3.

What is
supervision?

SSSC Supervision Learning Resource 15

By the end of this section the aim is that you will:

• be more knowledgeable about the different functions of supervision and your

responsibilities as supervisee or supervisor
• have an awareness and understanding of some models of supervision and their
relevance to your practice
• be able to critically analyse and evaluate the supervision policies in your workplace
with reference to relevant models of supervision.

Section 2 on the context of supervision and its impact on the wider system may have
felt abstract because it asked you to think broadly about the purpose of supervision.
However, you will have seen there are contrasting ideas about supervision which have
resulted in a variety of definitions and functions of supervision. Some of these may
underpin the supervision policies in your own organisation. This section explores the
variation in definitions and models in more concrete ways and provides guidance for
further reading.

3.1. Definitions and functions of supervision

Definitions of supervision tell us something about what supervision aims to achieve or

the function(s) it intends to fulfil.

Although there are various definitions of supervision there are commonalities between
them. Some place more emphasis on the organisational purpose of supervision while
others focus more on the individual. When analysing the different aspects of supervision,
some authors identify three functions, while others see the process10 as having
four (or more) functions. When reading this section, you will want to consider which
definition has resonance in your practice context including how this has influenced your
organisation’s supervision policy.

IRISS Insight11 on achieving effective supervision makes use of the Care Council for
Wales’ definition of the purpose of supervision for the organisation as:

‘An accountable, two-way process, which supports, motivates and enables

the development of good practice for individual social care workers. As a
result, this improves the quality of service provided by the organisation.’

The SSSC Step into Leadership website has the following description of supervision,
which emphasises the professional development of the supervisee in the context of
the organisation’s aims and accountability, particularly in relation to people who use
services:

‘Supervision is a process which aims to support, assure and develop the

knowledge, skills and values of the person being supervised (supervisee),

10Throughout the learning resource supervision is referred to, and understood, as a process
not an event.
11Kettle, M (2015) Achieving Effective Supervision, Insight 30. IRISS, www.iriss.org.uk
Wonnacott, J (2012) Mastering Social Work Supervision, London, Jessica Kingsley

16 Supervision Learning Resource SSSC

 team or project group. It provides accountability for both the supervisor
and supervisee in exploring practice and performance. It also enhances
and provides evidence for annual performance review or appraisal; it
sits alongside an organisation’s performance management process with
particular focus on developing people in a way that is centred on achieving
better outcomes for people who use services and their carers.’

Tony Morrison,12 whose writing on supervision has had a strong influence in social work
and social care, explicitly recognises personal and professional functions alongside the
organisational. He also positions the overall purpose of supervision towards achieving
best outcomes for people who use services:

‘A process by which one worker is given responsibility by the organisation

to work with another worker(s) in order to meet certain organisational,
professional and personal objectives which together promote the best
outcomes for service users.’

This highlights the delegated (organisational) authority of the supervisor in relation

to the supervisee. In contrast the definition given by Hawkins and Shohet13 only
indirectly recognises the organisation as part of the ‘wider systemic context’ and instead
emphasises the shared professional responsibilities of supervisee and supervisor:

‘Supervision is a joint endeavour in which a practitioner with the help of

a supervisor attends to their clients, themselves as part of their client
practitioner relationships and the wider systemic context, and by doing so
improves the quality of their work, transforms their client relationships,
continuously develops themselves, their practice and the wider profession.’

A more recent definition14 highlights not only the separate functions of supervision
but also recognises how these may be assigned to more than one supervisor. This is
likely to become increasingly common in integrated services and when staff may be line
managed by someone from a different professional background.

‘Social work supervision is an interactive professional relationship and

reflective process that focuses on the supervisee’s practice, professional
development and well-being, with the objectives of improving, developing,
supporting and providing safety for the practitioner and their social work
practice. It is distinct and different from counselling/therapy, direct
practice and consultation. Supervision may occur through a traditional
internal hierarchical arrangement or an external professional arrangement
which focuses on all of the areas and objectives, or a mix of internal and
external arrangements, which focus on particular areas and objectives.

12Morrison, T (2005) Supervision in Social Care: Making a real difference for staff and
service users, 3rd ed. Brighton, Pavilion Publishing
13 Hawkins, P and Shohet, R (2012) Supervision in the Helping Professions, 4th ed.,
Maidenhead, Open University Press
14 O’Donoghue, K (2015) Issues and challenges facing social work supervision in the
twenty-first century, China Journal of Social Work, 8:2, 136-149

SSSC Supervision Learning Resource 17

 The assigned or designated supervisors may be a line manager, colleague
or external consultant/contractor or a combination of these where there
is a mixed arrangement.’

When considering how the overall purpose of supervision is broken down into different
functions Inskipp and Proctor15 identify three.

