How Supervision Transforms Coaching From the Inside Out

Reboot Supervision founder Ali Schultz sat down with Aaron Gadiel, a Certified Creativity Coach and Business Consultant, to explore his journey with coaching supervision. What started as a search for support turned into something far more profound—a practice that revealed how deeply a coach's own inner world shapes the work they do with clients.

In this conversation, they discuss what supervision actually is, the unexpected ways it has transformed Aaron's coaching practice, and why this kind of reflective work isn't just good hygiene, but essential to showing up with integrity in those intimate moments where personal and professional lives intersect.

Ali: Tell me a bit about your coaching practice and what brought you to supervision?

Aaron: My coaching is part of what I do as a professional. I'm not a full-time coach—I run a parallel path with a consulting business. When I decided to get into coaching, I wanted to be certified. Not because I felt like anyone would ask me for that certification. It was more for my own overcoming imposter syndrome, really. I ended up starting to coach people who were similar to me, who were traversing the non-traditional path. There's no playbook for a lot of entrepreneurs. My clients tend to be at this intersection of where personal and professional life intersect.

Ali: So what brought you to supervision specifically?

Aaron: I actually didn't know I was looking for supervision. What I knew I was looking for was support around my coaching. Most of the support that I was finding was for really full-time coaches. And there was a bit more of a formulaic piece to it. When I found coaching supervision, it was like, this is what I'm looking for. I didn't have the words. I didn't know what supervision meant even when I started.

Ali: What has surprised you most about working with a supervisor?

Aaron: What I have been massively surprised about and has been the complete game changer for me is how I show up—what's going on in my own life and how I show up and bring that into my coaching sessions unconsciously most of the time.

Ali: Can you give me an example of how that shows up?

Aaron: It could be something about money. Usually, that's a big one, right? So my own money stories or whatever is happening in that moment with me and money, and then I show up to a coaching session, and my client starts talking about their money situations. How much of my own story am I bringing into it?

Ali: So, what does supervision help you do with that awareness?

Aaron: A lot of the work I'm doing in supervision is recognizing where are you showing up, Aaron, and where is it your client? And then, one, becoming aware of it, and two, maybe it's something you bring into the session, right? Maybe it's something you reveal to your client. I'm always very, I try really hard to own my projections in my coaching sessions.

Ali: How would you describe the impact this has had on your coaching?

Aaron: That work, that observation, has been transformative. It's an inside job—looking at myself and what am I bringing to the table. It really allows me to look at myself in those moments, those intimate moments, and say, who am I in that space? And who am I advising this person in that space?

Ali: How is supervision different from just having your own coach?

Aaron: Somehow, I want people to know how it is subtly different than hiring your own coach. And I am very much a believer that all coaches should have coaches. It really allows me to look at myself in those critical moments of, I would call it intimacy with a client. And how are you gonna show up in that moment? And then how are you gonna learn from that and reflect on that?

Ali: What would you say to coaches who think they don't need this kind of support?

Aaron: A lot of coaches like to think they're the smartest person in the room. And they might be, but so what? Where are they eating their own broccoli? It's like good hygiene. Seeing how we show up in these moments is really important. I know it's really important for me. And I do believe that it's really important for my clients.

Ali: What about the impact beyond just the coaching session itself?

Aaron: It's not just what I bring in, it's also how I leave the room. And what am I carrying with me from the session out back into my own real world? Yeah, just being aware of all that and just having an opportunity to look at that as like, hey, let's pay attention to this. And not saying we need to change things, but certainly awareness is the beginning of that process for me.