Supervision Skills
Lesson 1: Knowledge
Introduction
Welcome to a series of lessons on supervision. While the whole Next Kid Framework is a picture of your responsibility as a leader, these lessons build upon the Leadership Development lessons as part of the Next Kid Framework from year 1 and London. Think - how can I better grow those I lead? It will be helpful for you to make connections from what you are learning in these lessons to the bigger picture, the Next Kid Framework.
While all topics this year are about leading others and supervision, this first set of lessons will focus on your supervising relationships and the skills of supervision - formal and informal.
As you go through this series of lessons and practice the skills taught, you will grow the below competencies:
- Clarity of Communication: Ensures a clear understanding of mutual goals, expectations, and timelines. Utilizes a written tool to ensure clear and mutual understanding.
- Initiative in Supervision: Takes initiative to know the status of work and relationships of supervisees; gives constructive feedback and specific affirmation as appropriate. Prepares ahead of time for meetings and communication.
- Orientation to Development: Helps supervisee discern improvement and growth needs, and keeps goal-oriented focus. Creates access to growth opportunities. Initiates discussion regarding poor performance. Provides form and informal evaluations. Initiates crucial conversations, both affirming and corrective.
Lesson 1 Objectves
- Define healthy supervision
- Learn what attitudes we need as supervisors and which ones we already embody.
- How do we practically live out those attitudes.
Let's start with ScripturE...
Read 2 Timothy 1-2. Reflection on the questions below:
- What is Paul’s attitude toward Timothy?
- What is Paul’s attitude toward ministry?
Today we will look at their relationships as one of supervisor and supervisee - not just a mentor or disciple.
Reflect: What is your attitude toward the people you supervise? Write down three words describing your attitude toward your supervisees.
Keep these reflections in front of you as you learn what healthy attitudes to have toward your supervisees and the mission - to have a pastoral heart and be dedicated to the mission at hand.
What Does Healthy Supervision Look like?
Evidence → Story sharing of Successful Supervision relationships
Let's define Healthy SUpervision:
Becoming a person who is developing self, caring for the wellbeing of others, and accomplishing the Young Life mission at the same time.
Lets breakdown this definition piece by piece:
Becoming a person who is developing self, caring for the wellbeing of others, and accomplishing the Young Life mission at the same time.
In the first year of the i100, we spent much time working on ourselves and becoming more self-aware. As we grow, lead, and develop others, we need to have learning attitudes to be refined and continually transformed.
How are you growing in your self-awareness? Do you know your strengths and your weaknesses? What are you doing for yourself to personally grow?
What are you reading or listening to?
Personality Tests and Assessments:
- Strengthsfinder - Year 1
- Multipliers - What is your plan to address your Accidental Diminisher?
- Dependable Strengths - done in APAC Emerging Leader and Women's Leadership Accelerator
- Myers Briggs - official costs $59 but can find free versions.
- Enneagram - can find free ones online
- Working Genius - Working Strengths $25
Continual cultural awareness - Each of us comes with cultural bias - generational, country bias, or subcultures within our churches and cities. Becoming culturally intelligent is working on acknowledging your own cultural bias and approaching other cultures with humility. Are you aware of the bias you bring into relationships - especially supervisor relationships?
Ask for feedback from those you supervise. This is one of the most powerful ways to develop self-awareness as you learn how others are experiencing you. In some cultures, this might be uncomfortable so you might need to create a safe space for your supervisee to feel free to give you feedback. There is a tool later in the lesson that could help you with this.
Pro-Tip: If you are using a personality test for yourself, don’t do it alone. Do it with your team and/or the people you supervise and you will get much more out of it. It will give you a common language to discuss your similarities, and differences, and how to use those in your work.
Pause and Reflect
- What have you learned about yourself in the last two years using the Strength Finders assessment and Multipliers Accidental Diminisher assessment?
- What are you doing differently than a year ago because of your self-awareness growth?
- Where are you developing yourself by being a more spirit-led leader and how is that impacting your leadership?
- What is one thing you can do to become more self-aware this next month?
- Reflect on your culture (your country, your generation, church culture, etc). What bias or cultural norms do you bring into your supervisor relationships? **Good group discussion
Becoming a person who is developing self, caring for the wellbeing of others, and accomplishing the Young Life mission at the same time.
