Preparing for Supervision: Self-Reflection

A great first step is engaging in self-reflection about your own approach to supervision and communication.

Supervisory Style | Communication Style | Your Strengths | Your Goals in Supervision

Supervisory Style

There are many approaches to supervision and leadership. Take a look at these articles and ask yourself which approaches resonate with you. Consider speaking with coworkers and mentors to hear their thoughts about your style. It is helpful for you to share your style with your supervisee in an initial supervision meeting.

• Indeed’s 10 Common Leadership Styles
• The Muse’s What Kind of Leader Are You? 8 Common Leadership Styles (and Their Pros and Cons)

Communication Style

Identify how you and your organization typically communicate. What are the expectations around emails, messaging platforms like Google Chat, Slack, or Microsoft Teams, text messages, or meetings? Clearly communicate these expectations with your new student supervisee

Not sure what the norms are? Speak with your coworkers and consider drafting a communications scaffolding document - having a written description helps demystify how to communicate, especially as many of us are working in remote or hybrid capacities.

Review the four communication styles and identify your ideal and current communication styles. This is another great topic of conversation for a first supervision session.

Your Strengths

Strengths-based approaches in our work help us feel more engaged, productive, and happy at work. See below for strategies to identify your strengths. We encourage you to share this reflection with your supervisee. Consider also incorporating discussions and exploration of their strengths - supervision, especially for students, is a great place for strengths exploration.

Not sure about your strengths?

Think about last week. What tasks and activities left you feeling energized? What tasks and activities left you feeling drained? Did you notice if time seemed to pass quickly without you realizing - this is often referred to as your flow state.

Strengths Assessments

There are a wide variety of free or low-cost assessments available to help you in identifying or building on your strengths. While Career Success does not endorse any specific assessment, CliftonStrengths is a popular paid assessment and VIA Character strengths is a popular free assessment tool. Assessments like these are ideally designed to give you a common language to use with others as you reflect on your strengths and what you bring to a team and to your supervision approach.

Your Goals in Supervision

Reflect on the following questions as you consider your goals for supervision:

• What were the qualities of your best supervisor?
• What were the qualities of your worst or least effective supervisor?
• How will you incorporate this learning into your approach?

There is no one right way to approach supervision - this reflection process is key to helping you understand your approach and how to effectively supervise your student with that approach. We encourage you to be open and share this information with your supervisee.