For the first time since 2019, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) updated their Core Competencies in 2025 for professional coaches and coach training programs. The Competencies were initially created to set a standard and lay the foundation for coaches across the globe, helping to ensure coaches lead with integrity and can guide others towards success while continuing to advance their own expertise.

Specifically, Core Competency 2: Embodies a Coaching Mindset, has been updated to include, among other new language, “works with coaching supervisors or mentor coaches as needed.” This addition signals a shift in how the profession defines excellence. Professional coaches have always known that coaching can never be viewed as a practice that can be sustained solely by leadership experience and good intentions. Now the bar is even higher because supervision is officially recognized as an important part of professional growth, development, reflection, and ethical alignment for coaches to best support their clients.

For organizations with internal coaching programs, this shift is even more significant. Internal coaches operate in complex ecosystems, often navigating multiple roles in the office, power dynamics, and balancing confidentiality and accountability. Without third party supervision from a qualified Coaching Supervisor, this environment can quickly lead to a lack of coaching quality, integrity, and impact.

What is Coaching Supervision?

The Definition of Coaching Supervision

According to the ICF, “Coaching Supervision is a dynamic and reflective process of collaboration, guidance and support through which coaches develop their personal, professional, and ethical capacity and maturity.” Supervision provides a structured space for coaches to step back from their client work, examine their practice, and strengthen their ability to serve clients with clarity and integrity.

The Association for Coaching (AC) adds “The primary aim of [coaching] supervision is to enable the coach to gain in ethical competency, confidence and creativity so as to ensure best possible service to the coaching client, both coachees and coaching sponsors. [Coaching] Supervision is not a ‘policing’ role, but rather a trusting and collegial professional relationship.” 

Across professional coaching bodies, supervision is consistently framed as:

• A reflective practice
• A professional development tool
• A safeguard for ethical coaching
• A support for the coach’s well-being

Under the guidance of a qualified supervisor, the coachee is able to refine core skills and at the same time practice more advanced techniques to improve client outcomes beyond the results they were already seeing.

How Coaching Supervision differs from Coaching 

While coaching and supervision both rely on reflective dialogue, their focus and purpose differ.

The Focus of Coaching

Professional coaching is client-centred and future-focused. The coach supports the client in clarifying goals, expanding awareness, and taking aligned action toward what they want to do, have, or become.

The Focus of Mentor Coaching

Mentor coaching is an ICF requirement for credentialing and like Supervision, it is now also mentioned as a Marker to Coaching Competency #2 ‘Embodies a Coaching Mindset’. Here, the coach works closely with their mentor coach to fine-tune their mastery of the competencies.

The Focus of Supervision

Supervision is meta-level. The supervisor’s “client” can be referred to as the coach’s practice. The focus is on:

• The coach’s effectiveness
• Client relationships
• Ethical considerations
• Emotional and cognitive responses to client work
  

Supervision is a layer of support to help ensure the quality and integrity of coaching delivery.

Where They Overlap

Both coaching and supervision are conversational, collaborative and require trust and confidentiality. Both rely on deep listening and awareness-evoking questions. The difference lies in who the work ultimately addresses. In Supervision, it’s about the Coach.

Why Coaching Supervision Matters More Than Ever

A Shift in the Signals of Professional Excellence

As mentioned, the ICF adding in Supervision as a core competency reflects a broader professional reality: to be an effective coach requires ongoing self-reflection and accountability. As coaching becomes more and more embedded in leadership development and organizational culture, the expectations placed on coaches have increased.

Having a supervisor signals a commitment to an ethical practice, a willingness to examine blind spots and assumptions, and a readiness to work on complex challenges rather than avoid them.

For internal coaches in particular, supervision is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’; it’s essential for professional excellence and growth.

The Hidden Cost of Unsupervised Coaching

Without Coaching Supervision, even experienced coaches are susceptible to:

• Ethical slips
• Unexamined habits or blindspots
• Unintentional bias
• Weak boundaries
• Burnout and Isolation

With internal and external coaches alike, these risks extend beyond the coach in question. They affect the client as well — it impacts their trust, psychological safety, and even the perceived effectiveness of the coaching program itself.

