Professional Relationship between Supervisor and Supervisee.
Introduction.
Professional supervision is significant in building best practices and promoting productivity in work settings. It is also a learning process that equips the supervisee with the necessary skills and resources to conquer a work environment that is continually changing with time (Falender, 2014). This relationship is essential to organizations as it helps its staff consistently deliver quality services equivalent to their goals and visions. Supervisors’ role in the relationship is vital to their success, as they are the leaders and are in control of molding their followers (supervisee). To fulfill this obligation, supervisors need the cooperation of their supervisee, which they must demand using their professional capability mostly through scheduled sessions (Grant, Schofield & Crawford, 2012). Using a case study, this report will address how to handle Karen, my supervisee, while considering cultural diversity, ethical, legal aspects, records, feedback, learning, and support needs.
Karen’s Case Study.
Legal and Ethical Aspects.
Karen has missed two sessions with the excuse of being busy. She has appeared tired, stressed, and has lost weight of late. In the third session, she hasn’t turned up in minutes, and upon calling her, she says she forgot about the appointment. Now, in the next scheduled meeting, Karen attends so that we can address issues concerning our professional relationship. A professional supervisory relation is bound by legal and ethical standards that define its success or failure (Schultz et al., 2019). An example of legal consideration is confidentiality and the right to privacy of Karen’s submissions. Otherwise, according to different state laws, some situations can lead to a breach of confidentiality. Such conditions cause the supervisee to disclose information that might indicate that they are in danger, or someone else is in danger (Schultz et al., 2019). Child abuse instances, whether present or past, terrorism or drug trafficking confessions might force a supervisor to breach confidentiality, but it is critical to inform the supervisee on what limits are bound by confidentiality agreements (Hall, 2011). The actions of a supervisee should otherwise not in any way legally hold the supervisor responsible.
Ethical requirements state that supervisees should communicate to the supervisor if they are unable to meet a particular contractual obligation (Hall, 2011). A supervisor should only maintain a professional relationship and avoid incidences that might indicate dual interests, such as engagement in intimate affairs (Pettifor et al., 2011). In the case study, Karen has shown an unethical behavior by failing to attend sessions without apology. As the supervisor, and with the interest of the relationship’s success, I should avoid heated confrontation about her latest behavior but rather try to be calm and establish any underlying reason she might be behaving so. Her failure to attend the last session has disrupted the targets set and the flow of the schedule.
Contracting, Feedback, Evaluation, and Record-Keeping.
A contract is a document that binds two parties to certain obligations by law and defines each party’s responsibility in the agreement. In professional supervision, the supervision contract is signed by the supervisor and supervisee (Davys & Beddoe, 2010). Contracts are essential to draw lines between acceptable and not, hence allowing each party to commit fully. In this case, the supervisor-supervisee agreement makes Karen legally responsible for her actions that violate contractual agreements.
The process of informing the supervisee on observations of their professional character is called feedback. It is a process whereby information on the positive progress of the relationship, and criticism is relayed to the supervisee (Davys & Beddoe, 2010). It is advisable to always start by acknowledging positive progress before criticism. Feedback is key to effective communication and especially in a one on one set up (Davys & Beddoe, 2010). It also enables me to listen to her feedback on my criticism; therefore, we can discuss solutions on the way.
Evaluation in a professional supervisory relationship enables the supervisor to analyze their supervisee’s progress in terms of professional development. It is an assessment that is essential for monitoring of change upon previous discussions (Karpenko & Gidycz, 2012). For example, it will be necessary to evaluate Karen’s progress from our last session and establish whether she has worked on the issues we discussed. Even after this session, I will assess her response in the next one, which I will discuss with her while congratulating her in case there is some positive development.
Record-keeping is the best method of evaluation, as it ensures there is a point of reference in proceedings. It ensures sessions are documented, with dates and issues noted, and illustrates the supervisor’s accountability and commitment to the program (Davys & Beddoe, 2010). Critical points of the sessions should be noted as they will be used to start the next session.