• Normative – which they define as the shared responsibility of both supervisor and
supervisee to monitor standards and practice in a way which is ethical and reflects
the value base16 of the profession.
• Formative – which they see as the shared responsibility for the supervisee’s
development.
• Restorative – given the nature of the work supervision needs to provide a
restorative space to explore the impact and for the practitioner to re-charge.

Morrison uses different language and adds a fourth element in the functions of
supervision:

• competent, accountable performance/practice (this may be referred to as the

managerial function)
• continuing professional development
• personal support
• engaging the individual with the organisation (mediation).

Morrison refers to this fourth aspect as the mediation function and highlights the way
supervision includes the upward and downward flow of information in organisations.
The table in Appendix 1 provides a more detailed description of some of the tasks
Morrison identifies as contributing to each function.

Importantly, Morrison sees ‘personal support’ as a function in its own right as do

Inskipp and Proctor when they refer to the ‘restorative’ function. In contrast, Hughes
and Pengelly purposefully do not define support as a separate function. This is because
they are concerned that supervisees’ own needs could take precedence over the needs
of people who use services. They choose instead to think of support as an element
underpinning the three key functions of supervision which they identify as:

• managing service delivery

• facilitating practitioner’s professional development
• focusing on practitioner’s work.

15Inskipp and Proctor, cited in Davys, A and Beddoe, L (2010) Best Practice in Supervision:
A guide for the helping professions, London, Jessica Kingsley.
16One place where professional values are outlined is in professional Codes of Practice. For
workers in Scotland’s social services this is the SSSC Codes of Practice for Social Service
Workers and Employers (2016).

18 Supervision Learning Resource SSSC

 Hughes and Pengelly emphasise that there are effectively three participants in super-
vision. While people using services are not physically present in the room, it is vitally
important both supervisor and supervisee actively consider their perspective. It can be
helpful to hold the image of a triangle (representing supervisor, supervisee and people
using services) as a means of making sure attention stays focused on outcomes for
people who use services.

Exercise 4

Find the supervision policy in your organisation

Was it easy to access? Is it referred to regularly? Read it and identify the extent it
explicitly draws on and integrates the functions of supervision you have just read
about. Is it possible to identify the key theories or principles which have informed
the policy?

Consider your own experiences of supervision in the organisation where

you currently work

To what extent are the functions outlined in your organisation’s policy put into
practice? Is there a balance across different functions? If so, how is this achieved?
If not, what aspects of supervision seem to take priority and why?

SSSC Supervision Learning Resource 19

 It can sometimes be helpful to look at another organisation’s supervision policy to help
think about what your organisation does well and what it might want to change.
ENABLE Scotland has developed its supervision policy and practice and its head of
learning and professional development reflects on the process below, with links to the
template (Appendix 2) currently used to record supervision.

Supervision to support personalised services

ENABLE Scotland recently revised its approach to support and supervision to better
support personalised services. We used a proactive and dynamic approach for this
task. A group of staff met to try, learn, adapt and improve the existing approach
and to troubleshoot issues. We used participative leadership, person centred
approaches, a focus on the outcomes of the people we support, the European
Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) quality framework and the SSSC
competencies of the Continuous Learning Framework to underpin development
of the system and processes. The staff used a quick turnaround and followed an
iterative plan, do, check, act, approach. This enabled the paperwork to improve as
it was trialled.

We chose to use open questions to encourage first line managers and personal
assistants to focus on resilience and strength. For example, staff members
are asked ‘What are your successes? What are you pleased about?’ They are
also asked ‘What will you focus on to help people using services move towards
personal outcomes?’ Workers are encouraged to seek feedback from others. This
complements a ‘no blame’ improvement culture where staff members have coping
strategies beyond the supervision sessions.

See the current form we use to record supervision in Appendix 2. This is merely
a support to good conversation and open dialogue in supervision and will be
reviewed again based on feedback from ENABLE Scotland staff on its usefulness.

20 Supervision Learning Resource SSSC

 Midlothian Council has also reviewed and amended its supervision policy to strengthen
its focus on outcomes for people who use services. Its practice learning and
development manager (health and social care) outlines the process taken on the next
page.

Midlothian Council’s review of their supervision policy

A small group of team leaders across adult and social care and children and
families worked with the learning and development manager to review Midlothian
Council’s supervision policy. We considered a range of outcomes-based supervision
policies. After consulting staff and several drafts, we wrote and adopted an
outcomes-based supervision policy and guidance.

We recognised the risk at this point was a lack of implementation. Through the
initiative of key team leaders and learning and development staff we took forward
a number of actions.

