection.

Marie:  It certainly is Jeanine. I know when I had, as a younger coach what when I had supervision in the past it always ended up being mentoring really which there's a big difference between mentoring and supervision. So, mentoring is really focusing on the skills the, core competencies of coaching and supervision really gives you a super vision upon you as a coach and your relationship with your clients and your practice. And that's the massive difference it really is, as you say, that reflective space. That time to get curious about the impact that we're having with our clients. And it always boils down to how we are being, who we are being in the in the coaching conversations and allows us to take different looks, views of ourselves. From treetops from grounds, from caves from wherever you want to view yourself to start learning more about yourself and developing your professional standards.

Jeanine:  Yeah it's really a creative place isn't it, Marie. And what I love about supervision is that it is a partnership. It's a co-creation. And so as you say, mentoring tends to be hierarchical. You've got the expert with the non so expert, I can't find the right word there. However, supervision like in the coaching partnership coaching and client it is a partnership and in the supervision partnership the supervisor is bringing so much more of themselves in to that relationship in terms of using themselves what they're noticing within themselves. But they're also taking on a helicopter view that the supervisor is taking on those different perspectives or in group work which is incredible because then you got a whole lot of other eyes that are involved in looking at this particular case or dilemma that a coach will bring to a session. So the one on one and the group work are different and they're equally powerful.

Marie:  Yeah. And Jeanine I'm thinking of, currently I'm doing some volunteering work and actually one of the criteria to be able to sign up to the volunteering group was that you had a supervisor that would support you. That would allow you to reflect on your work because some of the work that we're doing now as coaches is being present with what's arising rather than the goal oriented stuff. We are working with clients in the moment to understand or support them to understand what is arising within them right now. And this can be a very emotional process. And of course as coaches then we have to have some way of professionally supervising ourselves to ensure our own health and well-being. And I loved seeing that this volunteering to support others also required us to have coaching supervision.

Jeanine:  Yes it's just like a labyrinth. Is that the right word? It just opens so many different doorways and pathways and they're all powerful, they all lead to incredible learning. There's a saying that we use in our coach training from time to time. There are many roads that lead to Rome. And coaching supervision perhaps increases those words even more. And the beauty of that is it provides choice and power. In terms of the more awareness we have, the more choices we have, the more freedom we have.

Marie:  So I'm just thinking at one when we were trained we were part of an amazing cohort of 15 Global Citizens Global coaches from all over the world. And our trainer was the amazing Damien Goldvarg who is really a pioneer in the coaching supervision profession. He is passionate about spreading the word because coaching supervision is so powerful. And I always reflect about the wonderful new perspectives that all of us brought to the work when we were working together in groups. And even now we've got such a strong bond with our cohort that we really are there to support each other and help each other to grow in powerful ways.

Jeanine:  Yes I hear you Marie and I'm very much reminded about Damien today as I was supporting one of our colleagues on a call who was sharing an information session about the power of coaching supervision. And so Damien came to mind. I don't know when he sleeps. He's everywhere. Amazing.

Marie:  I think people will think that about us though too!

Jeanine:  Potentially. Actually I'm not sure when I sleep. But. And one of the one of the participants asked a question of a poor recognizing that you know in group dynamics that there can be you know there can be some tension, there can be some friction and that is a powerful place of learning which I was able to come in and also share that our cohort, you know, there were times when it was challenging and it was a beautiful place of learning and pretend to brought us even closer as a cohort. And as a consequence of the work that we've done we've been able to create even workshops around the differences that can potentially at first seem very confronting actually enables us to grow to be even more aware and again open up our choices.

Marie:  Currently we've got a number of group coaching supervisions that are going on for coaches in our community and on a world wide spread as well. We're part of a number of initiatives around the world. If you are interested in learning more about coaching supervision we'd be happy to have a chat with you. Those coaches who are part of our supervision groups are finding this self-reflective space such a powerful way to learn and grow with each other and their connection with each other is deepening in each of the calls. So we're very proud of the work that our coaches are doing as they're in these super vision groups with us facilitating them.

Jeanine:  Yes. Yeah it has been an incredible experience and I've loved every call that we've facilitated and supported the coaches. And of course a lot of them are bringing us as I mentioned at the beginning of the call, they're bringing this current situation and how that's impacting them to some of these sessions. And so we know that when we wrap up the coaches that have been on the call they feel supported, they feel connected. They've tapped inside to their own inner resourcefulness and strength. And as you say Marie the feedback has been incredible so. So before we do sign off is there anything else that you'd like to share about supervision Marie.

Marie:  I'd just like to ask the coaches that are listening in or those who are using coaching in their work to think about this question. What is your client work saying about you? How are your clients a reflection of you? And if you could deeply reflect on how you are, who you are in this profession, what would you say?

Jeanine:  Yeah beautiful questions, beautiful questions Marie. And I would add you know as you do reflect on self and reflect on the experiences that you're having with your clients, are they as you want them to be? Or do you know that there is so much more that you could be doing to support yourself to then be able to support your clients.

Marie:  Fantastic Jeanine. I think that's a lovely place to wrap up. And as we leave you with some reflections we'd love to hear your thoughts about those reflections your experience of thinking about this and if you've enjoyed this podcast. Please feel free to share with your network.

Jeanine:  Lovely. Thank you Marie. Always lovely to see you and enjoy your rest of day and i'll enjoy my evening here in Australia.

Marie:  OK. You too. Take care. Bye bye.

Jeanine:  Lots of love. Bye bye.