At the BBC, five internal coaches attended the BCG coaching supervision programme. Subsequently, BCG held half day supervisory sessions to build the capacity of the internal supervision team and provided one-to-one supervision for the head of the coaching service.

BBC coaches have two types of supervision. Each coach has an hour of individual supervision with their lead coach at two-monthly intervals. Individual sessions are usually face to face, but they can be over the phone. Normally, the session will focus on one or two coaching clients. On alternate months, coaches participate in a half-day of group supervision with 10–12 coaches in each coaching set. By design, the group supervisor is not the same person as the individual supervisor. This ensures all coaches have two independent sources of ongoing supervision. In addition to the individual and group supervision, coaches may contact any lead coach/supervisor for particular needs arising between sessions.

We were delighted that the BBC were awarded ‘Winner’ for ‘Coaching Programme of the Year’ in the 2008 World of Learning Awards.