Coach Spotlight: Coach Andrew

This week we’re excited to introduce ICF Master Certified Coach Andrew to the BOLDLY Spotlight. His 30+ years of global experience span industries from Pharma to Digital Marketing, with a rich background in cross-cultural settings—ranging from high school in West Berlin to Peace Corps service in Thailand. Coach Andrew excels in guiding leaders through complex transformations with an approach blending the transformative power of art with practical strategies. As a qualified Coach Supervisor and Coach Mentor, today he shares with us his views on Coach Supervision.

1) What is your overall philosophy and purpose of coaching supervision? 

My coaching supervision philosophy is centered around the belief that we all have an innate narrative intelligence and inner wisdom that guides, inspires and enables us to make a profound and lasting positive impact on our lives and those of others with whom we work. As both a coach and supervisor, I believe every conversation has the potential to be a transformative and meaningful experience. As such, I supervise coaches to embark on a journey of self-discovery to help them become great coaches and to transform them for the benefit of their coachees, organisations and stakeholders. 

2) Can you describe your preferred supervision process and the structure of a typical supervision session?

When supervising coaches, we follow a co-created (or collaborated) process, while using Peter Hawkins's 7 Eyed Model. The first 4 eyes are about the interaction between the supervised coach-client and their client, as viewed through the lenses of

Eye 1 ~ Background of the client being coached and the current situation

Eye 2 ~ Processes, tools and techniques the coach-client has used with their client

Eye 3 ~ Relationship between the supervised coach-client and their coached client

Eye 4 ~ Awareness evoked in the supervised coach (sensing, feeling and thinking) when interacting with the supervisor

The next 3 lenses center around deeper exploration into what is happening in the supervised coach’s mind and body, as well as in the supervisory interaction itself:

Eye 5 ~ The supervisor invites the coach to explore what they are sensing in their mind and body, as well as how the supervised coach is interacting with the supervisor to understand whether there are any parallel processes with the supervised coach’s interaction with their coached client

Eye 6 ~ The supervisor shares what she/he senses, feels and thinks while exploring and listening to the supervised coach. T

Eye 7 ~ The supervisor invites the coach to explore the larger context of the supervised coach with the stakeholders and the organizational system.

For every supervision conversation, there is no assumed order in exploring the 7 Eyes, nor is there any expectation or imperative to cover all of them. Rather, the process evolves organically, in the moment, with full shared awareness between the supervisor and coach.

3) How do you handle ethical dilemmas or sensitive issues that may arise during supervision?

When supervising coaches, often times ethical dilemmas and sensitive issues come up. And when they do, I handle them with care and full respect for the coach. With sensitive issues, I ensure that the coach has a safe space to express what they want. If they are not comfortable discussing certain items, I allow them to choose how to proceed with the conversation, when ethical dilemmas arise, I make sure that the coach understands the full implications of them, including any possible breach of laws, rules and/or codes of ethics. If / when I sense that the conversation is moving out of supervision and into counseling / therapy, I inform the coach that I am not qualified to support them in this space, and I offer to refer to a qualified professional who is better suited to handle their cases.

4) Can you share an anonymized example of a particularly challenging coaching supervision case you've encountered and how you navigate

There have been interactions when the coach I was supervising was not comfortable with my lines of inquiry, which included the use of metaphors and references to sensations that may be present in the body, as these represented exploration into new and unknown territory which, in the moment, felt unsafe and/or of limited or no benefit or value for them. In one particular conversation, the coach became emotionally agitated and very expressly stated that the session was not working. At that moment I realized that there may be a valuable opportunity to reframe the situation and to invite the coach to consider their situation through the lens of Eye 5 ~ whether there were any parallel processes between what was happening in the moment and what is happening in the interactions between the coach and their coached client. This led to powerful new awareness for the coach, coupled with a deeper understanding on the value of coaching supervision.

5) What are you reading at the moment? What's your thoughts so far on this book or topic, and how do you see it reflecting in your supervision practice?

Currently I am exploring the topic of Complexity Fitness and studying the works of Dave Snowden on using his creation, The Cynefin Framework. This Framework was developed to help leaders understand their challenges and to make decisions in context. By distinguishing different domains (the subsystems in which we operate), it recognises that our actions need to match the reality we find ourselves in through a process of sense-making. I and my collaboration and business partner, Jeanne-Elvire Adotevis, have adapted this Framework for Coaching Supervision and we have presented on this numerous times, as well as written an article that was featured in the December 2022 edition of the ANSE Journal, issued by the Association of National Organizations for Supervision in Europe (ANSE.)

Thank you so much for joining us Coach Andrew and for all the insights you shared! To book a coaching chemistry session with Coach Andrew, or to learn more about the full range of services BOLDLY has to offer, contact connect@boldly.app

About the Author:

Lisa Singh is an Australian, living with her family in the beautiful South Pacific. As Coach Business Partner Lead for BOLDLY, Lisa's team screen and onboard coaches onto our global marketplace, then enable the matching and engagement process so that coaches can do what they do best: deliver exceptional coaching journeys to our coachees. In her role with BOLDLY she loves meeting top coaches and promoting their work for a win:win. Connect with Lisa here.