How I will address Karen’s learning and support needs.
In the contract, privacy is to be maintained in the sessions. Karen has looked tired, stressed, and lost weight, indicating that something disturbing her. As the supervisor, I should let her know it’s alright for her to open up to me, and promise her confidentiality and doing my best to offer support. The supervisor should try and provide solutions to stressing conditions that might lead the supervisee to lose focus (Gnilka, Chang & Dew, 2012). It is my professional responsibility to listen to her out without taking sides of her story and to let the issues remain confidential. It is critical to enable the supervisee to know the significance of honesty and openness. She should feel free to let me know of any problem that could make her fail to attend the session, while I remain honest and open to her. She needs to be assured that she can discuss things that hinder her professional development as we consider agendas that we can improve. The goals in the relationship are common, so I should help Karen understand why missing the sessions affects our progress. Supervisors shouldn’t make their juniors feel like they are bossed up as it might intimidate supervisees and make them rebellious (Grant, Schofield & Crawford, 2012).
Karen’s excuse for failing to attend the two sessions was too busy, and the third session was because she forgot. She lacks time management and planning skills. We can come up with a better schedule that suits her. A good supervisor would suggest ways of rectifying the problem, with ideas of managing time better being prioritizing activities wisely, taking a break between tasks, better organizations, and assisting supervisees in planning ahead of time (Grant, Schofield & Crawford, 2012). In this case, I would allow her to choose preferred days, time of the sessions, length of sessions, and location, which she is comfortable with. Karen should also understand her legal responsibility for attending sessions and repercussions on failure to participate in next time. The final step would be drafting a new contract that addresses issues discussed and starts off a more fruitful relationship.
How to Ensure Supervisee’s Accountability to Supervisor and Organization.
It is the effort of both parties in a supervisor-supervisee relationship that makes the link efficient. Otherwise, since the supervisor plays the lead role, they have a greater responsibility for devising methods to ensure their counterpart becomes accountable to them (O’Donoghue & Tsui, 2011). Good supervisees’ qualities include a commitment to the program, a desire for achievement and growth, openness to diverse ideas, accepting responsibility for mistakes, and trusts the supervisor (Dunsmuir & Leadbetter, 2010). For the supervisor, he/she must shape the supervisee to conform to the above qualities, which highlights the qualities of a good supervisor (Beinart, 2014).
In this case study, I have to ensure Karen actively participates in the sessions and knows the importance of why we are working together. If she understands this, I am guaranteed that she won’t be missing any more sessions. Through excellent communication and listening skills, a supervisor clearly states what she demands of the supervisee while sharing her experiences for motivations (Dunsmuir & Leadbetter, 2010). Commitment to the ideas set aside in previous sessions shows the supervisee that it’s a joint exercise, which makes them take responsibility for their actions.
The professional relationship needs to be balanced to yield better results. While a friendly approach is useful in some situations, too much can get personal and go against the relationship (Annan & Ryba, 2013). At the same time, the relationship shouldn’t be stringent. Supervisees should be aware of limits based on contractual agreements, and the punishments that accompany organizations rules and regulations (Beinart, 2014).
Conclusion
Professional supervisory relationships are built by contractual agreement between supervisors, who is tasked by an organization to a nurture a new or junior employee of the same organization. In the above report, we have encountered Karen, the supervisee, and has a problem attending her supervisory sessions. The report has succeeded in illustrating the ways different kinds of support can be offered to Karen to encourage her to change the trend and explain the legal and ethical considerations that bind the supervisor and supervisee relationship. More to that, the report has also indicated ways in which a supervisor can ensure the supervisee gets to understand her responsibility and accountability in the relationship. The supervisor’s role in ensuring a fruitful relationship has been articulated, with particular attention given to the confidentiality and right of privacy. With the above-stated solutions, I believe that in the next session that we shall schedule with Karen, she will better manage time, will attend without excuse, and we shall get to discuss the progress of the working relationship through evaluation, feedback, and record-keeping.
References
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