We were sitting in a small room with some teachers, filling in a form about ‘professional stresses’. We were chuckling awkwardly: coaches use language that easily gets on your nerves, plus it was all becoming a bit more personal than what we were used to. What stresses do you experience at work, and which ones do you take home with you? Which stresses are inspiring, and which are simply frustrating? We filled it all in.
“Now turn your sheet of paper over,” said the person leading the session, “and write down how you deal with the biggest source of stress in your professional life.” On the back of the paper was a quadrant, with ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ along the horizontal axis and ‘yourself’ and ‘with others’ along the vertical axis.
‘Bloody hell!’ I thought to myself. When it comes to my biggest source of professional stress, I use one strategy only: thinking things through, on my own.
I’m sure I’m not the only philosopher who approaches all problems through reflection at first. But reflecting on your own has its limitations. So when I met up with an intervision group (i.e. a group for structured reflection with peers on professional issues), I presented my situation as a case study. And sure enough: thanks to the questions from the others, I saw aspects of my case that I hadn’t noticed before. And ways of dealing with it that I hadn’t considered previously.
Quick quiz
Since then, I have taken part in many intervision sessions, also as a facilitator, and using all sorts of conversation methods. Intervision sessions are strictly confidential, but certain themes keep popping up at the university. Quick quiz: have you experienced these themes first-hand?
- Support and care for (PhD) students taking up too much time and/or energy, but it is unclear where the boundary lies and how to draw it.
- Coping with a new role (e.g. programme director, member of an examination board) and the resulting changes in the relationship with colleagues
- Doubts about one’s own abilities in this environment full of competent people, resulting in valuable time and energy being wasted on excessive preparation and self-doubt
- Negative interactions with colleagues or (PhD) students, or outright conflict
- How to navigate a complex web of interests in order to carry out tasks associated with your role or for the benefit of your career
This is not about the number of boxes you can tick. It’s about how heavily something weighs on you. Do you regularly have worries about your work that you bring home with you? Do you lie awake at night thinking about your work? I don’t have to tell you that you need to be careful then; you won’t be the first employee to develop symptoms of burnout.
Intervision groups
I’d love for everyone in such situations to have an intervision group. Preferably with colleagues from different parts of the university, as everyone can speak a bit more freely then. There was a reason why we chuckled awkwardly back then: the culture at the university isn’t one to freely share your struggles. I’m struck by how much energy is released when colleagues do share with one another, and without running the risk of being lectured to with well-meaning but unhelpful advice. I’m struck by how good the atmosphere is and how people seem to look forward to intervision sessions. It’s a breath of fresh air, having a group of committed colleagues who reflect together in confidence. During intervision, there’s no need for awkward chuckling.
Are you interested in structured peer group reflection? In the first half of 2027, the Teaching and Learning Centre will offer sessions for lecturers from different faculties.
Would you be interested in learning how to facilitate structured peer group reflection? The Teaching and Learning Centre organizes a course in Dutch and would like to know if there is interest in an English version of that course. More information and the option to register your interest can be found here.