slides from Rob's session

1. All for one
and one
for all
Peer Supervision
What is it and how
can it help?
Careers and Employability Service
www.southampton.ac.uk/careers
careers@southampton.ac.uk
rob.wood@southampton.ac.uk

2. A bit about me
Entered Career Guidance via Enterprise, Training
& Business Coaching Background …
MA Coaching Practice (OxB) and PGDip Career
Coaching (UEL)
Coach Supervision Training at Oxford Brookes
University in 2014 - 4 day course plus one
year supervised practice
I have run group supervision sessions and have a
handful of self-employed coaches that I work with
individually as their supervisor.
Specialise in supervision of career coaches
running their own business.

3. A bit about what we’ve
tried this year
My colleague Heather Pasero set up an
experimental coaching programme for First
Generation Students.

5. A bit about what we’ve
tried this year
My colleague Heather Pasero set up an
experimental coaching programme for First
Generation Students.
She invited me to act as ‘supervisor’ for the team
of coaches. After some discussion I proposed we
have a go at peer supervision groups with a view
to this being a developmental thing for everyone
and could perhaps be useful beyond the coaching
programme.
This session is me explaining what we did and
what we've discovered.

6. Peer Supervision
What is it and how can it help?
robewood

7. Definition of Supervision
Association of Coaching (2017) [EMCC/ICF]
Coaching supervision offers a confidential and
collaborative working relationship in which the
practice, tasks, process and challenges of a
coach’s work may be explored.
Through this trusting partnership the coach and
coaching supervisor work to further enhance the
coach’s competency, confidence and mastery to
ensure the best possible service to coaching
clients (coachees and, where relevant, coaching
sponsors).

8. Definition of PEER Supervision
Turner, Lucas & Whitaker (2018)
‘ … a collaborative learning environment created
between fellow coaches, mentors or other
practitioners. It is of mutual benefit to the
practitioners involved as well as being of service to
their clients and the wider system. Peers often
have comparable levels of expertise and are
without supervision training. It is a self-managed
arrangement … it is reciprocal and creates the
power to reflect on practice together …’

9. Functions of Supervision
Proctor (1987)
Normative – ensuring that work is professional
and ethical.
Formative – providing feedback and direction
Restorative – listening, supporting and
challenging

10. Functions of Supervision
Hawkins & Smith (2006)
Qualitative – gaps in training, blind spots,
vulnerabilities.
Developmental – developing skills, understanding
and capacities.
Resourcing – responding to the effect of the
emotions of the client.

11. Think – Talk – Tell
Take a few minutes to consider what we've looked at
so far … what you think … how it compares to your
view of ‘supervision’?
Gather into pairs or groups of 3 and talk about your
thoughts.
You'll be invited to feed your thoughts back to the
whole group

12. Two Models of
Supervision
robewood

13. Stage-Based Approach
CLEAR (Hawkins, 1980)
You work through the ‘stages’ systematically
Contracting
Listening
Exploring
Action
Review

14. 7-Eyed Model – 1-1/Group Supervision
The 7-eyed model is the most used model for supervision of coaches,
counsellors and therapists. It involves 3 people (supervisor, coach and
client) and looks at seven ‘domains’.
Focus-Based Approach

16. 5-Eyed Variation - Self-Supervision
If you remove the Supervisor Relationship, you have a model for self-
reflection (Self-supervision) on your coaching.
5
5

17. 5
5

18. LEAD CLEAR STAGES
Sup/Coach C1 – CONTEXT What is your supervision Question?
Supervisor C2 – CONTRACT ‘Supervisor’ explains process/options
Sup/Coach L – LISTEN to the coach without comment or interruption
Coach Coach decides between the options available
Sup/Peers E1 – Peers ask for clarity
Sup/ Peers E2 – Peers explore choices/interventions/experiences
Sup/Coach A – ACTION an action the coach wants to take & reveal
Sup/Coach R – REVIEW What are you thinking? What are you feeling?
CLEAR how it works
the coach decides what happens

19. The Practicalities
robewood

20. 20
Peer Supervision Benefits
A management perspective
Benefits of introducing peer supervision
into the team have included:
• An opportunity to develop new or less
experience members of staff through
sharing practice and expertise
• Providing an outlet for team members
to share their frustrations, successes
and challenges with each other
• Team members learning peer supervision skills to further
develop their abilities
• Improvement in team morale and collaboration across the team

21. 21
A management perspective
Challenges of introducing peer supervision in the team
have included:
• Finding a shared time slot in which supervision groups can
meet. We have now included this in our team meeting rota.
• Stepping back as a manager and not trying to fix everything
• Mixed engagement at times so keeping all team members
invested and focussed on the purpose of the sessions
• Considering how to organise the groups so that people
meet with a range of team members and benefit from a
wealth of advice
Peer Supervision Challenges

22. What we did
Training session - people sent the slides and CLEAR sheet.
Self selected into groups of three
The groups were self-managed
We started with 60-90 minute meetings about a month apart.
Each took turns to be the ‘coach’ (speaker), one was a ‘peer
supervisor’, and the third member observed and kept an eye
on the time
There was no reporting required, but personal sharing on
benefits did occur in 1:1s.
The focus was on supporting the First Generation Coaching
Programme ... but it was accepted that the ‘story’ people told
may be wider than that just the coaching sessions?

