Why supervision is important

Supervisors should develop a method for tracking progress that provides them with enough information at the right time to identify and resolve problems but is not overly burdensome to either themselves or their employees. Supervisors are responsible for evaluating the results achieved by the work unit and reporting those results to their manager. Evaluation of results involves not only determining if planned goals and objectives have been met, but also how effectively they were met. The content requirements and format of reports are usually established at the senior management level to ensure consistent measurement and reporting across the organization.

Note: It is important to note that employees expect to participate in many of the process activities defined as supervisory functions and, in fact, a supervisor generally relies on the input and involvement of their employees to successfully fulfill these responsibilities.

However, it is important to remember that it is the supervisor's responsibility to make the decision. Those identified below are meant to provide examples of typical competencies required of supervisors; it is not an exhaustive list. Each organization needs to develop a unique set of supervisory competencies that reflects the job requirements and the organizational culture.

In today's work environment, the role of a supervisor is not that of the authoritarian taskmaster. Supervisors are expected to coach their employees, not to micro-manage every aspect of how activities or tasks are accomplished.

Coaching means providing direction, guidance and support as required on assigned activities and tasks. Additionally, as coaches, supervisors need to recognize strengths and weaknesses of employees and work with employees to identify opportunities and methods to maximize those strengths and improve weak areas. Supervisors are responsible for ensuring a positive work environment and effective teamwork, which often involves managing interpersonal dynamics and conflict.

Supervisors need to allow and promote healthy conflict and prevent or resolve destructive conflict. Constructive conflict focuses on ideas, methods, facts and alternative ways of looking at a particular issue or situation. Constructive conflict can result in increased creativity, innovative solutions, and better decision-making.

Destructive conflict focuses on personality, communication and work style differences, as well as competition for resources, recognition or rewards. Destructive conflict can result in unmotivated employees, loss of productivity, employee turnover and, in extreme situations, legal action.

Communication is a key competency for supervisors. They are responsible for communicating information up, down and across the organization hierarchy, as well as with parties external to the organization e. A strong competency in communication encompasses an ability to articulate messages clearly, to actively listen to others, and to develop appropriate responses. Depending on the specific job, there may be more or less importance placed on written versus verbal communication, but most supervisor positions require at least moderate business writing skills.

In the course of carrying out their functions, supervisors are often in the position of leading team meetings and group work. Successful group leadership results in increased productivity and employee morale.

Supervisors typically require a thorough knowledge of their function as well as the technical skills and capabilities needed to set goals and objectives, define work tasks and provide direction, guidance and coaching to employees.

Supervisors usually have higher levels of functional knowledge than supervised employees. Some senior managers may have lower functional knowledge but greater process and people management expertise. All supervisory functions involve making decisions. Some decisions are prescribed by an organization's policies and procedures, in which case the supervisor's responsibility is to understand those policies and procedures and apply them appropriately.

Many decisions are not prescribed and the supervisor needs to use her or his judgment on a course of action. While there are a number of decision-making models in business and research literature, most of the models outline the following steps:. Important: The dual role of supervisory responsibilities and functional task responsibilities, as discussed in the section, Role of a supervisor, can be overwhelming unless the supervisor develops strong competencies in both delegation and time management as discussed below.

Delegation is key to surviving the demands of the dual role of most supervisors. Effective delegation also contributes to the growth and development of employees.

While supervisors cannot delegate ultimate accountability for their functions, they can delegate prime responsibility for many of the activities within their functions.

Note: in a unionized environment, a supervisor may not be permitted to download supervisory-type functions. Time management is an important competency for most people in business; if time is not managed effectively the dual supervisory role can result in fatigue and burnout, and impact the supervisor's ability to fulfill her or his job responsibilities. Taking on a supervisory role is an exciting and challenging opportunity.

While becoming a supervisor may be a desired and positive move, the transition into the role can be stressful. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Necessary Necessary. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".

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Analytics Analytics. People who use services were unclear about the purpose of supervision, and concerns were expressed about decisions being made without their input into the process. The lack of research highlights the importance of paying attention to this area as the integration agenda develops. Supervision of child protection work is an area that has come under particular scrutiny. The emotional impact of child protection work is well documented Harvey and Henderson, In her review of child protection in England, Munro , identifies that there can be a high personal cost to being exposed to powerful and often negative emotions involved in this area of work.

A lack of effective supervision increases the risk of burnout, which can be defined as emotional exhaustion, cynicism and reduced personal accomplishment.

Evidence from Serious Case Reviews where children have died or been seriously harmed at the hands of parents or carers Brandon et al, ; Vincent and Petch, indicates that inadequate supervision, or supervision that is overly focused on administrative aspects, risks losing the focus on the child, with the potential for fatal consequences.

This theme is explored by Laming , p32 who identified a concern that, 'the tradition of deliberate, reflective social work practice is being put in danger because of an overemphasis on process and targets, resulting in a loss of confidence amongst social workers'. Brandon and colleagues stress the importance of effective and accessible supervision. This helps staff put into practice the critical thinking required to understand cases holistically, complete analytical assessments, and weigh up interacting risk and protective factors.

This underlines the importance of reflective supervision, an area that will be explored in more detail below.

There are many models of supervision, but one that seeks to both promote reflective supervision and to locate it firmly within its organisational context is the 4 x 4 x 4 model. As Wonnacott explains, this model moves away from a static, function-based model, and instead promotes a dynamic style of supervision that uses the reflective supervision cycle at the heart of the process. The supervision cycle, 'could be described as the glue that holds the model together' Wonnacott, , p54 and was developed by Morrison from earlier work by Kolb on adult learning theory.

