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Peer Group Supervision for Postdocs

Peer group supervision is a form of leaderless counselling amongst colleagues by following a given procedure. Participants address key topics of their professional lives in order to develop solutions for challenges and problems they face at work. The strength of this format is the (self-) empowerment of the group members and the improvement of their relationships. The fixed structure of the meetings, which are held in regular intervals, ensures a clear focus on a topic and on the person who asked to address it within the group.

The method of peer group supervision believes in your power and creativity :-)

How does it work?

A peer supervision group is composed of about 5 to 8 people who get together at regular intervals. During each of the meetings, (only) one participant presents their ‘case’, which can be a practical question or a problem. The rest of the group offers ideas for solutions that the case-provider can use to find their way of solving the problem.

The sessions are organised in a fixed process of different phases and roles during the sessions are changed with each new case. This process also ensures a limited time frame for each of the meetings.

For each of the groups, MARUM offers an introductory workshop with a professional trainer to learn the method of peer group supervision. Additional follow-up workshops with the trainer can be offered after a certain number of meetings to clarify potential questions that might have come up regarding the method.

How often you will meet with your peer group, i.e. how much time you will have to invest, will be decided by the group during their first meeting. A 2-hour meeting per month seems realistic, but the group can meet every other month or every other week if this is what you agree to.

The composition of the group can be organised according to your needs and wishes. For example, as an an all-female group.

All members of a peer group agree to confidentiality.

Benefits of peer group supervision at the workplace

In the best case, you will end up finding solutions to your problems or questions and build resourcefulness and resilience. And there is even more to it:

  • You will improve your skills in communication and interaction with your peers while using positive language and showing appreciation for diverse views and approaches
  • You will gain experience in supportive counselling skills
  • You may gain new insights into your work environment and see some aspects of it through the eyes of your colleagues
  • You will most likely gain reassurance that your colleagues are experiencing similar challenges

 

Fields of application

Potential topics (‘cases’) for peer group supervision are those problems and questions that can actually be solved by you eventually, for example

  • “My supervisor is not fond of educational training during working hours because she thinks I should focus on my science. I would like to take some transferable skills courses to improve my chances on the job market. How can I convince her to agree and let me take some courses?”
  • “I have a student helper who does not work as accurate and fast as I need him to work. How could I talk to him about it?”
  • “I have become a project leader of a small project with 1 PhD and two Master students. How can I manage the project and communicate with the students so that everyone will stay motivated?”

Are you interested?

If you would like to engage in peer group supervision, please contact us at [Bitte aktivieren Sie Javascript].

We will make sure to match people who feel comfortable getting together for peer group supervision (and are not involved in conflicts of interest or problems with each other).

If you have questions or concerns of a more personal nature regarding the method or your participation, you are welcome to contact Tina directly.