Two attitudes we need as supervisors:
1.) Unconditional care and affirmation - for the person
2.) Goal Orientation - about the task
Remember the survey about leadership challenges you did before we went to London? If we could summarize solutions for the challenges you all shared, the majority of the challenges could be solved with these attitudes. This idea did not come from those but they really reflect what you all shared. You all want a supervisor who cares for you, supports you, dreams with you and you want one who is clear about the goal and task at hand.
As we discuss these attitudes, reflect on how you already embody these attitudes. When we learn, sometimes we just need affirmation that what we are already doing is good! You know what you need to learn best so make note of your strengths and weaknesses as we go.
1.) Unconditional Care and affirmation: for the person!
Becoming a person who is developing self, caring for the wellbeing of others, and accomplishing the Young Life mission at the same time.
Pause and Reflect
- How do you do this with the people you lead?
- Is this easier to do for some rather than others?
- How do you change your affirmation and support depending on the person?
Teach: Supervisors get in trouble when - Zhenya
Building Trust with those you Supervise - Al Anderson
Reality Check - Am I for my supervisees? Do they know this? How do I demonstrate this? Maybe one question you could ask yourself is - how do I speak about them when they are not around, especially if they let you down or made a mistake? How do I build trust with those I supervise?
2.) Goal Orientation - About the Task
Becoming a person who is developing self, caring for the wellbeing of others, and accomplishing the Young Life mission at the same time.
Setting Clear Expectations
Most problems come from: unclear expectations and unclear assumptions. Young Life roles, especially field staff, can feel messy because every day is rarely the same because of the job and seasons of ministry. So having clear expectations can be difficult. Consider someone who works at a restaurant. That work is also busy and messy but clear expectations can be made because the daily work is similar.
So as supervisors, we need to initiate setting clear expectations - when? From the very beginning!! And ongoing. Below is a story of how a supervisor set clear expectations and maintained a family feel:
“Sue was consistent in her supervision. She set up a program of 4 interns (joining staff that fall) to work through practical training together, and that collaborative integrated learning was beneficial. We met every second week working through the practical training material. She held us accountable and took it seriously, so we knew our work was important. She was prepared and systematic (she had charts for attendance and assignments completed), so you knew you couldn’t get by without doing the work. This placed a value on the work and I think also made each person feel worthwhile.
Sue met with us 1-1 on the ‘other’ week. This created a regular time to dialogue and address individual needs and concerns. She was excellent at balancing sharing about YL work and personal life. She had certain questions that she asked each time we got together like, ‘How is ____ going for you?’ I think since she was my YL leader and shared so much of my life, she knew me well that this time was more like mentorship than work supervision. Even though it was regular, I would say it had a casual feel. She always had a good cup of coffee ready and we would talk sitting on the couch or go for a walk, whatever we were in the mood for. It accomplished the goal of supervision but in a very friendly manner.
The expectations of being a staff person were clear and mutual as Sue would have us together write the job description, so we were invested in what were expected to do. She helped break it down into time management chunks and blocked out what we needed to accomplish each week, month, and over the course of the year. She had us hand in time sheets, which were balanced and healthy, than a time card making sure we were working enough. She trusted me and believed in me. She also protected me and cared for my needs.”
On the Flip Side, Supervisors get in trouble when...
Supervisors do not understand what is really important to them in their role
- What does it look like to succeed?
- What are signs to me that you are not doing the job? (too easy to assume)
Supervisors do not communicate clear vision - Supervisors and supervisees need to have a clear vision of ministry in both directions. -
- Supervisor shares their vision map with supervisees and vice versa.
- We should have a clear vision for those we lead - on our Trees
In Lesson 2, we will take a deeper look at how to structure supervision meetings.
Pause and Reflect
- How have you set clear expectations with those you supervise? Do you need to do this again?
- How have you set clear and mutual goals with those you supervise? How would they answer this question for you?
Action STeps
- Feedback from supervisees: In your next supervision meeting discuss with your supervisee:
- What has helped in setting clear expectations and mutual goals?
- What has not been helpful? This is going to require you to be vulnerable. But if you want to keep learning and serve your supervisee better, you will be open to feedback to improve for the future.
- Goal Setting: Determine with your supervisee what is the best way for you to share and keep track of clear and mutual goals.
