VIRTUAL PROFESSIONAL NETWORK

Free webinars and resources for supervisors to support their professional and personal development

The Global Supervisors’ Network (GSN) is unique.  When it started at the beginning of 2016 it was and remains the first, free, participative network for trained and experienced supervisors across the world who are working in coaching, mentoring and consultancy to provide each other with, and receive, Continuing Personal and Professional Development (CPPD) virtually.  It also supports research in the field of supervision, and has working groups for example in internal supervision, research, supervision of supervision and in supervision and the climate and ecological emergency.  While it collaborates with all the coaching, mentoring and supervision professional bodies, it is not affiliated to any one body.  The guiding principles are outlined at the bottom of this section.

It was set up by Eve Turner in late 2015/early 2016 and the criteria for joining are that members are qualified and experienced supervisors of coaches, mentors and/or consultants.  There are webinars at least monthly, where 300+ members from around the world provide each other with excellent learning opportunities on a range of diverse subjects broadly related to supervision and/or personal development.  Recordings and other materials, such as slides, are made available for members of the network for their personal use.  This is all done at no cost to members to join or attend the webinars with the sole aim of supporting best practice.

GNS members include supervisors working in countries such as the USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, India, Oman, Qatar and Turkey, as well as throughout Europe such as Spain, Poland, Portugal, France, Finland, Hungary, Germany, Latvia, Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.  The GSN has established a community that brings together some of the leading thinkers in the field.  To date there have been 200+ webinars.

We always adapt to context, and in March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic spread further around the world, causing lockdowns in multiple countries, the GSN started running special sessions on “Supervision and the Coronavirus” looking at supervising at a time of crisis.  Fortnightly sessions to share ideas and provide mutual support were arranged and held twice monthly up to cover global time zones, up to December 2020.  In part, these have continued in Kitchen Conversations facilitated by Hellen Hettinga and Anna Casas, and the climate sub-group.

Members may choose to be involved in working groups and research projects and they have participated in research on ethics, contracting, the role generational differences may play in supervision, dealing with bereavement in coaching and supervision and supervision of supervision (led by Julia Menaul).  The innovative research into supervision of supervision, through the workgroup,  began in Autumn 2017 and initial findings were reported in the AC’s Global Perspectives magazine, pages 39-41, in late 2017 and at the EMCC research conference in 2018.  Jo Birch presented further personal findings through an auto-ethnographical study at the Oxford Brookes’ 10th annual international supervision conference in May 2022 and the group collectivize published an article “Supervision of Supervision: Research Insights” in the July edition of the AC’s Coaching Perspectives magazine.

Three more working groups were set up in 2020.  The first is on ‘Supervision and Reflective Practice In The Face of a Climate and Ecological Emergency’ and has a core team of Hellen Hettinga, Anna Casas, Andra Morosi, Rebecca Stevens, Colin Wilson and originally the late Dr Alison Whybrow.  There is a group looking at supervising internal coaches, co-led by Cheryl Cooper and Jenny Mitchell,  and a working group that will actively support research into supervision, co-led by Dr Colleen Harding and Dr Michel Moral and with sub-groups looking at different research topics such as the impact and benefits of supervision, team coaching, and ethical practice.  In 2023 a new working group is setting up around the important topic of mental health and supervision.

Members are also involved in running aspects of the GSN.  This includes a coordinating team with current members Veronica Wantenaar, Larissa Thurlow, Fiona Benton and myself, Eve, and previous members Anne Calleja,  Sam Farmer, and Benita Stafford-Smith, setting up sessions.  There was also a development group which included Jane Cox, Hellen Hettinga, Jenny Mitchell, Sophie Bruas, Jeanine Bailey, Michel Moral and Colleen Harding, and a group that started work on a bespoke GSN website with Alex van Oostveen, Amanda Horne, Emilia Piera, Angela Dunbar and Fiona Benton.  And there is an active team who host the webinars for the presenters: Angela Dunbar, Angela Jopling, Hellen Hettinga, Jeanine Bailey, Larissa Thurlow, Lise Lewis, Veronica Wantenaar and myself.

Publications and conference presentations have involved members such as Michel, Moral, Jo Birch, Carole Whitaker, Kristina Crabbe, Peter Hawkins, Damian Goldvarg and Eve Turner.  This includes a chapter written by Michel Moral and Eve Turner on supervision of supervision in a 2019 EMCC book on supervision edited by Jo Birch and Peter Welch.  Jo Birch has also written an article for Coaching Today (October 2020) based on her experience of supervision of supervision, through a GSN research group.