• Development of an observed practice template to use for annual feedback

with staff in relation to their practice.
• Small group to plan a training day on planning and implementing group
supervision – this was identified as an important part of implementing a range
of methods of supervision.
• Ongoing training in effective supervision skills – to provide support and
practical tools/frameworks for developing supervision practice.
• Gathering feedback from team leaders about how they were shifting their
approaches in supervision, for example starting with developmental areas,
asking the staff member to prioritise eight most important areas of work for
discussion to avoid an overly case management approach.
• Linking supervision policy to the appraisal process so both are outcomes
instead of objectives based.

On reflection, the integration (of health and social care) agenda was not addressed
alongside developing the supervision policy. The different understandings of
supervision and reflection between health and social care provide a range of
new steps in the journey of implementation and ultimately ensuring improved
outcomes for people using services and carers.

The Changing Lives: 21st Century Review of Social Work report17 identified the
need for practitioners to be both autonomous and accountable. Autonomous does
not mean the practitioner is entirely independent but implies they are able to make
decisions appropriate to their role and function. Accountability is about being able
to explain how and why the practitioner made those decisions. The authority you
have (delegated by your organisation and because of your professional and personal

17Scottish Executive (2006) Changing Lives: Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review,
Edinburgh: Scottish Executive

SSSC Supervision Learning Resource 21

 experience) and the authority of your supervisor/supervisee will be relevant when
considering the appropriate balance between autonomy and accountability. Reflecting
on the definitions and functions of supervision should start to trigger thoughts
for you about the authority you assume exists in your supervisory relationships.
While all definitions highlight the managerial responsibilities held by supervisors,
these responsibilities do not absolve the supervisee of practice (and professional)
responsibilities or of all authority to make decisions in work situations. There will be
some areas of authority which are negotiated between supervisee and supervisor and
others which are assigned to one or other because of their role and responsibilities or
their professional background and/or experience.

Exercise 5

Several models of supervision emphasise the shared responsibility that supervisor

and supervisee have for making sure supervision is effective. In the example
given by ENABLE Scotland this extended to joint responsibility for the design of
the supervision process itself. Can you describe the ways you feel responsibility is
shared in your own supervision and reflect on ways this could be enhanced?

3.2 Balancing the functions of supervision

You have now considered the different functions of supervision. Using Morrison’s
framework these include the management, support, development and mediation
functions. In Scotland, Changing Lives18 noted a concern that supervision had become
too weighted towards the managerial function. Many writers have identified how the
management function may dominate19 with the result that supervision focuses too
much on performance monitoring and caseload management. There is a risk of this
happening when all four functions are included in a single supervisory relationship as
is common in social work teams.

There are many reasons for this imbalance to occur. Where the management function
dominates it may be because:

• there is significant pressure to report on work to funders, senior management and

inspectors
• there is an aversion to risk and a presumption that one way of managing this is to
make sure that comprehensive information is collected and scrutinised

18Scottish Executive (2006) Changing Lives: Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review,
Edinburgh: Scottish Executive
19 Noble, C and Irwin, J (2009) Social Work Supervision: An Exploration of the Current
Challenges in a Rapidly Changing Social, Economic and Political Environment, Journal of
Social Work, 9(3), pp. 345–358
Gordon, R. and Hendry, E. (2010) Supervising Assessments of Children and Families: The
role of the front-Line managers, in J. Horwath (ed.) The Child’s World: The Comprehensive
Resource to Assessing Children in Need, 2nd ed. London, Jessica Kingsley
O’Donoghue, K (2015) Issues and challenges facing social work supervision in the twenty-
first century, China Journal of Social Work, 8(2), 136-149

22 Supervision Learning Resource SSSC

 • there is a lack of trust between the participants in supervision
• the culture of the organisation is defensive
• the supervisor is uncomfortable with her/his authority and over compensates by
being excessively demanding
• the supervisor is less comfortable in the support role and/or lacks the skills to
promote development or reflection.

In other situations the supportive function may dominate. This might be because:

• the supervisor is aware of the pressure her/his staff are under and tries to
compensate by being protective
• the supervisor is uncomfortable with her/his authority and overcompensates by
being excessively nurturing
• the boundary between personal and professional issues is unclear and the
supervisor gets pulled into a counselling/therapeutic role20
• the supervisee is not fully confident in their professional role and can be overly
dependent on the supervisor
• the organisation has a tough ‘macho’ culture and supervision is a compensatory
space.

The value of a four function model in a single supervisory relationship is that both
parties (supervisor and supervisee) have to manage the balance between functions. In
a consistent supervisory relationship you can often work through the tensions even if
there is no perfect solution. One of the best remedies for an imbalance in the functions
is to consciously reintroduce those elements that have gone missing. A supervisor may
pose a learning question to shift the conversation into development or introduce a
team or organisational perspective (mediation) to shift the focus from more
personal discussion.

