Publications from ODSW Social Work Supervsion | Página 37

Day 2 Keynote 2: West Meets East: Sharing of Supervisory Strategies and Skills – Dialogue and Demonstration – Part 2

1.

What skills and strategies did you notice the supervisor use to assist the
supervisee to tell his/ her story?

The participants expressed that the supervisor first allowed him to tell the story completely
before beginning to process it with him. In response, A/P Kieran expressed that the
supervisor could ask challenging questions as a means to get the supervisee to think
through and process what had happened on his own. This is important as it allows for
reflection on the part of the supervisee and it causes the supervisee to do the work instead
of the supervisor. A/P Kieran also expressed that in asking such questions, the focus is not
on the answer but on the thinking process and the effect of the question on the
supervisee.
A/P Kieran also expressed that as he was speaking to his supervisee he had a checklist in
mind of the things that he wanted to ascertain or to process with his supervisee. He also
mentioned that supervisors ought to give their supervisees the space to share what was
going on and the issues to address or process will naturally emerge from there.
Finishing the Session
A/P Kieran shared that as the session comes to an end, the supervisor should give
feedback to the supervisee and ask for feedback as well. He also added that it is important
to question the supervisee what he/ she would be doing after the supervision session. The
participants also shared that they felt that that would round up the session well.
Conclusion
A/P Kieran expressed that supervisors must begin by orientating their supervisees when
they come in for supervision, and prepare them to be vulnerable and to share their
emotions. Similarly, the supervisor must also orientate the supervisee when the session
ends and prepare them to go back out onto the field, especially when they have opened
up themselves and been vulnerable during the session. He shared a checklist for
supervisors (see Table 2) and also encouraged supervisors and supervisees to review their
sessions through exploring the following questions:
• How well have we prepared?
• How well have we engaged with each other?
• How well have we focused upon supervision?
• How well have we managed our agenda and priorities?
• How well have worked through the items?
• How well have we made decisions and identified actions?
• How well have we concluded our sessions?

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