Cultivating and Utilizing Intuitive Awareness as a Coach, Mentor and Supervisor

In my work as a coach, mentor and supervisor, I often notice moments when something quietly begins to surface.  This might be a word or phrase which seems pertinent, a pattern, an image, a bodily sensation, a subtle shift, a change in energy – something we are sensing rather than cognitively processing.  Most practitioners recognise these intuitive moments, but just as often, many simply dismiss the because they find themselves thinking things like:

“That’s probably just my imagination.”
“That’s surely just coincidence.”
“I can’t say that – I don’t have proof.”

Yet this subtle inner knowing is not random – it is intuition.

What Is Intuition?

Intuition can be explained as an inner knowing that arrives before logic or words.  It is a form of non-conscious intelligence that draws on subtle cues, emotional signals, embodied awareness and, sometimes, lived experience, to create a possible sense of knowing. Further, it may also be seen as a practitioner’s capacity to notice underlying patterns or possibilities, and to offer tentative insights grounded in presence, experience and reflective awareness.

Rather than being mystical, intuition is deeply human and deeply somatic – often arriving faster than conscious reasoning can keep up.

Intuition is not about certainty, it’s far more about sensitivity, attunement and presence.

So why do some practitioners doubt their intuition?

Most coaches, mentors and supervisors already experience intuition – a sense of what sits beneath the words, a shift in energy, a feeling that something is emerging.

However, intuition is often brushed aside as imagination or coincidence. Unfortunately, the result is that a powerful inner resource remains underused – not because it isn’t present, but because it isn’t always explored , voiced or trusted.

Intuition is not about having the right answer, instead it is about being open to what wants to emerge.

What does intuition require in professional practice?

Working intuitively is not accidental, it is a disciplined, ethical and relational practice. In coaching, mentoring and supervision, it requires:

• Clear contracting and permission
  Explicitly invite clients to design an agreement and voice the possibility that intuitive insights may be shared tentatively and respectfully.

• Psychological safety and trust
  Intuition can only surface when people feel emotionally safe, seen and unjudged.

• Stillness, silence and space
  Slowing down creates space for subtle information to surface.

• Reciprocity
  Model using your own intuition as a coach, mentor or supervisor and, in doing so, you can therefore empower clients to access and trust theirs too.

• Information and not truths
  Intuitive insights are always offered as information, possibilities, ideas to consider and not truth. Intuition is an invitation for exploration rather than a conclusion.

• Intuition is not guesswork
  It is essential that as practitioners we are able to distinguish from guessing, bias, assumptions, parallel process, impulse, transference, projection… True intuition is grounded, embodied, relational and reflective. It is tentative and curious – never forceful or absolute.

• Intuition is trainable
  It is a human capacity that can be developed through reflective practice, supervision and conscious awareness. With practice, practitioners can learn to tune in, notice subtle cues, discern what is theirs and what belongs to their client, and to trust what is already present within them.

Remember

It is important to note that intuition does not need proof, instead it simply needs a clear alliance, a willingness on the part of the practitioner to be vulnerable and curious, and the creation of space so that it can be noticed.

This article is a tiny taster of the content of the upcoming 10 ICF CCE approved course Cultivating Intuitive Awareness for Coaches, Mentors and Supervisors on the Jigsaw Learning Hub!  Why not take a look at what’s available and what’s coming soon.  All courses are deigned by Caroline Beckett and a select team of ICF coaches.