In some organisations, one approach is to separate the functions of supervision and

give these to different people. Bradley and Hojer21 explore contrasting practice in
the UK and Sweden where there is often a divide between line management and
consultation. If you are working in a context where the functions of supervision
are split, you will want to consider the benefits of this for you, for people who use
services and carers and for the organisation. For example it can help to make sure
the space for reflection is not lost. A shared supervisory arrangement can create
its own challenges. Where there are two people sharing responsibility for the four
functions the split may be between an operations manager, who attends to work
flow issues, performance monitoring and organisational requirements and a practice
or clinical supervisor whose focus is on the practitioner’s development and support,
sometimes in the context of a particular profession. This may help to make sure
professional development and/or support needs are addressed. However if the roles

20Cousins, C (2010) ‘Treat Me Don’t Beat Me’ … . Exploring Supervisory Games and Their
Effect
21Bradley, G and Hojer, F 2009 Supervision reviewed: reflections on two different social
work models in England and Sweden, European Journal of Social Work, 12 (1 ), 71-85

SSSC Supervision Learning Resource 23

 and responsibilities are not clearly defined and understood by all parties involved the
practitioner can:

• receive conflicting messages

• fall between two possible sources of support because of assumptions the other
person is providing something they are not
• exploit differences between supervisors to avoid tasks or responsibilities.

If you supervise (or are supervised) in a work setting where the functions are
allocated to different people, it will be useful to think about how to minimise or avoid
some of the potential difficulties including fragmentation, duplication and omission.
At a minimum, we recommend you have occasional three-way meetings to discuss
arrangements and explore the kinds of challenges that may arise as well as making the
most of the benefits.

There is an increasing focus on integration in social services and it is not unusual

for someone from a different professional background to supervise staff. In these
instances, the different functions may be distributed across two or more members
of staff. If this is part of your experience, as a supervisor or supervisee, or you are
thinking about the possible benefits this may bring, there is a short film (Supervision in
an integrated setting) on the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) website which
shows how practice in an integrated setting can be enhanced by ‘complementing line
management supervision with clinical and professional supervision’.

Exercise 6

What do you think would be the best possible arrangements for supervision in your
organisation? What would the challenges be and how could they be addressed?

3.3 Outcome focused supervision

There has been an increased emphasis on improving outcomes for people who use
services and for carers in recent years. In part, this has been in response to evidence
that, despite extensive input from social care and social work services, there was
limited impact on some people’s day to day, lived experience22. This emphasis is also
informed by shifts in the balance of power between professionals and people using
services so individuals have a greater role in designing and commissioning their own
support. Reflecting this focus on outcomes for people who use services and carers,
there has been a similar shift in supervision with the development of policies which
encourage supervisees/supervisors to use an outcome focused approach in supervision
sessions.

22Scottish Executive (2002) “It’s everyone’s job to make sure I’m alright”, Edinburgh,
Scottish Executive

24 Supervision Learning Resource SSSC

 In the context of working with young people, Bucknell23 developed a cyclical model
for outcome focused supervision. Working together, the supervisor and supervisee
firstly focus on the future – what are the desired outcomes they are working towards?
Next they identify specific goals and realistic timescales for achieving these. As a
foundation for moving forward, they consider existing strengths and how these can
develop further. Progress is sustained by continually looking at the next steps and
using the supervisory space to rehearse or prepare for new kinds of engagement
with the young person. In this model, the supervisor is committed to giving regular,
constructive feedback and the process includes ongoing review so that progress is
evaluated and goals revisited as appropriate.

Bucknell highlights the way this approach:

‘parallels the supportive and shared process the supervisee is building with
the young person’.

Although Bucknell developed this cyclical approach for direct work with young people,
it can be applied across other areas of practice. The model might help you think about
the different aspects of outcome focused supervision and to focus more clearly on
outcomes for people who use services as well as for yourself as a practitioner.

Exercise 7

Use the following prompts based on Bucknell’s model to think about a relatively
routine problem or issue (for you or for someone you work with) and how a clear
focus on outcomes might help. You may want to use this exercise as a basis for
discussion in supervision.

• What do you want to achieve or to change in the situation?

• What existing strengths or capabilities might help you?
• What might be the first step? This could include shadowing a work colleague,
reading an article or listening to a podcast.
• How might you test out your ideas? This could include rehearsing something
with a peer or your supervisor or taking on a new piece of work.
• What is the most effective way for you to receive feedback?
• How will you use feedback to help you achieve your goal?

23Bucknell, D. Outcome Focused Supervision in H.L. Reid, and J. Westergaard, (2006)

Providing Support and Supervision: An introduction for professionals working with young
people, Oxon, Routledge 5

SSSC Supervision Learning Resource 25