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Supervision - support for HR professionals

Nina Waters

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.

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  • Thanks for the replies. I do have people I can discuss HR matters with - clearly I can talk things through with senior management colleagues, my HR Officer, call our lawyers or at CIPD events or other networking. As David said, it's not about getting advice as such, but about being able to reflect on my professional practice and think about how I could have done things differently or not. In a small team like mine (effectively standalone, as my HR Officer wouldn't deal with more complex issues), that independent and knowledgeable ear would be welcome.

    I suppose having worked in a healthcare environment for a long time, I'm aware of how important supervision can be if you're dealing with more complex casework, and wondered if there was a way of replicating it within our profession.
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  • Thanks for the replies. I do have people I can discuss HR matters with - clearly I can talk things through with senior management colleagues, my HR Officer, call our lawyers or at CIPD events or other networking. As David said, it's not about getting advice as such, but about being able to reflect on my professional practice and think about how I could have done things differently or not. In a small team like mine (effectively standalone, as my HR Officer wouldn't deal with more complex issues), that independent and knowledgeable ear would be welcome.

    I suppose having worked in a healthcare environment for a long time, I'm aware of how important supervision can be if you're dealing with more complex casework, and wondered if there was a way of replicating it within our profession.
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