Supervision

Target groups

• managers who lead employees (organization/department managers, project managers, etc.)
• professionals from various fields, who wish to improve their professional and personal competences (in private companies, public institutions, educational institutions)

Supervision is a process, in which the manager deals with issues related to the professional activities. For example: every day a manager/specialist finds himself/herself in relationship situations with both the organization as a system and with individuals. In those situations, it is not always clear what is going on, why people act the way they do and which decisions and actions would be the most efficient. Working in direct contact with other people, the manager/specialist also has to deal with his/her own personal feelings, which are not always so pleasant and explicit. In such kind of situations, supervision is an appropriate professional support helping to achieve self-awareness and improvement of competences.

I am creating the supervision as a safe environment in which a person can actively and creatively work towards understanding of the current situation and his/her role within it to understand the context of the events and to challenge themselves with seeing different viewpoints and creating new, personally suitable, models of behaviour. During this process, managers/specialists improve their introspection skills and train the ability to continue their self-development in their everyday work.

Types of supervision

• individual supervision (one session takes 1–1,5 h), participants - the client and the supervisor
• group supervision (one session takes 2–3 h), participants – group of professionals working in the same field and the supervisor
• team supervision (one session takes 2–3 h), where a team of employees/managers and the supervisor participate

 Process of supervision

At the first meeting the parties agree on the possible number and frequency of sessions (meetings), as well as the expectations, wishes, priorities, confidentiality and responsibilities during the sessions. In each session:

1. participants agree on the goal of the specific session, define the issue to be solved and the expected results of the session;
2. participants clarify and define the most important aspects of the problematic situation/issue;
3. problem resolution process, in which the supervisor proposes methods that are the most efficient in achieving the goal (questions, conversations, metaphors/images, creative arts — drawing, sculpting, etc. — anything that helps illuminate the situation and its context);
4. conclusions, observations, opportunities to use the gained insights in everyday work, possible courses of action for further self-development, opportunities to change the behaviour patterns;
5. if necessary, assigning a "task at home" — to verify the new insights in practice, a task on self-development at work;
6. mutual feedback about the goals achieved during the session, about the process and the participants' feelings; evaluation of the session;
7. agreement (or re-confirmation) of the time for the next session.

Additionally in the last session: evaluation of the whole process and development progress, recommendations for further self-development.