The Unique Challenges of Internal Coaching Programs

Internal coaching environments introduce complex situations not typically seen in external, private or third-party coaching practices.

Dual Roles and Conflicts of Interest

By nature of the role, internal coaches are both an employee and a coach. They may be asked to coach their coworkers, leaders, or even individuals within their own reporting structure — talk about awkward! This dual positioning inherently creates conflict around confidentiality, neutral positioning, and loyalty; especially with the organization’s priorities conflict with individual client needs.

Power Dynamics and Psychological Safety

Coaching within the same organizational system can heighten power dynamics, even when formal authority does not exist. Clients may question how information will be used within the organization, or whether coaching insights could influence performance evaluations, promotions, or team dynamics.

Supervision offers internal coaches an important way to address and responsibly navigate these dynamics before they compromise trust and safety for themselves and others in the organization.

Organizational Agendas vs. Coaching Integrity

Internal coaches often work within systems that prioritize performance, efficiency, and outcomes. Without supervision, it can become difficult to distinguish between coaching and performance management, consulting, or informal mentoring, therefore blurring ethical boundaries and diluting the coaching relationship and results.

What Effective Coaching Supervision Provides

A Reflective Practice That Strengthens Coaching Quality

Supervision allows coaches to reflect on real-time client work in a structured and confidential setting. Through reflective dialogue with supervisors, coaches can examine:

• What is happening in the coaching relationship
• How they are showing up as professionals
• Any habits, patterns, triggers, and assumptions that may be influencing their work

This in depth reflection inevitably leads to more intentional, skillful coaching and improved client outcomes.

Ethical Anchoring in Complex Systems

When it comes to internal coaching programs, ethical dilemmas are rarely theoretical. Coaching Supervision enables the coachees to explore grey areas, put their ethical decision-making to the test, and align their actions with professional standards before issues escalate.

The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) underscores the role of supervision in maintaining professional standards, supporting development, and safeguarding practitioner well-being within these complex environments.

Professional Support and Sustainability

Coaching can be a solitary profession, even within organizations. Supervision reduces isolation by offering connection, perspective, and support. This not only protects the coach’s well-being, but also sustains the long-term health of internal coaching programs.

How to Know When to Bring in a Coach Supervisor

With the updated Coaching Competencies, Supervision should now be factored into the planning of any internal coaching program. Tell-tale issues that Supervision will nip in the bud or resolve:

• Challenges that arise from complex interpersonal dynamics
• Coach’s uncertainty in their dual role of coach and employee
• Ethical questions that may be delicate or forbidden for the coach to discuss with another colleague
• The quality of the coaching as the program grows

When these signs start to appear, the supervision functions not only as professional support but as risk mitigation. It protects the organization’s investment in coaching and reinforces its commitment to ethical leadership development.

Investing in coaching supervision is a strategic investment for organizations. They not only protect the integrity of internal coaching programs, but they strengthen the coaching capability at scale. Additionally, they demonstrate ethical leadership and show that they support coach retention and sustainability.

Supervision is a strategic stepping stone for quality, trust, and long-term impact of internal coaching programs.

How to Choose the Right Coaching Supervisor for Internal Programs

Not all supervision is created equal. Internal coaching programs require supervisors who understand:

• Coaching Supervision Models and Approaches
• The ICF Code of Ethics and Core Competencies
• Confidentiality and boundary issues

A qualified supervisor brings both formal supervision training and lived experience within organizational contexts, holding a space that is both psychologically safe and professionally sound.

The Future of Internal Coaching Programs

As coaching continues to mature as a profession, supervision has emerged as a defining standard of program excellence, especially within internal coaching environments where ethical complexity is the norm rather than the exception.

If your organization is developing or expanding an internal coaching program, or if you are responsible for safeguarding coaching quality and ethics, supervision is no longer an option — it’s essential.

To explore coaching supervision designed specifically for internal coach training programs, or to discuss how supervision can support ethical, sustainable coaching at scale, send an email to clientcare@corryrobertson.com and ask about our Coaching Supervision services. We’ll get back to you with our calendar availability for a 1-1 call.