Some of the most common questions coaches ask after finishing their coach training program are:
“How do I keep growing and developing as a coach?“
“Should I invest in mentor coaching or coaching supervision?”
“When do I need mentor coaching, and when do I need supervision?”
Both of these are coach development practices, and it is easy to assume they’re interchangeable. Both include reflection, feedback, and professional development. Both can significantly improve your coaching.
This isn’t an either-or decision. Many experienced coaches benefit from both throughout their careers because each supports a different dimension of professional growth. The main difference is: serve different purposes.
If you’re looking to enhance your coaching sessions, prepare for or renew an ICF credential, mentor coaching may be exactly what you need. If you’re looking to better understand your coaching relationships, discuss some client cases, navigate ethical dilemmas, stay resourced and continue growing as a reflective practitioner, coaching supervision offers that.
What is mentor coaching?
The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines mentor coaching as a collaborative learning process designed to help coaches develop their competence in the ICF Core Competencies through structured feedback and reflective conversation.
Unlike general coaching discussions, mentor coaching focuses specifically on how you’re coaching.
A mentor coach observes either live or recorded coaching session, explores how effectively you’re demonstrating the ICF Core Competencies, and facilitates a developmental conversation on coaching skills, such as active listening, evoking awareness, maintaining coaching presence, or partnering with clients.
For many coaches, mentor coaching becomes especially important when preparing for an ICF credential or renewal, but its value extends beyond assessment. Thoughtful mentor coaching encourages coaches to become more intentional in their practice. Rather than simply asking whether a coaching conversation “went well,” it invites deeper questions:
- What did the coach do that supported the client’s thinking?
- Where did the coach unintentionally lead the conversation?
- Which competency could have been demonstrated more effectively or consistently?
- How might a different intervention have created more client ownership?
This kind of focused reflection often accelerates professional growth because it transforms coaching experience into deliberate learning.
What is coaching supervision?
While mentor coaching helps a coach to explore how you are coaching, coaching supervision addresses how you are being as a coach.
Supervision creates a confidential reflective space where coaches explore not only coaching techniques but also the wider professional relationship with clients, sponsors, colleagues, wider context and of course themselves as practitioners.
A supervision conversation might include:
- ethical dilemmas that don’t have obvious answers
- emotional responses that arise during coaching
- recurring patterns across different clients
- questions about professional boundaries
- uncertainty in complex coaching situations
- cultural dynamics within the coaching relationship
- or how the coach’s own assumptions influence their work.
Rather than evaluating performance against specific competencies, supervision helps coaches develop greater awareness of themselves within the coaching process.
Supervision is a way of professional “hygiene”. The longer you coach, the less your development depends on learning new techniques and the more it depends on strengthening professional judgment, self-awareness, and reflective capacity. These are qualities that cannot be developed through experience alone. They grow through thoughtful examination of coaching practice with the support of an experienced supervisor.
At UpThink Coaching, mentor coaching and supervision are integrated into all of our coach training programs. Group supervision complements mentor coaching by helping coaches-in-training explore the relational, emotional, ethical, and intercultural dimensions of their work, not simply their behavior-based performance.
One graduate reflected on this combination by saying:
“The supervision sessions helped me see my coaching differently. They weren’t about finding the ‘right answer,’ but about becoming more aware of what I was bringing into every coaching conversation.”
Read more coaching students’ testimonials
Contact us to explore your coach training journey.