Members have also discussed the state of coaching supervision globally in two sessions in December 2018, chaired by Professor Peter Hawkins.  The results were written up by members Carol Whitaker and Kristina Crabbe: Whitaker, C. and Crabbe, K. (2019).  The global challenges of coaching supervision, in Coaching at Work Vol 14 (2), pp13-16.  They were also the subject of a conference presentation in May 2019 with Carol, Kristina and Peter Hawkins at the 8th international coaching supervision conference held at Oxford Brookes University.

The Global Supervisors’ Network is proud to have partnered with EthicalCoach, the philanthropic arm of WBECS (now part of coaching.com), to support aspiring coaches in Africa with supervision.  Following coach training for the coaches by Professor David Clutterbuck, GSN members have given their time, voluntarily, to supervise the coaches since spring 2018, ending in spring 2021.  The aim of this phase of EthicalCoach was to support NGO leaders from Ethiopian non-government/civil society organizations committed to tackling humanitarian and environmental challenges, so aiming to transform the lives of children and families in need.  More details of the initiative can be found on the EthicalCoach website. GSN supervisors have also supported CoachActivism which helps frontline refugee workers and individual volunteers.

Please contact Eve Turner ([email protected]) or the Administrator to the GSN, Fiona Benton ([email protected]) for more details on the GSN.  Virtual sessions are held at both 1900 on Thursdays and 0800 on Fridays (UK time) to accommodate time zones, at least monthly.

Guiding Principles  

  1. A community for experienced and qualified coaching/mentoring supervisors who have done 50+ hours delivering supervision
  2. No particular affiliation to any one body or organization, but open to members of all bodies and other individuals provided they meet the joining requirements
  3. A continued commitment to free monthly webinars and free membership for all
  4. A learning community that supports development in the field so is actively involved in research, writing and pro bono work in coaching, mentoring and supervision
  5. To be accessible from anywhere in the world, and offering webinars in different time zones each month to facilitate this
  6. Respecting each other’s copyright therefore being able to share materials with trust
  7. Not advertising to each other, but promoting, for example, conferences in supervision.

CPD webinar schedule for 2023

31 August/1 September 2023 – Kitchen Conversations – being in dialogue with ourselves and others, with music and movement – Anna Casas and Hellen Hettinga from the GSN Subgroup “supervision and reflective practice in the face of a climate and ecological emergency”

Sparked by Jeremy Lent in his book The Web of Meaning:

“As our civilization careens toward climate breakdown, ecological destruction, and gaping inequality, people are losing their existential moorings. The dominant worldview of disconnection, which tells us we are split between mind and body, separate from each other, and at odds with the natural world, has been invalidated by modern science.”

This special edition of the Kitchen Conversations invites you to join us integrating our connection between mind and body.  It will be an experiential session, being in dialogue with ourselves and others. Not through verbal language, but through our bodies’ intelligence guided by the music rhythms.  Using a meditation practice in movement, without choreography, we will engage in a spontaneous movement practice following the rhythms of the music.

It is an experiment to explore knowing beyond the cognitive, discover a creative expression of our essence, so we can tap into fresh, emergent ways of knowing that integrate learning on an individual and collective level through the improvised movements.  Through sensing the rhythms of the music, we develop our presence and resilience, learn to be comfortable with not-knowing and allow deeper connections. This practice will serve practitioners and their stakeholders in developing awareness and an authentic curiosity in ‘who are you?’

21/22 September 2023 – Ethics in Coaching Promotion – with Francine Campone (Thursday) and Alex van Oostveen (Friday)

This interactive session will help coaching supervisors notice potential ethical challenges in coach promotional activities and consider blind spots, cognitive biases and errors in ethical judgement in coach self-presentation.

12/13 October 2023 – Team Coaching Supervision;  Same or Different? – Anna Springett and Larissa Thurlow (Thursday), Cheryl Cooper and Larissa Thurlow (Friday)

Anna, Larissa and Cheryl have partnered to invite the network to co-reflect on an important question of how to best support team coaches in supervision.  How are we already equipped and what else may we need to consider in order to be fit for this role/purpose?

9/10 November 2023 – Working with Context: Listening to a new voice – Bev Paulin

Contextual perspectives are not new in human-centred and developmental theory or practices. However, the call to acknowledge and honour context seems to be growing louder, broader, and deeper across coaching and supervision. This dialogue will be open, spacious, and undoubtedly enriched by the voices and presence of those gathered. It will be an opportunity to explore contextual dynamics in practice. It is an invitation to listen to a new voice.

