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OPINION – SUPERVISION: VIRTUAL WORK: THE NEW REALITY?

by | May 7, 2020 | Articles, Supervision | 0 comments

These are challenging times and they are far from business as usual. We are having to find new ways of working that support our clients – from a distance

By Peter Welch

 

I just ditched the article I was drafting for this column as I couldn’t focus on anything else apart from the awful impact the Coronavirus/Covid-19 is having on us all.

As this virus sweeps across the continents, our health and that of our families and loved ones is dominating our waking thoughts. When I think of my dear clients, some I have known for many years, working with them is definitely not ‘business as usual’.

We’re needing to adapt our working ways quickly to find solutions for these challenging times. Governments have urged workers to avoid contact, to stay at home and work remotely, but not all home environments are conducive to that and some don’t have networks that link to their employer’s systems.

Unlike, say, a forklift truck driver or a health worker who physically has to go to work to do their job, we are fortunate that we do have some choice over how we work. Many of us are independent coaches, mentors, trainers, facilitators, consultants and coaching supervisors who can choose who we meet, when and where, how often (and now), how we meet.

I’m sure that most of us prefer to meet our coaching clients face-to-face, and our clients do too. It’s the most natural form of communication to have a dialogue over a coffee, to exchange views, enjoy a joke or smile at something you both share. It’s also a form of intimacy where confidential data can be shared, and body language and interpersonal rapport can be observed easily.

But is it just about the client’s preference any more? To meet or not to meet in person is the pressing question.

Even before the enforced lockdown, due to the health risks of travelling to venues and meeting clients in person, I switched all my work to online contact for the present. I now run three supervision groups online; one local face-to-face coaching network just switched by mutual consent to run on Zoom videoconferencing. Pre lockdown, one new coaching client specifically wanted to meet face to face, so I had to be brave and re-contract with him about this new reality.

The health risks are obvious and, as we now know, even if we are not ill ourselves, there is a danger through contact with others that we become a carrier for the virus into our homes and other places of work.

However, there are also real benefits to working online. We not only save on travel time and costs, and possible venue hire costs, we also make a reduction in our carbon footprint by working from our home/office.

 

The practicalities

There are practical challenges to switching to virtual working. Apart from re-contracting with our clients, and making our home/office look more professional, we need a good broadband/wifi service – there’s nothing more offputting to clients than a clunky, screen-freezing experience – as well as a good provider. I use Zoom Pro, as do many coaches, as I find it consistently stable with few glitches. There’s also Facetime, WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, Skype, etc.

 

Make it personal

Working online presents different challenges than face-to-face meetings, especially with non-intact groups where new people may arrive at each session. Principles that work well when connecting to virtual clients, especially with groups, include:

  • Having a quiet space to participate in the coaching/supervision session, particularly as confidentiality is key
  • Arriving a bit earlier to check that the technology is working well, without interruption. Using a webcam and wearing headphones to minimise background noise is preferable to mobile use
  • Encouraging your client to prepare well by thinking through their coaching issues and what they wish to bring to the session
  • Attending to being present as we both ‘arrive’, for the coach to ‘build a container’ and safe space for the client – many of whom may be worried and fearful of what’s happening – by setting the scene, where you both are and what’s going on around you. This helps to ground the client, help them feel comfortable and ready for your discussion.

 

Monica Ross, transformational coach and coach supervisor, has a mantra of ‘contact before contract’, meaning creating a real connection between you before responding to the work that has been contracted. By engaging on a deeper level we can avoid the risk of a transactional call.

Damion Wonfor works with his supervision clients on presence and mindfulness, stressing the importance of not underestimating the value of the session for our clients, enabling them to connect on what’s important to them right now.

As far back as 2013, writers like Lynda Gratton were citing the rise of the freelance worker “coming about through a confluence of shifting employee priorities, evolving employer imperatives, and emerging communications and collaboration technologies. With experts projecting that within a few years, more than 1.3 billion people will work virtually through rich electronic connections from sites of their choosing”.

How prophetic.

Recent survey respondents said 99% would like to work remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers. This is a notable stat to have discovered. (State of Remote Work report, 2019)

Remote coaching is going to be an essential skill for tomorrow’s coaching community. According to LinkedIn “flexible is the new normal”, the tech industry leading the way, with 72% of its professionals working remotely and other industries following close behind, says Alistair Shepherd, founder of Saberr, in his article ‘Coaching Remote Teams’ (Coaching at Work, Feb/Mar, 2020)

Amir Salihefendic, CEO of Doist, states that “remote work isn’t just a different way to work – it’s a different way to live”. He describes the less seen side of remote work: “We need to acknowledge that isolation, anxiety, and depression are significant problems when working remotely, and we must figure out ways and systems to resolve these complex issues.”

Now there’s a topic for another article!


Adapt your workspace

Working virtually can also be adapted beyond coaching to project work with people who need to communicate status and recent changes. Collaborative tools, such as whiteboards like Coggle, and project tools like Trello, Hubstaff, and Asana can show the projects being worked on with dates for key deliverables – all updatable in real time by those responsible for completion.

Several coaching networks are adopting Slack, a collaboration hub for threaded conversations about projects and for networking. Other networking and collaborative tools include Remo, ThoughtFarmer, Liberating Structures, Todoist all help us to connect with others globally and to track what we are all working on.

I have been co-leading a project for about 18 months with members of AC, AOCS, ICF, BACP, EMCC and other independent contributors, developing some guidelines and resources to help coach supervisors deal with ethical issues brought by their supervisees. We have used a mix of Zoom for meetings, email and Dropbox to store latest resources, and we are now developing a web platform to host the resources for access by all.

I sense people are getting used to this new reality and some are really embrace it. AOCS recently ran a global virtual supervision conference, attracting members and participants from around the world and across time zones, using Remo as a virtual conference platform.

While still under development, such new platforms are keen to work with clients to enhance their facility to make the experience as near as possible to attending a face-to face-conference. You can also eat as many virtual pastries as you wish!

We supplement our conferences with Zoom webinars and meetings, and Slack to continue the conversations started in the conference space. Some comments from conference goers included:

  • “Overall, a fantastic day. Massively enjoyed it and got loads from it”
  • “Demo, breakout, main experience-sharing good”
  • “More time to connect with the other people on the tables. It was too short to make relationships, do the task and sum up ready to go back into the large group”
  • “I’d love to see this conference event return on a regular basis, like twice a year”
  • “I think it was a great idea as it was affordable, inclusive and no travel involved. Look forward to a similar experience in future”
  • “Kudos to everyone who made this happen. Talk about timely, this is the best virtual event I’ve ever attended with complex functionality. You are really paving the way”
  • “It’s the future”, Liz Hall, editor, Coaching at Work

In conclusion, I urge you to embrace this new ‘messiah’, for one-to-one contact, group sessions, networking and projects. We can make it work for us, to minimise the spread of viruses, reduce our impact on the planet, yet stay in good communication with our clients. Zoom call anyone?

 

References

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