Counselling Supervision in Organisations

Professional and Ethical Dilemmas Explored

Sue Copeland

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781135453824
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Counselling supervision is an expanding area, as increasing numbers of counsellors enter the profession and require supervision on a regular basis. Counselling Supervision in Organisations seeks to provide a model of counselling supervision within organisations, enabling supervisors, counsellors and their line managers to work effectively within organisational cultures for the benefit of all parties in the working alliance.

Drawing on her own research, Sue Copeland explores both counselling and supervision cultures and their fit with various organisational cultures. The dilemmas that often arise from a clash between differing cultural norms are discussed in relation to the supervisory process. From securing a supervisory position, contracting for the work, reporting back to the organisation, assessing the work and ending the relationship, through to an in-depth consideration of the supervisory work embedded in a good working relationship, her model provides a blueprint for the supervisory process.

The model described in Counselling Supervision in Organisations brings together the cultures of counselling and supervision and their relation to organisational cultures. It will provide a unique resource for counsellors, trainee and professional counselling supervisors and their line managers.

Part I

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Supervision in organisations

Roles and responsibilities

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Chapter 1

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Mentor, coach, consultant or supervisor?: defining the role

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Receptive presence is hard, active work. We are not simply nodding and smiling, holding and comforting. We do demand.

(Daloz 1999:246)

INTRODUCTION

Sitting opposite Lesley in the small committee room, I watch as her eyes filled with tears. My own sadness mirrored hers. This was the end of our journey together as supervisor and supervisee. Lesley was skilful in her role as workplace counsellor. She had worked for the company for many years as her role evolved into that of qualified counsellor. Within that role she was trusted to have influence with line managers when a client was stressed with an issue that emanated from their role at work. Additionally, she was renowned for helping those who were harassed at work. At any one time she could be dealing with many similar cases that tested her allegiance to the client, the organisation and also her emotional stamina. As her supervisor I worked with support and challenge to help her gain clarity when boundary issues threatened ethical practice.

However, increasingly I was aware that she was becoming disillusioned with the organisational culture, the pattern of change and its impact on both her clients and herself. She no longer felt valued by the organisation and was becoming burnt out. With her permission, I talked to her clinical manager about my concern for her psychological health during a period of leave from work due to stress. In this way I was able to work with the organisation, in my role as supervisor, to help them understand the pressures Lesley was encountering in her practice. Subsequently, Lesley and I worked together, during parts of our sessions, to plan a strategy that would enable her to leave the organisation for work that would be more fulfilling. In this part of our work I was a life coach, helping her to identify her unused potential and the possibilities for a change of career. My other role as a senior lecturer in higher education enabled me to have an insight into educational routes that might help Lesley to gain more personal and professional fulfilment. Therefore, I was working both as a consultant and mentor, sharing my knowledge and experience of educational routes. As a result she undertook a course of study and was successful. Consequently, she gained employment as a lecturer in further education, a job that has given her a new outlet for her energy and still enables her to use counselling skills to facilitate the learning process in others.

My work with Lesley highlights the multi-faceted role of the supervisor within organisations. During our work together, had I been a mentor, coach, consultant or supervisor? It is clear that I was employed by the organisation to be her supervisor and the client work was not lost during those supervisory sessions, but to ignore the supervisee’s psychological health and unfulfilled potential would have been folly. It could be argued that career development is the domain of the supervisee’s therapist but I would argue otherwise in this case. From our work over many years together I knew her well, her strengths and areas for development. She also trusted me to be challenging and supportive in my feedback. I was also employed by the organisation and worked with three other supervisees within the same organisation. Therefore, I was aware of how the culture was impacting on her levels of stress. I was in a position to be mentor, coach and even consultant, alongside my role as counselling supervisor. At times it would have been easy to ignore the other roles and concentrate solely on the role of supervisor. However, this would have been counter-productive for Lesley, her clients and the organisation. A burnt out and dispirited counsellor will not do their best client work and neither will they add value to the organisational culture. So I had a duty of care towards Lesley, her clients and the organisation to help her to find alternative ways of regenerating herself. In this case that meant leaving the organisation for a different role in a new organisation, but it could also have led to leaving the organisation and working, as a counsellor, in a new setting. Alternatively, it could have led to Lesley remaining in the same organisation, in the same role but with renewed interest and energy for her work gained through more development and training and perhaps a move to a new team in a different geographical area.

In our discussions recently we deliberated over our past work together and came to the conclusion that as a mentor I had guided her along the path to further study and encouraged her to continue in order to gain more fulfilling employment. As a coach I had helped her to see the possibilities for the future based on divergent thinking. As a consultant I was able to give advice based on my own previous experience of working as a teacher-trainer in further education. In fact, even the day we talked I shared information about a book that would be useful for her work and study at Masters’ level. However, during our work together as Lesley’s supervisor, the clients were never lost and the therapeutic alliance was always at the forefront of our work. Professional boundaries were not crossed. It was only when she ceased to be my supervisee that we became friends, able to share our professional lives and delight in one another’s successes. Whilst we had been working together I knew I was her supervisor and the welfare of her clients was uppermost in my mind during our sessions. Nevertheless, looking back on our work, the role of consultant, coach and mentor were evident.

Therefore, in this chapter the three roles of mentor, coach and consultant will be considered in relation to the role of supervision within the organisation. The similarities and differences will be highlighted in order to work towards a more composite understanding of the supervisory role and how it can add value to an organisation. Initially this will be by helping the supervisee to work more effectively within the organisation, however, as the supervisor’s profile increases they will find that managers acknowledge and use their skills more widely within the organisation.

