Reflective Practice in Coaching Supervision - a Solution Focused Stance

At the heart of supervision lies the invitation to stop, step back, and turn attention to what we are doing and how we are being. Reflection is not an optional extra, but a defining characteristic of professional practice. In coaching supervision, reflection serves both coach and client: the supervision client learns from experience, expands awareness, and translates insight into new choices that may enhance their effectiveness.

For Solution Focused supervision, reflection is not about endlessly dissecting problems or dwelling on mistakes. Instead, it is about creating the conditions for supervision clients to notice what works, amplify their resources, and generate fresh possibilities for action. In this sense, reflective practice resonates deeply with the solution focused orientation: staying curious, building on strengths, and orienting towards preferred futures.

Why reflective practice matters

Dewey (1933) described reflection as a cycle of questioning and searching. Solution Focused supervision exemplifies this. There is a preference for reflecting on what is working. When the client wants to reflect on what is not working, the Solution Focused supervisor would invite to hold the pontential discomfort lightly, not as evidence of deficiency but as material for growth. Difficulties are  seen as sources of useful information, and coaches are resourceful learners capable of change.

Models of reflection

Across the literature, several models can inform supervision. Hullinger, DiGirolamo, and Tkach (2019) propose an integrated cycle: reflection → awareness → self-regulation. Coaches pause to observe and question; become aware of assumptions, emotions, and impacts; and regulate future behaviour accordingly.

Campone (2010) offers a three-step reflective coaching practitioner model:

• Research in action: capturing experiences and surfacing tacit knowledge.

• Reframing mental models: examining assumptions and shifting perspectives.

• Enacting changes: experimenting with new strategies in practice.

Hay (2007) brings reflection into three timeframes:

• past (reviewing),

• present (reflection-in-action),

• and future (planning ahead).

Solution Focused supervision does not prescribe one model of reflective practice but can usefully add to the existing ones by strengthening the focus on what is wanted and what is already going in the right direction. When “examining assumptions” like in Hullinger (2019) or Campone (2010), the Solution Focused supervisor would hold a preference for as little as possible assumptions about the supervision client and the supervision client’s client except the assumptions that they are resourceful and whole.

Conditions for reflection

Goldvarg (2019) reminds us that the quality of reflection depends on context. Drawing on Nancy Kline’s (2004) Thinking Environment, he lists ten conditions: attention, equality, calm, appreciation, encouragement, full information, place, incisive questions, diversity, and openness to feelings. These mostly align with a Solution Focused stance: offering genuine curiosity, treating supervision clients as equals, valuing difference, and asking questions that generate new possibilities is also important in Solution Focused supervision. A Solution Focused stance of assuming competence and listening without assumptions and listening for desired changes in past and future almost guarantees that a “Thinking Environment” is created.

Applying reflection in solution focused supervision

Before supervision

Preparation matters. Supervision clients who arrive with notes, recordings, or reflections make supervision richer. A Solution Focused supervisor might ask in advance: What would be useful for us to talk about in the session? How will you know this supervision has been helpful?

During supervision

In Solution Focused supervision clients may rehearse new behaviours, imagine future sessions, or role-play interventions in supervision. Solution focused supervisors can amplify this by asking: Suppose next time you handle this differently — what will you notice in yourself? What will your client notice?

After supervision

A Solution Focused supervisor might invite the client to journal on their successes or otherwise create the conditions for noticing their preferred future already happening. This can, again, serve as the preparation for the next supervision session which builds on what worked in the meantime.

In  Solution Focused Supervision, reflective practice is less about dwelling on deficits than about amplifying what works and rehearsing what could work even better toward who the supervision client wants to become as a coach.

Here are some reflective practice questions for you:

• In what ways has reflection already helped me become more effective as a coach?

• What small sign will tell me that supervision is deepening my reflective capacity?

• If I imagined myself six months from now as a more reflective practitioner, what would I notice myself doing differently?

References:

Campone, F. (2010). The reflective coaching practitioner model. In J. Passmore (Ed.), Supervision in Coaching: Supervision, Ethics and Continuous Professional Development (pp. 11–20). Kogan Page.

Dewey, J. (1933). How we think. D.C. Heath.

Goldvarg, D. (2019). Supervisión de coaching: Para el desarrollo profesional del coach. Ediciones Granica.

Hay, J. (2007). Reflective practice and supervision for coaches. Open University Press.

Hullinger, A. M., DiGirolamo, J., & Tkach, J. T. (2019). Reflective practice for coaches and clients: An integrated model for learning. Philosophy of Coaching: An International Journal, 4(2), 5–34

Kline, N. (2004). More time to think. Octopus.

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