Most colleges and universities offer credits in supervision. But, what exactly are supervision skills, and do we need them? In this article, you will be able to read about five things you should know about supervision skills.
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1. Supervision skills are more than the competence of a supervisor
When we talk about competence and supervision, most people think of the supervisor’s competence. This may be in connection with the supervisors having to supervise students or new employees. Then it is often in connection with formal supervision competence. That they have certain credits within supervision.
It is just as important that other participants, colleagues, and leaders have expertise in supervision.
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Supervisor’s skills
Many people talk about and are concerned about the supervisor’s competence. This is because many of their supervision programs depend on a good supervisor. It is not unimportant to develop the supervisor’s competence. You may have heard students in practice who have very different experiences from the practice site. Their experience depends on who they have had as a supervisor.
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Supervisors often request supervision competence themselves. We see this, for example, in Rambøll’s evaluation of the supervision scheme for newly hired teachers. This means that many have motivation to learn. They have a responsibility that they take seriously.
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The supervisor must understand why supervision is important. Furthermore, what supervision is and is not. The supervisor should understand the situation until he or she is to supervise. The supervisor should also have good competence in the area he or she is to supervise. Explore the article on how to create trust.
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Some programs differentiate between being a mentor or supervisor. In this connection, the managers give some employees responsibility for professional follow-up and assessment. Others are given responsibility for social inclusion and psychosocial follow-up. Such an arrangement makes it clear that supervision is not just about learning a task. Supervision also deals with the context around the work tasks.
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The supervisor should be able to use different supervision methods depending on the mentee’s situation. They should be able to communicate appropriately. Supervisors should also be able to set boundaries for themselves. Furthermore, they should be able to teach their supervision skills to others. A supervisor must be able to be confident in the role of supervisor. The supervisor must be able to create an effect and change by supervising another person.
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Managers supervision skills
Managers should also have supervision skills to ensure an effective, high-quality program. Imagine if you are a leader and have a place in the budget to implement supervision. You have no understanding of what supervision can provide and you have no previous experience with supervision. Then it is easy to dismiss this task in favor of other tasks that you think are more important. There are few resources and time. The employees constantly complain that it is difficult to carry out the daily operations. In such situations, it can be demotivating to prioritize time for supervision
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The consequence of the leader having little competence in supervision is that the leader does not plan supervision and does not facilitate supervision. The supervision here can be ineffective and contribute to little gain. The leader is left with a picture that he or she was right not to prioritize supervision.
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Another leader has learned what supervision is and why it is important. She knows that supervision can help improve the environment, raise the competence of employees and reduce stress. However, she also knows that it depends on the type of supervision she chooses and that she plans this in a good way.
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The leader, who has a lot of expertise in supervision, plans the supervision and bases decisions on research and theory. She plans the time and supervision pairs carefully. It is easy for the employees to understand how they will be able to carry out supervision in a hectic everyday life. They also understand why they should prioritize supervision. When it comes to the composition of supervision couples and groups, the employees are very happy. They are challenged with their perspectives, but they also feel safe sharing what is difficult.
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Participants ‘and other colleagues’ supervision competence
Those who receive supervision should know a little about supervision. It may be that they gain their competence through a course or the training of a supervisor.
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A participant should be able to be confident in what is expected of them in the supervision, what supervision is and how it should be implemented. They should be able to know what to expect from the supervisor and what they can expect to get out of the supervisor.
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Last but not least, other colleagues, patients, students, or managers should also have information about the supervision and why you implement it. You may not need to send them on a course, but they should be able to gain insight into what supervision is and why you spend time on it.
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There have been cases in the past where other colleagues have not been so happy when a colleague has gone for supervision, perhaps because it has been stressful in the department. The colleague received information about why the other colleague went for supervision and what the supervision was about. After this, the person was more helpful in arranging for the colleague to go for supervision and encouraged this. Furthermore, there may be cases that involve observation.Iit is relevant for third parties to know why the observation takes place.
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2. You can raise supervision skills in more ways than just formal supervision training
In Rambøll’s survey, we see that schools and kindergartens have raised their supervision competence in several ways. The method most supervisors used to raise their competence in supervision was self-study. This means that many people even spend time finding out things related to supervision. With self-study, they can come to different understandings of what supervision is and how it should be implemented. At the same time, it shows a motivation to learn more about supervision.
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It is also pointed out that some people raise their supervision competence through initiatives from the organization. In this connection, there may be courses, subject days, information meetings or formal education. We know that it can be difficult for many to set aside time and money to send supervisors on courses. Therefore, not everyone gets this. It can be critical for an organization if a supervisor disappears for anywhere from one to several days on a supervision course. Or in formal education when it comes to even more days.
