Sacred Time: Ensuring the Provision of Excellent Supervision

Background and Purpose

When done effectively, supervision has been shown to decrease employee burnout, increase job satisfaction, and improve retention rates. Few studies have investigated the impact one’s job role has on the perception of effective supervision and, what excellent supervision specifically entails. This study aimed to explore the beliefs and attitudes regarding what constitutes "excellent supervision" from the perspectives of line workers, supervisors, and senior managers employed by one child and family serving organization in Northern Ireland.

Methods

In this mixed-methods, exploratory study, staff members from all levels of the organization (N=100) responded to an online survey that measured the importance of four supervision dimensions: knowledge, personal support, professional role, and agency support. Seven in-depth, semi-structured focus groups (N=33) were held with front-line practitioners and managers to further explore participants' views on effective supervision. All focus group were transcribed and coded thematically using NVivo 10 software. Themes that resonated for all investigators were included in the analysis and emerging conceptual model.  Data analysis of the quantitative surveys, using SPSS, included descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations to examine significant relationships between organization position, supervision, and support variables.

Results

Several interrelated themes addressing what constitutes excellent supervision emerged repeatedly across all focus group sessions, regardless of whether participants where front line workers or supervisors.

1. Occurrence, consistency, and no interruptions during supervision sessions.
2. Supervisor characteristics of expertise, the ability to build relationship with supervisee, and the ability to create and sustain trust and safety.
3. Structured supervision tailored to the individual and includes administrative, clinical, and educational content.
4. Effective supervision’s ability to influence the quality of care provided to clients.
5. The benefits of using supplemental activities such as peer supervision.
6. Organizational context/culture determines how the above noted elements function.

Quantitative frequencies analysis reflected strikingly different values by organizational position regarding which supervision domains were most important. Bivariate correlations further supported the finding that values differ by organizational position, but also highlighted significant relationships (p < .05) between participant demographics and values.

Conclusions and Implications

This study reflects the important role of organizational context and culture in relation to staff’s ability to provide excellent supervision. There was a paradoxical finding among the focus group narratives that the organization’s cultural shift towards more accountability might actually be impairing staff’s ability to provide competent, quality services.

Quantitative analysis indicate that a barrier to perceived effective supervision is the disconnect between frontline workers, their supervisors, and senior management, on what supervision domains are most essential. It is recommended that organizations conduct similar analyses to determine if comparable disconnects need to be addressed. Schools of social work can also assist in educating students on the many important elements of supervision and how to maximize the benefits. Further research is needed to fully consider the implications of how participant demographics may interplay with organizational position to influence attitudes regarding what constitutes excellent supervision.