7/8 December 2023 – Celebrating supervision – bring your stories, chaired by Robert Stephenson

Further details to be added.  This will mark the end of the GSN’s 8th year (we started at the beginning of 2016).

30 November/Friday 1 December 2023 –  EXTRA SESSION Invitation Guest speaker: Elaine Patterson – Enlisting Wisdom’s Wisdom for Planet Earth

An update from the GSN subgroup Supervision and Reflective Practice in the face of a Climate and Ecological Emergency.

Previous sessions:

12/13 January 2023 – Metavision: Cultivating wisdom with Dr Henry Campion.

Henry uses the term metavision as an alternative to ‘supervision of supervision’. In his work as a metavisor, he has found the idea of cultivating wisdom to be a valuable unifying concept, a map to navigate by, both for himself and for those he works with. The aim of this session will be to offer a model of wisdom, and then reflect together on what it takes to cultivate it and how far it overlaps with metavision.

2/3 February 2023 – Embodied supervision: Restoring together a movement of life and resilience with Anne Berthelin.

At a time when current events (pandemic, war, etc.) encourage distanced contacts and relationships, people are tired and exhausted, especially we supervisors as we are accompanying others. We need to cope with the environment and hold the complexity.

Anne will share a restorative process aimed at engaging us with our whole body and restoring our movement of life and resilience, using a mix of Narrative Practices and Gestalt to reincorporate, bring to life and maybe amplify our movement of Preferred Story. Anne created this process to support her clients (patients, coachees and supervisees) as well as in organisations over the past 3 years.

23/24 March 2023 – The supervisor’s role in developing an ethical exit strategy for unexpected incapacitation and death with David Lane and Eve Turner.

Many people don’t have a personal will, so even fewer may have a professional “will” or arrangements in case of their unexpected illness or death.  While this would enable a clearer process for those we leave behind reducing much of the burden, would someone know how to access our client, Facebook, LinkedIn, professional insurance, professional body memberships and other information?  Using real situations where this has arisen, some information and breakouts, this session will consider a coach’s and a supervisor’s ethical obligations.

13/14 April 2023 – Join the ReCreation Party – You’re invited! with Gillian Walter

You are invited to an experiential ‘party’ where you will explore how recreation (or light & full-hearted play) and creation (hands-on creativity) can support the connection to your own best self and thinking about how to bring more ‘ReCreation’ insights into your own client sessions.

11/12 May 2023 – Taking a systemic perspective on SoS/tricky cases with Tammy Turner

This experiential session will challenge you to expand your capacity in handling tricky cases and what’s required for the future of supervision. We will look at what is required as professional supervisors to work with cases that range from the student learning individual coaching to the advanced coach working in a complex adaptive system (CAS). A dynamic new model Spiralling the field to develop reflexivity will be introduced and explored against your tricky cases.

22/23 June 2023:

Thursday – Decolonizing and Liberatory Coaching Principles Applied in Coaching Supervision – DeBorah (Sunni) Smith

The session will explore how the Coaching for Transformation’s (CFT) approach to decolonizing and liberatory coaching principles can enrich the coaching supervision experience. Interactive small group sessions will introduce and expand on an established and “lived-experience” coaching methodology for healing, justice, and liberation.

Friday – A Decolonial Take on Ethical Maturity – Charmaine Roche

This session will explore the shift required for supervision to play a meaningful role in what is emerging as a social justice orientation in coaching. It will focus in on the place of critical reflection and radical compassion as underdeveloped attributes of ethical maturity. You will gain some insight into what these concepts might mean for you as a supervisor of coaches with aspirations to make a difference in relation to climate and social justice intent.

6/7 July 2023 – Let’s fall (and fail) together – Robin Shohet

Hafiz writes:

Pulling the chair

From beneath your mind

And watching you

Fall upon God

What else is there for Hafiz to do

Which is any fun

In this world

What is it that you would least like to find out or acknowledge about yourself?  That might be the way to fall upon whatever you wish to call God.  You might like to watch on the BBC iPlayer (if you have access) Humza Arshad, the comedian and YouTuber talking of “Forgiving the Unforgivable” if you have time.  It throws up, as does forgiveness generally, our conflicts about letting go. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m001hhr8/humza-forgiving-the-unforgivable) or if no access read about it here:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hhr8 .  You could also read Anita Sanchez’s beautiful book “Four Sacred Gifts,” gifts delivered by a gathering of 27 First Nations Elders.  One is called: “Forgive the Unforgivable.” Anita, a coach, tells her story of the murder of her father.

