Coaching supervision: Creating islands of stability and sanity.

Here are some reasons for supervision with human intelligence.

In her powerful books, Who Do We Choose to Be and Restoring Sanity, Margaret Wheatley vividly presents the world we live in – awash in information that has lost its roots. Her solution is to create spaces and relationships in which human beings thrive. Her goal: restoring sanity. She writes:

What we can do, withing our sphere of influence, on our Island of Sanity, is ensure that we communicate constantly, that we stay alert to how people interpret our communications, and that we develop extraordinary levels of patience to keep repeating the same thing. Let’s assume that people will not understand us, will develop stories and concerns, even conspiracies around anything significant that happens in the organization or community. This is the reality of fearful people struggling to make meaning in an incoherent and mistrusted communications environment.

The antidote to misinformation and confusion is personal, face-to face, slowed communication. If we create the right conditions, either in person or online, people can experience being with another human, sensitive to all the sensory impressions easily extinguished by rapid interest exchanges. It’s not just the information; it’s the person communicating the information that we respond to. With the right conditions, we slow down, calm down, and enjoy the benefits of our glorious human brains engaged at full capacity, our beautiful human hearts opening with curiosity and compassion. ….It’s our responsibility to create the conditions so that people we work with can move from fears and confusion to fearless contribution.

How is this related to supervision? When we create a space of calm, slow, face-to-face communication and generate renewed clarity and meaning, we create islands of stability and sanity as practitioners. As I listen to my supervisees, this may be the most important contribution of supervision. At least it is for my supervisees. With sanity restored, the coach can better serve clients. And to maintain our deep ethics.

In my supervision groups:

I don’t know about you, but my supervisees bring many cases in which their clients are struggling in the current contexts and challenges of this tumultuous world. Stress, confusion, immobilization abound.

The coaches themselves report the same experiences.

What about you and yours?

Join a supervision group with me. I’ve been leading them since supervision came to the Americas.

If being part of such a group sounds appealing, send me a note. I’ll be forming two new small supervision groups as soon as possible.

Write to me: sam@sammagill.com