23. ‘User feedback’
Using the CLEAR Peer Supervision Framework allowed
the supervisor and coach to have a structure to their
supervision sessions; enabling the coach to take the lead
on what happens during supervision sessions and shape
the session around their needs, enquiries and questions.
It has been wonderful working with my supervision
group but it has been difficult to schedule regular
meetings due to other commitments.
I feel my practice could be enhanced further if I
presented my supervision questions and received
feedback/advice from all of my colleagues who are
involved in the coaching programme.

24. ‘User feedback’
Coaching and Career Guidance are, by their nature, very
private activities, and I think it’s essential to have the
opportunity to discuss ways (in a safe space and a
structured way) in which practice might be improved
and individuals might be supported better … highlights
of supervision: reassurance, practical advice.
Due to staff sickness, it has meant that sadly our
supervision has been bumped back a few times … maybe
larger groups with the expectation that not everyone will
have the chance to ‘share’ in every meeting.

25. References
Bachkirova, T. (2007), Role of coaching psychology in defining boundaries
between counselling and coaching, chapter 18 in S. Palmer & A. Whybrow, (Eds.),
Handbook of Coaching Psychology, London: Routledge, pp. 325-350.
Bachkirova, T. (2008) Coaching supervision: reflection on changes and challenges,
People and organisations at work, Autumn edition, 2008
Buckley, A. (2007), The mental Health Boundary in relationship to coaching and
other activities, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring
Carroll, M & Gilbert, M. On being a supervisee: creating learning partnerships,
Self-published manual
Clarkson, P., (2000), The Therapeutic Relationship, London: Whurr Publishers
Ltd
Cavanagh, M. (2005), Mental-Health Issues and Challenging Clients in Executive
Coaching, in Cavanagh, Grant &Kemp, (Eds), Evidence-Based Coaching, vol. 1
Theory, research and practice from the behavioural sciences, Australian Academic
Press, pp. 21–36

26. References
De Haan, E. (2008), Relational Coaching: journeys towards mastering one-to-
one learning, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Egan, G. (2007), The Skilled Helper, 8th edition, Thomson Brooks/Cole
Grant, A. (2012) Australian Coaches’ View on Coaching Supervision: A Study with
Implications for Australian Coach Education, Training and Practice, International
Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 10(2), 17-33.
Grant, A. and Cavanagh, M. (2004), Toward a profession of coaching: Sixty-five
years of progress and challenges for the future, International Journal of Evidence-
Based Coaching and Mentoring, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-16
Grant, A., Towards a Psychology of Coaching, Oxford School of Coaching and
Mentoring Conference, July, 2001
Hawkins, P. and Smith, N. (2006) Coaching, Mentoring and Organizational
Consultancy: Supervision and Development, Maidenhead: Open University Press

27. References
Maxwell, A. (2009). How do business coaches experience the boundary between
coaching and therapy/counselling? Coaching: An International Journal of Theory,
Research & Practice. 2: 149-162.
Price, J. (2009). The coaching/therapy boundary in organizational coaching.
Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research & Practice. 2: 135-148.
Lambert, M.J. and Barley, D.E. (2001), Research summary on the therapeutic
relationship and psychotherapy outcome, Psychotherapy: Theory, Research,
Practice, Training, Vol 38(4), Winter 2001, pp 357-361
Rogers, C. (1980), A Way of Being, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Spinelli, E. (2007), The therapeutic relationship: a view from existential
psychotherapy, Therapy Today, Feb 2007, Vol. 18, Issue 1

28. In pairs spend a few minutes discussing the following
questions:
– What have you learned from today’s session?
– In what ways might peer supervision help
you?
Reflection

29. Building 37, Highfield Campus
UoSCareersandEmployability
UoS_Careers
www.southampton.ac.uk/careers
robewood
careers@southampton.ac.uk
+44 (0)23 8059 3501

30. Who Benefits from supervision?
The practitioner/coach (supervisee)
The client/coachee (individuals receiving coaching)
The organisation providing the coaching
The coaching world or ‘profession’
The wider system (furthers the acceptance and use of
coaching in society and the workplace, improves standards
and education - e.g. there was no coach supervision or
training for coach supervisors when I started coaching
15 years ago

31. Focus-Based Approach
You keep everything in sight and focus on
whichever is most relevant at the time
7-Eyed Model (Hawkins & Smith, 2006)
Client – what’s going on with them
Coach’s interventions
Relationship between coach and client
Coach – what’s going on with them
Relationship between supervisor and coach
Supervisor – what’s going on with them
Wider Context