FAQ

What is Intervision?
- “Intervision” derives from a practice called “Clinical Supervision,” which is a case review process used in various helping professions. Many professional coaches and therapists make Clinical Supervision an integral part of their practice.
  
  Drawing inspiration from Supervision, other professions like social work, education, and medicine have started to use special forms of peer group discussions to achieve similar goals, adopting the name Intervision.
  
  Unlike Supervision, where sessions are facilitated by supervisors with special training for that role, in Intervision the input comes from a group of trusted peers. The group also has a facilitator, who usually does not participate as a peer, who cares for the meeting details and invitation, and who guides the participants through the meeting format.
  
  Agile Intervision is our own facilitation format for Intervision, designed for and by Agile Coaches. Please read on to learn more. It is a work-in-progress and we invite your participation.
Who’s behind this website?
- This website and the “virtual” Intervision format it promotes have been developed by a group of coaches in Germany. Read more.
  
  Would you like to help maintain and promote this practice with us? Drop us a note!

How does Agile benefit from Intervision?
- Many professionals in the “people business” – professional coaches, therapists, doctors, social workers – use case-review meetings, or Supervision, to reflect on their work, discover blindspots and, most importantly, identify when the work is starting to affect them adversely. Regular reflection helps them maintain effective, professional and sustainable practices with their clients and peers. In fact, in some countries, supervision is mandatory for certain professions.
  
  We – as agile coaches – don’t have this, at least not in any institutionalized way. Many of us meet with real peers infrequently, due to distance or time constraints, and even then such reflection may be in short supply.
  
  We believe real-case review can bring a lot of value to the Agile community, as a way to reflect in a safe environment. We’ve been using a Supervision-inspired peer-coaching format in-person for over a year, to get some of the benefits that people in other fields get from Supervision.
  
  Offering this kind of case review online additionally brings us access to experienced peers, no matter where we work, whenever we need it and without disruptive travel.
How did Intervision come to the Agile community?
- In 2014 a couple of agile coaches (Falk and Michael) from Germany met at the Agile Coach Camp Germany (accde) and discussed the need for something similar to clinical supervision in our field of work.
  
  As many good intentions go, nothing much happened. Until a fellow coach urged them to take action and “just do it” a year later.
  
  Now, since the end 2015, a small team of people from Cologne (David, Falk and Michael) have been promoting the formats they have designed for the agile coaching community. Their goal: to share their experiences and help other coaches benefit from the Intervision format.
  
  In 2016 Deb came up with the idea to facilitate Agile Intervision meeting also virtually and since then Agile Intervision has become an international effort promoted by Deb, David and Michael.
  
  Read more about the team behind this website.
How to run it – the “Hot Seat” Format
- Our hot-seat format is derived from a peer coaching method used in Europe for many years. Inspired by our own life coaching training we’ve added specific elements to make it a better fit for the purpose of facilitating Agile Intervision.
  
  Read the full description of the hot seat intervision facilitation format.
Video: How does Observational Feedback work?
- Agile-Intervision uses feedback in the form of observations, without interpretation or assumptions. This is challenging, as we are there wanting to help! But in Intervision, we assume the Cage-giver is resourceful to formulate their own help from the feedback we share with them.
  
  It’s astonishing how much help Case-givers report receiving, in just 30 minutes, and with no advice given!
  
  Find out more and watch a sample Intervision in this video.

What makes a good “case” for Intervision?
- Any experience you’ve had, which you’d like to remember and explore, in order to make future work better, can be a “case”. For example: an event you led, an interaction you participated in, an outcome you experienced.
  
  Here are a few additional guidelines:
  - it must be a real event, that has happened (old or new)
  - it must be your story (not the story of another person’s event)
  - you must be curious to have feedback, to help you see new possibilities.
  In another FAQ item, we offer some “case-giver” tips for preparing, which are totally optional.
How can I prepare to bring my “case” to Intervision? (tips)
- Since it is your story, simply refresh your memory and come prepared to tell it from your point of view. Also tell us what you’d like to be different and what you’d like from us. Be sure to include not only facts but personal reflections and feelings. We don’t want “objectivity” – speaking subjectively will bring you more useful feedback!
  
  You control what you tell: use real names, or not. Tell us part or all. Participants will explicitly agree to confidentiality as part of the process, before you share your case.
  
  For online Intervision: please do not rely heavily on slides, as it takes attention away from your person. Seeing *how* you tell your story is an important element of the input for observational feedback.
  
  If you want more input: here are some questions which may help you identify elements of the story you want to tell (inspired by Ulab’s “case clinic”). This isn’t a checklist, simply prompts to inspire you to tell your story your way:
  - What’s your key challenge here?
  - Stakeholders: how might others view it?
  - What future do you hope for?
  - What *really* bugs you in this?
  - What do you need to let-go-of?
  - What do you need to learn?
  - Where do you need help?

What does Intervision cost?
- There is no fee to use our Intervision format.
  
  However, when it’s implemented, there is effort involved to make this service available, find the right people, and manage communication. This effort may be handled by a group of peers as a volunteer effort, or as a service by a professional facilitator.
  
  We suggest you weigh the convenience and value of a given Intervision event against the cost/effort of other forms of learning you use.

Who can host an Intervision event?
- YOU!
  
  Yes, seriously! We encourage anyone interested to host an Agile-Intervision event.
  
  Look for the format and tips on this site. Contact us if you want advice, or if you’re looking for a facilitator to get you started with your own group.
How do I get started?
- Since the description of the format is still just a sketch, highlighting the key points, we recommend that you experience it before running your own Agile Intervision session.Check out the demo video in the sidebar, and contact us to find a facilitator to show you the ropes.
  
  Or just dive in! The idea is that anybody can do it. We do recommend that, for the first few rounds, the facilitator not be a participant. This keeps the roles clear and helps maintain the tight time box while everyone is learning.
  
  Further reading: our German colleague Cosima Laube blogged about her recent encounter with Agile-Intervision, and has kindly translated her post into english for us.
Tips for hosting online
- The format we’ve developed works well online. But use of an online platform requires some extra facilitation elements, too. Deborah Hartmann Preuss offers some tips for online Intervision facilitation.

what is Intervision?

about “Agile Intervision”

choose and prepare a “case” for Intervision

participation and cost for Intervision events

hosting Intervision events