THE SUPERVISOR AS MENTOR

The concept of a supervisor as mentor is plausible. Mentors have always been around in all walks of life yet recently they have become more visible. Mentors transmit wisdom. They take us on a journey through our lives and act as our guide. They help us to grow up and develop our identity (Daloz 1999). There is also a sense that mentors, as our guide, arrive at the right moment in our lives to assist us on the journey that we need to take (Coelho 1997). They may not be officially called a mentor but we recognise them as such by their ability to give us guidance on our developmental journey. Connor (1997:17) describes a mentor as a trusted and faithful guide who at different times may be called upon to be ‘A facilitator; coach; counsellor; sounding board; critical friend; net worker; or role model.’

She was writing here about the mentoring role in the Health Service; the mentoring of young doctors to facilitate their journey through a challenging career. Mentoring is common in all professions and in education the role features strongly. As a new member of staff in my current post I was given a mentor who guided me on my journey through the labyrinth of organisational politics and the intricacies of assessment procedures. But he also provided a shoulder to cry on when I had a close bereavement and encouragement when my confidence faltered in my new role. Our joint understanding of the role of a mentor was clear. He was my guide when I needed him most but is now a trusted colleague and friend. Therefore, I have recognised my mentors in various aspects of my life by their ability to inspire, guide and aid my growth, both personally and professionally. I know that I have also become a mentor to others and this has often happened without me consciously having that title. It was not until I read the following acknowledgement in a book that one of my counselling skills students wrote, that I was aware of my mentoring role: ‘I owe a debt of gratitude to Sue Copeland on whose course I gained the confidence to do so many things including writing this story’ (Creese 2002). We later talked about our working relationship and I felt immense humility that I was seen as a role model and mentor by a talented, black grandmother who herself had so much wisdom to offer. I anticipate that she will become a mentor herself, to those people who follow in her footsteps.

Mentoring is akin to supervising. A supervisor could consider becoming a mentor to the organisation. They would offer their knowledge, insight and perspective or wisdom, giving an overall picture of problem areas within the department or the organisation as a whole. Playing this role within the organisation would not be without its dangers. The possibility of confidentiality being broken, at various levels, would be there. However, a supervisor, in the role of mentor to the organisation, holds the collective information that organisations need to change and grow. When one departmental manager is the source of many clients’ stress, a supervisor will be in a position to work with the organisation, guiding them to make changes within the department that will reduce the stress levels. The supervisor will have the knowledge, experience and skills to engage in this role whilst also maintaining ethical boundaries. The counsellor could also be in the position to engage in this mentoring role with the organisation, especially if they are very experienced.

This modern mentoring relationship, whether at a one-to-one or organisational level, is based on mutual, equal and collaborative learning. These features also apply to the coaching relationship and there are similarities between mentoring and coaching.

THE SUPERVISOR AS COACH

Currently, coaching is in vogue. In December 2003, the Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal (BACP) proclaimed on its front cover: Life coaching. The new kid on the block? The fashion for coaching extends to training for supervisors of coaches and I have a therapist/coach on my Diploma in Counsellor Supervision course. The word comes from all directions; life coach; executive coach; business coach, but what is it and what has it got to do with counselling, supervision and organisations?

Coaching is defined as many things: a conversation which is productive and results orientated; a learning experience in which patterns are observed and the stage set for new actions; asking the right questions rather than providing the right answers; finally it is about change and transformation. Zeus and Skiffington (2002:18) provide a useful comparison between coaching and mentoring (Table 1.1) which seeks to tease out the similarities and differences. However, the differences seem to be very small in comparison to the similarities of each role. Coaches work with emotions. In sports coaching much is made of the psychological mind-set of the sports person. Anyone watching a tennis player prepare for the crucial shot will observe the facial expression that indicates the schooling of the emotions to psychologically prepare for

Table 1.1 Similarities and differences between mentor and coach

Similarities	Differences
• Both require well-developed interpersonal skills	• Mentoring invents a future based on the expertise and wisdom of another, whereas coaching is about inventing a future from the individual’s own possibilities
• Both require the ability to generate trust, to support commitment and to generate new actions through the use of listening and speaking skills	• Mentors are recognised as experts in their field
• Both shorten the learning curve	• Mentoring is usually more specifically career-focused in terms of career advancement
• Both aim for the individual to improve his or her performance and be more productive	• Mentors usually have experience at senior management level, and have a broad knowledge of organisational structure, policies, power and culture
• Both encourage the individual to stretch, but can provide support if the person falters or gets out of his or her depth	• Mentors freely give advice and opinions regarding strategies and policies, whereas coaching is about evoking answers from the individual
• Both provide support without removing responsibility	• Mentors have considerable power and influence to advance the individual’s career and advocate promotion
• Both require a degree of organisational know-how	• Mentors convey and instil the standards, norms and values of the profession/ organisation. Coaching is more about exploring and developing the individual’s own values, vision and standards
• Both focus on learning and development to enhance skills and competencies
• Both stimulate personal growth to develop new expertise
• Both can function as a career guide to review career goals and identify values, vision and career strengths
• Both are role models

Source: Zeus and Skiffington (2002:18).

the shot. Similarly, a footballer getting ready to take the vital penalty can be seen in comparable psychological preparation. Therefore, although coaching is about skill acquisition, there is also an attitudinal stance needed for transformation to take place in a person’s life. So coaching is about learning in the widest sense of the word. Adult learners need an environment that is safe and nu...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I Supervision in organisations Roles and responsibilities
• Part II Supervision in organisations Managing the cultural fit
• Part III Supervision in organisations Working with the supervisory rhombus
• References
• Index