Congratulations to GSN members who are 2021 Coaching at Work award winners

Contribution to Climate: Highly Commended – Zoe Cohen.

Best Article Award: Winners – Clare Norman, Michelle Lucas (with Sebastian Fox).

Supervision Award: Highly Commended – Michelle Lucas, Henry Campion and Jackee Holder.

The Coaching Supervision award went to Lorenza Clifford who has been again, focusing on the role of supervision in the context of our climate and ecological crisis and dedicating a good portion of her time to the Climate Coaching Alliance local community she skilfully leads.

Lifetime Achievement Award: David Lane for services to coaching and coaching supervision – our presenter in February 2022.

Congratulations to GSN members who are 2020 EMCC Global Supervision Award Winners

Many congratulations to GSN members Tom Battye, Professor Peter Hawkins and Lily Seto who have been announced as 2020 EMCC Global Supervision Award winners.

Dr Riza Kadilar, EMCC Global President, said of the award winners ‘EMCC exists to develop, promote, and set the expectation of best practice in supervision (as well as coaching and mentoring) globally for the benefit of society. I’m proud to see that the winners of 2020 EMCC supervision awards at both individual and institutional level are exemplary role models in line with our purpose statement. I should also extend my special thanks to our distinguished awards panel members for their diligent work in selecting such inspiring winners.’

The full EMCC announcement can be read here.

 

Congratulations to GSN members who are 2020 Coaching at Work award winners

The winners of Coaching at Work Editor’s 2020 Awards are:

Neil Scotton – For Contributions to Climate Coaching

The Climate Coaching Alliance and its co-founders, Eve Turner, Alison Whybrow (and Josie McLean) – also For Contributions to Climate Coaching

Emma Donaldson-Feilder, Highly Commended for her article series Relational Mindfulness (Vol 15, Issues 2, 3 & 4).

The online awards can be watched here:

 

Congratulations to GSN members who are 2019 EMCC Global Supervision Award Winners

Many congratulations to GSN members Dr Damian Goldvarg, Dr Lise Lewis and Dr Michel Moral who have been announced as 2019 EMCC Global Supervision Award winners.

“As EMCC we define the purpose of supervision to enhance the wellbeing, and develop the practice of coaches and/or mentors of all levels of experience, and we consider supervision as a powerful vehicle for deep learning in a systemic way. I’m so proud that all three winners of EMCC 2019 supervision awards are distinguished practitioners doing excellent work extending the reach of best practice in supervision not only in Europe but also in the Americas, Africa, and French speaking countries. It is not only their contributions in terms of raising the professional standards but also their pro bono work that makes a great impact on the future of coaching and mentoring. I should also extend my special thanks to our distinguished jury members for their diligent work in selecting such high calibre winners.”
Dr Riza Kadilar, EMCC President

The full EMCC announcement can be read here.

Congratulations to GSN members at the Coaching at Work awards (July 2019)

Several GSN members were shortlisted for these prestigious annual Coaching at Work magazine annual awards, which is in itself a huge achievement. Some were also highly commended or won awards at the ceremony in London on 3 July 2019.

External Coaching/Mentoring Champion:

Highly commended: Lise Lewis

Comments: “Remarkable energy, championing mentoring and coaching internationally…There are few people who have given as much of themselves to the profession with such huge gnerosity, intelligence and humour!”

Contributions to Coaching Supervision:

Winner: Peter Welch, co-founder of the Association of Coaching Supervisors, now in its 10th year

Comments: “Peter deserves to be recognised in this special year (tenth anniversary of AoCS) for the huge amount of voluntary hours he puts into his roles, with such great passion and vigour.”

Highly commended: Jo Birch

Comments: “Major advocate and promoter of coach supervision and for raising standards…rare global perspective.”

Lise Lewis and Benita Treanor (with Claire Palmer)

Comments: “Far-reaching impact e.g. raising standards & developing supervision in the various bodies, and collaborative multi-stakeholder ventures…their work continues to reverberate a decade on.”

and Elaine Patterson (with Karyn Prentice)

Comments: “Karyn and Elaine have been the most incredibly generous, kind, supportive and amazing women” (Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Trust)

Shortlisted: Carol Whitaker

Best Article/article series:

Joint winners: Jonathan Passmore and Eve Turner for their two part series (with Marta Filipiak) on their research on how coach supervisors respond to ethical dilemmas and tricky issues, research supported by GSN members.

Comments: “Global span…a thought provoking, challenging and important series.”

