In this regular column, Paul Heardman puts coaching supervision under the spotlight. This issue: using Carl Jung’s concept of the Shadow within supervision
The Shadow is one of Carl Jung’s most useful, if challenging, concepts. It’s “that part of us that we fail to see and know” (Johnson, 1991). The Shadow is what we are not conscious of, but which nonetheless drives our behaviour. It’s those aspects of ourselves we deny, repress and project. From this perspective, many issues in coaching supervision can involve Shadow dynamics.
Why do we have a Shadow? The Jungian view is our early attachment needs mean we adapt ourselves in service of our belonging. We repress characteristics not smiled on by those around us, and then forget we even have those parts. Hollis (2007) says this process helps us feel safe psychologically, but also causes self-estrangement. Bly (1988) describes the Shadow as a heavy bag we drag behind ourselves, stuffed with our unwanted aspects. It becomes ever harder work, dragging this bag through life. Coaching is often about enabling clients to retrieve aspects of themselves from their Shadow bag.
Shadow dynamics are unconscious. We don’t know we’re doing this. It’s why we invest so much energy in denial and projection. What we cannot accept in ourselves, we project onto others so we don’t have to carry it ourselves.
Jung (1959) famously said: “Projections change the world into the replica of one’s own unknown face.” A clue that our Shadow material may be activated is via our strong somatic or emotional responses.
Shadow in supervision
As coaching supervisors, whatever is in our personal Shadow distorts our perception. Our ‘insights’ may simply be projections, foisting our own unwanted qualities onto another. As Johnson (2008) says, “We barely understand how much of what we perceive in others and the outside world are actually part of ourselves.”
Even worse, our unconscious Shadow agenda may run counter to our clients’ interests. We might, unknowingly, use our supervision practice to defend against our own Shadow material. So the most important Shadow work we do isn’t with clients, but on ourselves. Befriending our Shadow as supervisors becomes an ethical issue.
This raises questions about the normative function of supervision. For example, as a profession we can get pretty judgemental about coaches who don’t come to supervision, or who dismiss accreditation. If we hold a mirror to ourselves, what might that emotional reaction in us be really about? Could it signal we as supervisors need to work more on our own Shadow, rather than projecting judgement onto others?
Jung’s concept of compensation is important here – what we see consciously is balanced by compensatory energies we don’t see in the unconscious. Hollis (2007) suggests any virtue we hold will also constellate an unconscious Shadow: “The more ‘enlightened’ I believe myself to be, the vaster we discover that which remains unconscious, or must be defended against … Nothing is as powerful as an idea that allows us to justify our complexes, our hidden agendas and self-interest.”
If we reflect on our values as coaching supervisors, where might the opposite of those values show up? For example, when we hold passionate beliefs about supervision’s positive qualities, what then simultaneously goes into the Shadow? And how might that impact what happens when we’re with clients?
These are not easy questions.
Shohet (2020) offers a useful exercise for shining a light on our Shadow. He suggests we think of three qualities we detest in others. We’ll each have our personal bugbears. Then, reflect honestly on how those very qualities show up, at times, in us. Shohet suggests that reviewing the patterns of our life and professional practice in this way can be illuminating.
Inner gold
Such reflections show how challenging Shadow work can be. It undermines the stories we tell ourselves, threatening our self-image. It can re-surface old fears, and evoke shame. So a key ingredient of Shadow work is self-compassion. Page (1999) invokes the beautiful Japanese art of Kintsugi as a metaphor for Shadow work being about loving those exiled parts of ourselves. Our aim is not to ‘get rid’ of our Shadow, but to integrate more of its energies so we’re less controlled by them unconsciously. Shadow work is not about ‘improving’ ourselves, but rather taking small, gentle steps towards befriending all that we don’t wish to be (Richo, 1999).
One overlooked aspect of the Shadow is how it contains some of our most brilliant qualities. Johnson (2008) writes: “We resist the noble aspects of our shadow more strenuously than we hide the dark sides. We can be more ready to look at skeletons than look at the gold.”
As supervisors, we offer our clients a great gift when we role model the integration of our inner gold, so they too can perhaps sense into more of their own forgotten brilliance.
Shohet (2020) notes how our role as supervisors includes helping coaches notice more of their Shadow so they can become more present with their clients through withdrawing their projections. That means, of course, we must be doing our own personal Shadow work as supervisors. Importantly, we can’t do Shadow work alone. We need good support. An experienced, trusted peer group can be a valuable resource.
Our collective Shadow
Jung described not only the personal Shadow, but also how Shadow energies show up in collective form. For example, in systems, organisations and cultures. What then might be the collective Shadow of coaching supervision? What do we collectively repress, deny and project as a profession? As a psychologically informed field, it’s striking how seldom we ask ourselves such questions.
This avoidance suggests powerful Shadow dynamics may be at work in our profession. Jung (1998) said: “When one tries desperately to be good and wonderful … then all the more the shadow develops.”
What might we be unconsciously colluding with by not bringing our collective Shadow more into the light? Can we bear such confronting questions? And if not, who carries the unconscious burden of supervision’s Shadow? Perhaps it’s time we bring this exploration out of the shadows.
References
- Bly, R. (1988). A Little Book on the Human Shadow. Harper San Francisco.
- Hollis, J. (2007). Why Good People Do Bad Things. Gotham Books.
- Johnson, R. (1991). Owning Your Own Shadow. Harper San Francisco.
- Johnson, R. (2008). Inner Gold. Koa Books.
- Jung, C. (1959). Aion. Routledge.
- Jung, C. (1988). Visions: Notes of the Seminar Given in 1930–1934. Routledge.
- Page, S. (1999). The Shadow and the Counsellor. Routledge.
- Richo, D. (1999). Shadow Dance. Shambhala.
- Shohet, R. & Shohet, J. (2020). In Love With Supervision. PCCS Books.