According to Kolb, learning involves transferring experience into feelings, knowledge, attitudes, values, behaviours and skills. Morrison contends that if the cycle is short-circuited in any way there is a danger of getting stuck in unhelpful traps, for example, the 'navel-gazing theorist' who never risks putting their theories to the test or 'paralysis by analysis' where learning is limited by the fear of getting it wrong.

Whilst the 4 x 4 x 4 model can perhaps be criticised for underplaying the complexity of the supervisory relationship, in particular the power dynamics involved, it can provide a useful framework for approaching supervision for both the supervisor and supervisee. This section draws heavily on work undertaken by Davys and Beddoe As has already been identified, the development of a managerialist culture, combined with a tendency to risk aversion, has tended to drive supervision towards a more technical, administrative process, with a desire for 'clean' solutions, which may tend to sideline reflection.

The reflective learning model Davys and Beddoe, turns this on its head, and has a working assumption that supervision is, first and foremost a learning process. Building on Kolb's learning cycle, Davys and Beddoe's approach follows the: event - exploration - experimentation - event sequence.

The cycle begins with identification of the goal for the issue which the supervisee has placed at the top of the agenda. Through their 'telling' of the event, this stage aims to reconnect with the event without becoming overly immersed to the point of losing focus. Keeping a tight focus clarifies the real issues without the narrative swamping reflection with detail. With a clear goal established, the supervisee can move on to the next stage of the cycle, exploration of the issue.

This stage clearly recognises the place of the supervisor's practice wisdom and experience, but also that sharing this prematurely may prevent the supervisee from finding their own solutions Kadushin, ; Cousins, The task of the supervisor is to create a space for the supervisee to explore possibilities associated with both their own behaviour and the behaviour of others.

Once a decision or understanding has been reached, it is then important that this is tested to establish whether it is possible or realistic. The importance of this stage of the process is that the 'solution' can be examined to ensure that it is sufficiently robust and also that the supervisee has the requisite skills and knowledge in order for any plan to be implemented. The evaluation stage of the cycle marks the completion of the work and allows for reflection on the process, and in particular whether the supervisee has got what was required with respect to this issue.

In short, this model provides the basis for supporting and developing critical practice. This model might be criticised for not taking sufficient account of the context within which supervision operates, or for being unrealistic in busy working environments. However, if located within the 4 x 4 x 4 model it allows for supervision to be seen within its organisational context, and a clear theoretical model can be helpful: 'The lack of a clear theoretical model about the nature, influence, and critical elements of effective supervision undermines the ability to drive up standards, training, support, and monitoring of supervisory practice.

Supervision does not occur in a vacuum, and is susceptible to a range of external influences. The supervision literature, particularly the strand informed by psychodynamic approaches, explores how the supervisory relationship is influenced by what is going on at other levels of the system. One example of this is mirroring, which Morrison describes as the unconscious process by which the dynamics of one situation such as the relationship between the worker and the service user are reproduced in another relationship such as that between the worker and supervisor.

This process can work in both directions. One of the explanatory devices that is frequently used Hughes and Pengelly, ; Morrison, ; Hawkins and Shohet, is Karpman's drama triangle, which can seen as playing out in direct practice as well as in supervision. The terms persecutor, victim and rescuer in this context signify not only what individuals do or have done to them, but more importantly the roles they take up with respect to each other.

The persecutor cannot bear to experience their vulnerability, and therefore, seeks to project it onto a victim. In turn a victim cannot tolerate their own hostility and seeks to find someone onto whom this can be projected, namely the persecutor. The victim also abdicates any sense of responsibility, seeking a rescuer onto whom any competence can be projected. A rescuer can bear neither vulnerability nor hostility and sets out to 'save' the victim, a project which is doomed to fail.

Davys and Beddoe argue that the very nature of health and social care leaves practitioners susceptible to an enactment of the drama triangle. Hughes and Pengelly stress that in caring professions it is particularly the rescuer tendency, with its failure to acknowledge angry feelings that may lead to unsafe practice, and also the risk of creating dependence on supervisees.

A number of variations have been applied to the drama triangle in recent years. In particular, the empowerment triangle Cornelius and Faire, , cited in Davys and Beddoe, , p identifies alternative roles which can be employed to break the repetitive cycle. For example, if a supervisor finds themself in a persecutor role, the challenge is to become an educator or consultant, for a rescuer the challenge is to become a mediator, and for the victim the challenge is to redefine themselves as a learner.

The complexity of the supervisory relationship may also lead to games being played Cousins, Kadushin outlines a number of games that can be played by both supervisor and supervisee. Examples include the following, with quotes that illustrate the game being played.

Supervision helps the organization to improve the leadership quality of the employees because when a manager or senior employees got a task they do everything to achieve the goal. When employees work in a single line it helps the employees to be motivated because the manager or senior employees provide works in a continuous manner which helps the employees to get motivated.

Supervision improves communication between the low employees and management employees because when employees work under the supervision they provide information regularly. So supervision improves communication. Supervision improves and maintains the group unity among the employees because the supervisor regularly removes grievance among the employees and sort out internal differences and maintain decorum among the workers.

A skilled and experienced supervisor trained his employees and make them more professional under his supervision and build. A good supervisor should have knowledge of technical stuff because, for supervisor, he has to manage many workers under him so for their solutions technical knowledge is necessary. A supervisor is a person who manages the people and gives their tasks to the right people at the right time and helps the worker to remove their conflict and problems.