Doing a PhD without regular feedback from your supervisor is like driving your car to a faraway destination without a GPS: You will get lost a few times along the way, and it will certainly take you a lot longer to get there.
While it is true that proper guidance is key to avoid pitfalls and dead ends [1], maintaining an effective working relationship with your supervisor(s) consists of a little bit more than just getting “regular feedback”.
As in every professional relationship, it is only possible to make it work for you both, if you both understand your mutual responsibilities and expectations, while you – the student – show sufficient independence and ability to manage problems, along with a positive & professional attitude.
You need to maintain regular contact with your supervisors, meet agreed deadlines, use your supervisors’ advice and feedback, and most importantly: always be open and honest, in order to make supervision work for you both [2].
Although it’s easy to lay down such general guidelines, reality shows that a lot of things can go wrong, indeed. Communication and motivation (on both sides of the table) are the most common reasons why things don’t work out, eventually [3].
It takes two to tango: choose a supervisor you are able to work with, and give him/her every reason to say the same thing about you. Only then will your PhD become the wonderful intellectual journey which it is supposed to be, in the first place.
How has your experience with your supervisor been so far? Drop us a line to share it!