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Network groups and digital solutions
Network meetings are also a popular method of raising one’s mentoring skills. There may be formal network groups where the municipality, the organization, the competence center or the higher education sector invites to exchange of experience and development. However, there may also be informal network groups where participants themselves make contact with others who are in the same situation or who have experience with supervision.
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Network groups can be structured in the form of a leader in the network meetings and you have a set agenda for each time you meet. There can also be unstructured network meetings where you can address what you feel for. If there are unstructured meetings, we recommend that you are not too many in each group. (NB: if you are interested in participating in a network group within supervision, contact us in peer-it at [email protected]).
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One method that is more emerging is expertise through digital supervision services. This means that you have supervision platforms that structure the supervision for you. It requires less competence in the staff to benefit from supervision because it itself involves so much knowledge resources. It can be in the form of training videos, knowledge base and help texts that the participants have access to in the platform. These learning resources are readily available when you need them and close to practice. Read why supervision is so popular.
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3. Supervision competence increases the effect and results of the supervision
It pays to invest in supervision skills. Better supervision competence increases the effect of the supervision. For example, in Rambøll’s survey, they found that many people think that both supervision competence and suitability are important for the supervisor. It is significant to know the difference between counseling and supervision.
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Many research articles points to supervision competence as significant for whether there is good or bad supervision. Therefore, it is no wonder that the Norwegian authorities introduce requirements for supervision competence for supervisors in, for example, practice supervision or supervision of new employees.
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You may have experienced for yourself that you have met some people you learn a lot from, while other people find it more difficult to relate to. In a learning situation, you are often open about areas you are struggling with. As a participant in supervision, you should therefore have confidence in the supervisor. Confidence that the supervisor can teach you something and confidence that the supervisor wants your best.
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Examples to show the importance of competence on the results
If you are afraid that the supervisor will talk about what you are doing wrong behind your back, this is most likely limiting what you want to share with the supervisor. It can also limit the time that is prioritized for supervision. Here, the supervisor may lack competence about how the supervision is to be carried out, or the participant may lack information that the supervision hours are confidential. In any case, there is no good breeding ground for learning and development.
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In another case, you may look up to the supervisor as a competent professional. You get along well and you see that the supervisor gets good results. You look forward to the supervision hours. Here it is not only the supervisor who tells you what to do, but he asks questions and shares resources that make you think for yourself. You are challenged on what good practice is without losing your self-esteem. On the other hand, you are more motivated to try new methods and read up on the topic you are talking about.
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4. Avoid becoming dependent on the skills of a few people
The quality of supervision may depend on the competence of a few people. When these people disappear, the supervision program is exposed to either being shut down or continuing with poor quality.
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For example, it may be an organization that depends on a good leader. A department manager who plans and facilities a supervision program in his department. When the manager leaves, the manager can set aside time to transfer the competence and the scheme to the descendant. However, it may also be that this is not a priority. In such cases, the supervision program can be discontinued, or facilitated in a less good way.
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There are also cases where the quality of the supervision depends on the supervisor. We have mentioned earlier in this article that many believe that supervision competence is a success factor for good supervision. It is significant that the supervisor has supervision competence. But, do not make yourself dependent on the skills of a few people. Smaller companies may have trained a few supervisors. When the supervisors leave, you get a vulnerable arrangement where the supervision competence disappears.
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5. Different supervision skills
As mentioned above, self-study is a popular way today to update their supervision skills. There are different authors who write about supervision and there is a sea of different supervision models. This means that you have different supervision competence. It is an advantage to be aware of this difference.
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What I understand by supervision may be of a completely different understanding than what you understand by it. Because there are different understandings and supervision programs, one can have different perceptions of supervision. There may be some who have positive and others who have negative perceptions.
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A example of different supervision skills
An organization should start with supervision in the organization. The employees receive information about this in an information meeting with the department head. Mia starts to smile. She had supervision at her previous workplace. There, Mia had to address the challenges she experienced in a safe room. She experienced that she became better at dealing with difficult situations. Lina, on the other hand, sighs and protests. She has tried guidance before and did not get anything out of it. Lina tells the department head that she has experience with supervision and that it is a waste of time that should have been spent on other more important work tasks.
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The department head asks Lina how the supervision scheme she is experienced is. Lina says she stated that they met for coffee and that people talked about the weather and what they had for lunch. Occasionally they talked a little about emotions and things that Lina does not like. The head of department clarifies that this type of supervision is not the same as the supervision scheme Lina has participated in. Nor the one Mia has tried before. In this scheme, they have a set agenda with topics they will go through. There is no room for coffee talk. The supervision program in this case is about developing skills in a specific competence.
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As the example shows, it is an advantage to explain what type of supervision you implement. And clarify if anyone has a different understanding of supervision. In this way you can address potential misunderstandings and conflicts.
