Staff Supervision and Appraisal

Supervision is an accountable, two-way process that motivates workers and supports the development of good practice. It gives workers a chance to:

• Reflect on their practice;
• Focus on their strengths;
• Receive feedback, guidance and support;
• Identify and review areas for personal development.

Supervision should be helpful and enjoyable, so that staff have the support they need to carry out their role to the best of their abilities.

It also:

• Helps staff develop and build on their skills and knowledge, which can have a positive effect on their practice and well-being, and result in positive outcomes for the children and young people they provide care and support to;
• Supports staff to feel safe in their practice, especially when faced with complex and challenging situations;
• Lets managers and organisations monitor and review individual staff member’s progress;
• Helps organisations make sure staff receiving care and support have the support they need to achieve their outcomes or goals.

The registered person must ensure that all employees:

• Undertake appropriate continuing professional development;
• Receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and
• Have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year.

The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Supervision should be focused on children's experiences, needs, plans and feedback.

The emotional impact of the work on staff should be recognised and managed by leaders and managers. Staff supervision must enable staff to reflect and act upon how their own feelings and behaviour may be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for.

Professionally qualified staff employed by the Home, e.g. teachers or social workers, should be provided with relevant professional or clinical supervision by an appropriately qualified and experienced professional.

Supervision must be recorded effectively. A written record must be kept detailing the time, date and length of each supervision held for each member of staff including the manager. The record is signed by the supervisor and the member of staff at the end of the supervision. It is good practice for both the person giving the supervision and the staff member to have a copy of the record.

Staff and leaders must receive effective support and challenge, including through team and management meetings, to ensure that their professional development  results in the right environment for good practice to thrive.

All staff must have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the Home’s care. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed by a timely plan to bring about improvement.

Dorset Council's Probationary Policy and Procedure - Tasks and Guides (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)

All staff must have a supervision contract which outlines the structure of the supervision arrangement, frequency of supervision and duration of the supervision.

It is important that supervisions are recorded in a central tracker which is available to all supervisors. The supervision central tracker is reviewed on a monthly basis by the manager and the responsible individual.
All staff regardless of role and position must be supervised on a monthly basis. 

Keeping in touch supervisions can be completed with those who complete in frequent shifts in the home but are required to be updated on the operations of the home and updates about the children living in the home.
Supervision must be recorded on the central tracker and the supervision record stored in the employee’s electronic file.

It may be necessary to complete more than one supervision a month where practice needs to be discussed. Any practice related issues should not be saved until formal supervision and should be discussed with urgency to ensure that practice related issues are discussed in a timely manner.

Each home will have a supervision chart so that staff are aware of their supervisor. There must always be an assigned co-supervisor who will complete the supervision if the main supervisor is away from the home.

Where a supervisor is changed the supervisee must be made aware of the changes ahead of the supervision.

Any concerns about supervisor/supervisee structure must be discussed with the manager.

Appraisal is a more formal review of an individual’s performance and improvement over a period of time. Appraisals are usually carried out annually but may be supported by a mid-term review. It is an opportunity to:

• Re-evaluate the staff member’s objectives;
• Re-evaluate their job description;
• Recognise and celebrate their success and achievements;
• Motivate individual staff members and build on their strengths;
• Identify areas for improvement and how their training needs will be met.

The objectives set in the appraisal should be discussed during supervision meetings with the individual to make sure they are being met.
Workers at all levels have a right to supervision and appraisal.

My ROAD Map

My ROAD Map – manager focus (The purpose of My ROAD Map) - tasks and guides (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)

The role of the supervisor in facilitating reflective learning is critical and the way in which questions are asked will promote reflection and learning, enabling the supervisor and supervisee to be:

• Curious – trying to understand how someone has arrived at a particular point of view and asking why a worker has chosen a particular course of action, or why a particular event occurred;
• Strengths based – enabling learning through reflection on what is working well, what is working less well and what more can you do / do differently;
• Solution focused – asking how problems have been solved previously and encouraging solutions to be used more. Looking at what needs to happen next to make an impact.

Supervisors must always have completed supervision training which gives supervisors the ability to complete reflective supervision.

New supervisors must complete supervision training prior to completing supervisory duties. Supervision training can be accessed through the L&D team.

• Always plan your supervisions so your supervisee has time to think about how they can contribute to the supervision;
• You must ensure that supervision time is a space for reflection and learning rather than task driven;
• It is important to ensure that other staff respect the space and time dedicated to supervision, and the supervision time is not disturbed by other;
• Don’t rush through supervision sessions – you might feel under pressure to get them all completed, but it’s important to remember that this is dedicated, one-to-one time for the person that you’re supervising;
• Don’t be afraid to challenge supervisees, when appropriate. Be clear and direct when you do so and try to give constructive feedback;
• Supervision can have a long-lasting impact on the supervisee so ensure they feel valued and supported;
• Supervision should be a two-way process that allows both supervisee and supervisor space to reflect;
• Don’t expect to be able to ‘change the world’ through supervision – be realistic in what you can achieve as a supervisor;
• Always ensure safeguarding is top of the agenda and use professional curiosity to explore incidents and concerns;
• It is important that all actions are followed up and the following supervision is started with outcomes from the previous supervision.

Research in Practice: Supervision

Skills for Care: Effective Supervision