Coach supervision in South Africa: Exploring current practice and perceived value

Abstract

Workplace coaching has attracted significant attention over the past three decades as a key personalised learning and development strategy. Research confirms its effectiveness across various work contexts, with coach competence identified as the primary driver of coaching outcomes. This has led to efforts to professionalise coaching, including the establishment of accreditation bodies in South Africa, such as the ICF and COMENSA, whose role is to regulate credentialing and coaching standards. As a result, coach supervision has emerged as an area of study and practice that strives to enhance coaching quality and practitioner development. This white paper explores the state of coach supervision in South Africa through a literature review and qualitative (interview based) research involving key stakeholders – namely, coaches, coach supervisors, learning and development practitioners, and representatives from COMENSA and the ICF-SA Chapter. The study used thematic analysis to interpret the data collected. The findings from the study indicate that coach supervision fosters a reflective and collaborative learning environment. However, its theoretical and practical models remain underdeveloped, and a key barrier to its adoption is a lack of understanding of its value. To address this, professional bodies must align coach supervision standards with the three core areas in which it delivers value – restorative, formative, and normative. Additionally, training providers should design programmes that support these value components to drive the formalisation and adoption of coach supervision. Lastly, a significant amount of work is required from a scholarly perspective to develop appropriate theoretical anchors that will drive effective coach supervision practice.