Highly commended: Elaine Patterson and the 7Cs

Comments: “Inspiring and practical”

Shortlisted: David Clutterbuck Coaching teams of teams; Eve Turner and Peter Hawkins’ on how to use recordings in supervision; Eve Turner’s Tried and Tested on her Halo and Horns model.

(Occasional) Lifetime Achievement Award

Winner: Fiona Adamson

Comments: “Authentic, unsung hero, humble, wise. Utter delight…one of the people the field of coaching supervision owes a debt to.”

David Gray was also posthumously given this Award.

Congratulations to GSN members Tatiana Bachkirova, Angela Wright and Eve Turner at the EMCC 2018 supervision awards (January 2019)

GSN members Professor Tatiana Bachkirova and Eve Turner and Angela Wright, jointly won the 2018 Supervision Award at the EMCC January 2019 Coaching, Mentoring, and Supervision Awards.

Eve says: “I am thrilled, surprised, honoured, and humbled to have received the EMCC Supervision Award, and I am really grateful to those who took the time to make nominations, to the judges for their time, and to the EMCC for highlighting the importance of supervision.  In the decade since my supervision training, I’ve been fortunate to work with the most amazing, supportive people as supervisor, writer, and researcher. When I set up the Global Supervisors’ Network (GSN) to provide CPD for trained and qualified supervisors I had no idea it would grow to the current 150 members globally. By January 2019 we’ve run 80 webinars at no cost to members to join or attend. Volunteering has also provided wonderful opportunities, with the EMCC, and on important humanitarian projects as a volunteer supervisor, like CoachActivism with refugees, and most recently through the GSN as a supervision partner to EthicalCoach for charities and non-profit organisations. Thank you so much for this encouragement.”

Tatiana says: “Thank  you  very  much,  EMCC!  It  is  lovely  to  receive  such  recognition  in  the  professional area that is so close to my heart. Long live coaching supervision for the benefit of the whole coaching field!”

Angela says: “I feel honoured and humbled to receive this award from such a highly regarded organisation as EMCC, whose purpose and vision are so closely aligned with my own. On a personal level, this feels like a milestone in my own journey from a lawyer to coach and coach supervisor , which started over 10 years ago. As a very small lever in this huge system of which we are all a part, I acknowledge those who have supported and motivated me in my work, including my amazing supervisors and supervisees, the wonderful members of our supervision groups, and the enthusiastic coaches who participated in the recent coaching supervision research project. Your openness and generosity provide the impetus and energy for this work. I believe that we are at a pivotal moment in the evolution of coaching supervision, particularly in the USA. It is a privilege to be able to play, even a small part, in its co-creation and emergence in what I hope is a positive and powerful way. Thank you doesn’t even come close to describing the gratitude I feel towards my teachers, mentors, colleagues, and friends at the University of Sydney, who opened up this world to me, and inspire me to be more, and do more, every day. Finally, I’d like to thank my teachers and ‘my tribe’ and Oxford Brookes University in the UK , whose wisdom, guidance (and humour) I cherish.”

Congratulations to GSN members at the Coaching at Work awards (July 2018)

Quite a few GSN members were nominated and highly commended or won awards at the Coaching at Work magazine annual awards in London on 4 July 2018.

Contributions to External Coaching

Winner: Anne Hathaway – for her work on Time To Think over many years.  Anne is co-leading the August 2018 session on Supervision and Time To Think.

Highly Commended: Jackee Holder – for a range of work including around reflective writing and journaling and her work in diverse practice.  Jackee ran the January 2017 GSN session.

Best Article/Series

Winner: Louise Sheppard – for her work on supervisee-led supervision.  This formed a number of excellent articles for the magazine and was the basis of her February 2018 GSN sessions.

Highly commended: Eve Turner and Jonathan Passmore – for research (involving many GSN members) on ethics & supervision and development of their ethical decision-making model.

Contributions to Supervision

Winner: Eve Turner – for GSN, voluntary work, writing and research. Co-leading a GSN session in August.

Nominees: Peter Welch – who co-founded and helps lead the Association of Coaching Supervisors and is involved in a project looking at ethics for the AC/AOCS.  Peter co-led a GSN session in June.

Nominees: Louise Sheppard – for her work on research and supervision presented in part in February for the GSN.

Nominees: Michelle Lucas and Carol Whitaker – who have written two highly rated books on supervision.  Both very active, Michelle leads on supervision for the Association for Coaching and Carol presented the April 2018 GSN session with Angela Dunbar.  Together they have produced a report on “How different kinds of supervision affect experience” which was circulated to GSN members earlier this week.

Congratulations to them all!

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