Good supervision allows time for youth workers to bring up questions or issues they are struggling with on the job. By providing a safe, helpful atmosphere, supervisors can develop the trust that allows that to happen.
Trusting and Supportive Relationships
Developing trust is important in the supervision relationship. But it can be tricky. Supervisors need to be understanding, and approachable, yet they often need to correct behavior or offer constructive criticism. This feedback will be more readily accepted if offered within the boundaries of a fair and supportive supervisory relationship.
Support is important: otherwise, supervisors run the risk of having employees who are afraid of them. If this happens, youth workers will be hesitant to take risks or offer new ideas. Worse, they may withhold important information. Strong supervisors know how to both teach and support at the same time.
Recognizing Strengths and Weaknesses
Always start off an evaluation process by recognizing the youth worker’s strengths. This will set a positive tone for the rest of the evaluation, as well as helping the employee relax. Everyone likes to hear about what they are doing well, and it makes them more receptive to hearing any constructive criticism or suggestions for improvement that may follow.
When weaknesses need to be addressed, try to provide a few examples so that employees can clearly grasp the point being made. Keep areas for improvement to two or three. This will keep the youth worker from being overwhelmed or discouraged. Also, help provide solids plans or ideas about how the worker can grow in those areas.
One way to do this is to come up with a few examples of times where the employee did a good job in that area. Talk with them about what was positive about it, why it was preferable to other approaches, and how the youth worker can create more opportunities to engage in the desired behavior.
Evaluation Ideas
Ask employees to fill out their own evaluations, and then compare and contrast to evaluations filled out by supervision. This is a great way to learn how an employee views him or herself, and whether or not they are doing a good job. For a less structured way to do this, ask the employee to write down their three biggest strengths and their three biggest weaknesses. Discuss these together; including ways weaknesses can be improved.
For another approach, identify a situation that did not go so well, and ask the employee to constructively criticize their own handling of the situation. Their own insight into the situation may be more powerful than correction from a supervisor. Ask them what went wrong, why it turned out like it did, and what could have been done differently.
Be sure to give the employee the opportunity to bring up any questions or concerns they have at this time. Supervision is the perfect place to devote time to discussing best practices, unresolved issues, and plans for the future.
Supervision is a great opportunity to improve communication between supervisor and youth worker, as well as enhance the relationship as a whole. Employees should leave supervision with a clear understanding of their strengths as well as areas for improvement.
Susan Carney - I have been working as a middle school counselor with 6th and 7th grade students for the past thirteen years. I received a BA in ...
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