Collaborative knowledge management and the art of coaching: reflections on the diverse roles of the successful supervisor

Throughout the past decade, university educators and educational policy makers in Australia have sought to understand and improve the policies and practices upon which research degrees have been founded. The changing context of the research training landscape has been examined and the role of the research supervisor has received increasing attention as far-reaching changes are made to policies, research imperatives and expanding research degree frameworks (Green 2003; Green and Usher 2003; Pearson and Cryer 2001). Research supervision is a complex activity in which the supervisor and the candidate embark on a journey together along seemingly separate, but inextricably entwined, pathways. This we all know. Those of us who supervise understand the complexities deeply: not only from our experiences as supervisors, but also as people who have been candidates in the past. Although the passing of time or our own research histories may make our own student experiences somewhat remote, they are still memorable and, according to the study by Lee and Williams (1999), continue to resonate, having a direct impact on the ways in which we supervise current research students. The need to consider the ways in which our own student experiences of supervision colour our supervisory practices is more imperative than ever given the context of higher education with respect to research degrees. This chapter seeks to look once again at supervision and supervisory practices, but from the viewpoint of an experienced supervisor (Green) and one of her successful doctoral candidates (Reidy), now ready to supervise doctorates for the first time. We consider briefly the current context in which our supervisory space resides, namely, higher education in Australia. Secondly, we look at supervision in terms of collaborative knowledge management. Thirdly, we move to critically reflect upon our own practices as supervisor and as supervisee and the journey that has taken us from coach and novice, mentor and mentee to friendly professional colleagues. In the chapter, we present some close-grained work based on interviews and the resulting transcripts. In doing so, we aim to generate further insights into supervision practices, the candidate’s journey and the strategies by which one can enrich the other, in the hope that readers might find some applicability to their own reflections upon their supervisory practices or their experiences as a candidate.