Supervision - support for HR professionals

I work in a medium-sized organisation, in a very small team (one HR officer) - effectively a standalone post in terms of professional support.

I had a tricky case recently that I'd have really welcomed discussing via the community forum, but pragmatically I couldn't give enough details to access support without breaching confidence and probably creating an identifiable data breach. It got me thinking about 'supervision' - the kind of thing that counsellors and psychiatrists are required to have as part of their professional practice, providing an opportunity to sit with another professional in complete confidence and talk through the things that you've been dealing with. The idea wouldn't be so that they could tell you what to do or give advice, but just help look at the issues with the benefit of hindsight and see what you could earn from it.

I was wondering if there was a way to establish this kind of system within the CIPD, for those of us who are standalone or who can't easily discuss matters with colleagues in their workplace? I think what I'd value is a professional 'buddy' - someone I could meet up with a couple of times a year for a coffee, where we had a confidentiality agreement in place and could each speak openly about some of the difficult casework we'd had. 

Would anyone else find this kind of system useful (or is it just me ...?) I've no idea how it might work in practice, but wondered in the first instance if it was something others would value.

Do let me know your thoughts, and thanks.

Parents
  • Very interesting thought Nina. I am familiar with the concept and worked in an industry where 'supervision' was the norm. My wife is also a Relate trained counsellor and became a Relate trainer too.

    One very big problem for the cipd and anyone else considering introducing 'supervision' in the same way counsellors practice it, might be, as you allude to, is the ability to enable a person to reflect on their own experiences and get them to think about other possibilities and their own issues around change and so on.

    This isn't necessarily a skill that comes naturally and it certainly is not a skill that is taught to HR, nor is it a skill that HR practitioners necessary have any innate natural ability or expertise in.

    A remark once made to me by a senior HR manager once put the finger on the problem; "I can do counselling. I'm good at listening and giving advice". Because thats what many people think counselling and supervision is all about.
Reply
  • Very interesting thought Nina. I am familiar with the concept and worked in an industry where 'supervision' was the norm. My wife is also a Relate trained counsellor and became a Relate trainer too.

    One very big problem for the cipd and anyone else considering introducing 'supervision' in the same way counsellors practice it, might be, as you allude to, is the ability to enable a person to reflect on their own experiences and get them to think about other possibilities and their own issues around change and so on.

    This isn't necessarily a skill that comes naturally and it certainly is not a skill that is taught to HR, nor is it a skill that HR practitioners necessary have any innate natural ability or expertise in.

    A remark once made to me by a senior HR manager once put the finger on the problem; "I can do counselling. I'm good at listening and giving advice". Because thats what many people think counselling and supervision is all about.
Children
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