Effective support and supervision (document)

Effective supervision is a key component in staff management which can lead to the following improvements:

• Greater individual motivation
• Understanding of how work links into overall objectives
• More effective time management
• Ability to plan workload
• More effective coordination of work
• Better two-way communication
• Reduction in conflict/misunderstanding
• Learning on the job
• Reduction in stress levels

Definition

Support and supervision sessions are regular one-to-one meetings where work performance is discussed in a systematic manner. The session takes the form of a semi-structured interview with the emphasis on encouraging dialogue between the manager and the member of staff.

Support and supervision is concerned with monitoring work in hand, reviewing progress against individual work plans, discussing problems, developing solutions, and delegating new tasks and projects. Effective support and supervision should maximise learning on the job and support the individual in a way which is appropriate to their stage of development.

The wider process of reviewing overall performance and managing personal and career development are best considered as part of a systematic staff appraisal system, although this is a parallel and complimentary management process.

Equal Opportunities

Attitudes are moulded by culture and this can affect the success of the support and supervision process.

It is important that some thought goes into making sure that the way the meeting is conducted is sensitive to the cultural context and there is an explicit discussion about how the person can derive the maximum benefit from the process and how feedback should be given.

Preparation

The manager should give sufficient advance notice of a support and supervision session to allow for preparation. This will depend on the individual concerned and the nature of the job. The purpose is to give the individual time to review their work and think about any issues or problems they wish to raise.

Both parties should prepare an agenda and this should then be agreed at the start of the meeting. This will always include a review of action points from the previous meeting.

The session should take place in a private, quiet, comfortable place which enables the discussion to take place without interruption.

Frequency and duration

All staff should be offered support and supervision on a monthly basis (unless, of course, the person is absent for a significant proportion of the time). In certain circumstances, such as during the induction period, it will be appropriate to hold sessions more frequently.

To cover properly all the areas identified below, and assuming adequate preparation, a support and supervision session should take about 45 minutes to one hour.

Content

Effective supervision and support will generally cover four broad areas:

• Review of work
• Delegation of tasks/projects
• Priority setting
• Training and development review

It should cover both the regular work of the team and other activities such as attendance at various task groups, networks, etc

Performance review

• Review progress against targets/work plan
• Find facts on what has been achieved
• Evaluate what went well and what could have been done differently
• Address learning points
• Give and receive feedback
• Give praise if appropriate
• Agree next steps

Delegation of new tasks/projects

• Delegate new tasks/projects
• Explain reasons
• Discuss problems & solutions
• Ask for ideas
• Agree level of support offered
• Clarify what is not required
• Agree deadlines/milestones
• Delegate new tasks/projects

Priorities

• Explore conflicting priorities
• Agree priorities against team objectives
• Check feelings
• Agree what should be referred to manager
• Give permission not to do things
• Explore conflicting priorities

Training and Development

• Discuss planned training courses/work placements etc
• Agree support required for learning to be effective
• Review training attended and evaluate outcome
• Review progress against development plan
• Discuss planned training courses/work placements etc

The content and style of the meeting will take account of the needs of the individual and reflect the level of experience and expertise of the person concerned. This should be discussed at an initial session so that both parties understand how support and supervision meetings are to be conducted.

Format

The format of the session should comprise four broad stages:

Recap of previous discussion and agreed action points

• Confirm agreed action
• Summarise discussion

Information seeking

• Ask for update
• Confirm who was involved
• Ask open questions
• Use summaries to check understanding

Problem solving

• Identify problem areas
• Ask for ideas how to resolve problems
• Develop alternatives
• Assess consequences

Summary and follow-up

• Agree action points for both parties
• Agree review arrangements
• Complete support and supervision record
• Copy to the individual

Record Keeping

To ensure clarity, it is important to keep records of supervision and support sessions including action points, for reference. For many jobs in social care, keeping records of support and supervision is an essential component of service delivery and case management and are subject to inspection.

Supervision and support notes are confidential between the individual and their line manager and should be kept securely by the manager in a specific folder.

Every member of staff is entitled to inspect supervision notes and to suggest amendments. Where there are disagreements these can be recorded. Unauthorised amendment of records could be viewed as a disciplinary issue and managers should ensure that notes are secure and password protected if held in electronic format.

Under normal circumstances it will not be necessary to keep anything more than brief notes of the meetings. However, support and supervision sessions will sometimes deal with difficult issues and in these circumstances it is important that more detailed notes are made of the discussion and these should be passed to the individual who may then record any comments or disagreements. In most cases, the issue will be resolved and the matter will go no further.

However, if the manager were to instigate the disciplinary procedure for any reason, or if a grievance were raised in connection with an issue which was covered in any support and supervision session, the notes could form evidence in connection with that case.

In some cases, the support and supervision process will be used as a way of resolving issues at an informal stage, as part of the grievance or disciplinary procedure. It is only in the context of such formal procedures that any notes would be placed on the personal file.

Unless issues have been raised which potentially fall under the grievance or disciplinary procedure, it is not appropriate for third parties to be involved in support and supervision sessions.

Principles

A considerable amount has been written in management textbooks about effective supervision. The following principles should be taken into consideration when conducting support and supervision:

Wherever possible, ask the person to assess their own performance

Before the meeting takes place it is helpful if the member of staff concerned conducts a brief assessment of performance against their individual workplan. This should involve measurable performance targets as well as making more qualitative assessments, e.g. number of clients seen, number of courses taught etc.

When reviewing the work done, ask for the person's views on how well the work was done before giving your own views. People are often quite critical of their work and tend not to take sufficient credit for the things they have actually done well. This then provides an opportunity to give praise and positive feedback.

On the other hand, if there is an issue about the standard of performance, it is better to try to get the person to see the problems for themselves. The role of the manager is therefore to challenge their perceptions.

Start the meeting on a positive note, to develop rapport

If the very first part of the meeting involves criticism, it will encourage defensive behaviour throughout the session and will reduce the possibility of accepting and learning from such criticism. Meetings should always start on a positive note so that the person can relax and engage constructively with any critical comments. It will also encourage the person to raise any problems themselves rather than have to have them pointed out. A summary of the meeting should reflect this balance of positive and critical comment.

Adapt your management style to the individual

In delegating tasks and projects, it is important to adapt to the individual's level of development. For someone relatively new who is on a steep part of the learning curve, a step-by-step detailed approach may be necessary and exactly the support the person wants. At a later stage, it would be more appropriate to express confidence in the person's ability to deal with things themselves.

Be sensitive to cultural issues

Cultures differ along many dimensions, and in particular this includes attitudes to criticism and the degree to which critical comments are perceived as a personal affront. It is important to be sensitive to this to ensure that individuals do not suffer loss of self-esteem. An explicit discussion about cultural norms may help to set the right tone and there should then be a common understanding of the ground rules.

About this document

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