Managing the Supervisory Relationship

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Managing the Supervisory Relationship

• Nathan Babiker, ClinPsyD
• Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber Mental
  Health Foundation NHS Trust

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Outline

• What is Supervision
• Understanding the relationship
• What helps, what doesnt
• Rating Supervision The SRQ (Palomo, 2004)
• Supervision Contracts
• Managing Personality Styles
• Final Reflections on Problem Solving

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Aims

• To engage in thought / discussion in order that
  future experience of supervision can be more
  helpful
• To begin thinking about how to inject core
  psychologist skills into the management of
  supervision
• To inspire some thought about how personality,
  relationship and other factors can be usefully
  understood and allowed for

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What is Supervision?

• A working alliance between a supervisor and
  supervisee, in which the latter can receive
  feedback, guidance and appraisal on their work
  (Inskipp Proctor, 1993)
• Object is to maximise the competence of the
  supervisee (McGill Salmon, 1995)
• Achieved by sharing knowledge, enhancing the
  supervisees self-understanding and amplifying
  their creativity (Feltham Dryden, 1994)
• For further information see Davies, Salmon
  MacDonald (2000). Supervision what works for
  whom? Clinical Psychology Forum, 146 17 - 20

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Quick Exercise

• Imagine you and your supervisor(s) are stranded
  on a desert island together

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• Who is doing what?
• What does this tell you about the nature of your
  relationship?
• Does anything need to be different?

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What is Good Supervision?

• Important areas to think about
• Reassurance
• Advice
• Criticism
• Feedback
• Expectations
• Trust

Delivered well / Delivered badly
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Hirons Velleman (1993)

• Helpful Unhelpful
• Direct guidance Dictating what to do
• Joint problem-solving Lack of direction
• Reassurance Talking down
• Theory-practice linking
• Soliciting ideas
• Factors which might contribute to effective
  supervision. Clinical Psychology Forum, 57, 11-13

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Cushway Knibbs (2004)

• Helpful Unhelpful
• Rapport Safety Unbalanced
• Challenge Developmentally inappropriate
• Direction Intolerant of diffs.
• Reflection Untrained
• Direct Learning Professionally apathetic
• Trainees and supervisors perceptions of
  supervision. In I. Fleming L. Steen,
  Supervision and Clinical Psychology

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• Now think of your own.....
• Helpful vs Unhelpful

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Supervisory Relationship Questionnaire (SRQ)

• Devised by Palomo (2004)
• Rating scale used to assess the supervisory
  relationship on a number of factors
• Safe Base
• Structure
• Commitment
• Reflective Education (more relevant for Clin ?)
• Role Model (more relevant for Clin ?)
• Formative Feedback

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Supervisory Contracts

• Scaife (2001)
• Clarify expectations of both parties
• Set context of openness / negotiation
• Set context of shared responsibility
• Help supervisee reflect on the best conditions
  for learning
• Clarify evaluative role
• Identifying the context in which supervision
  occurs

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• Think of, and then write down a few ideas that
  follow from these sentences
• What I want out of supervision is...
• What I would dislike most in supervision is...

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• How could these factors / ideas form the basis of
  a good supervisory contract?
• What are the key issues that should be contracted
  in supervision?

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Managing Personality Styles

• Why is this important?
• Personality is a key factor in any relationship
• Right tool for the right job
• Predictive / premeditative function
• Insight
• Key Text
• Sperry, L. (2003) Handbook of diagnosis and
  treatment of DSM-IV-TR personality disorders (2nd
  Ed.). Routledge.

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Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Style

• Characteristics of O-C personality style
• Desire to complete tasks / projects without error
• Takes pride in small details
• Tend towards things being done just right
• Intense, single-minded effort
• Careful decision-making, ?indecisive
• Strong moral principles
• No-nonsense approach, less emotionally involved

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Narcissistic Personality Style

• Characteristics include
• Good at selling ideas, projects etc
• Love competition, especially winning!
• Able to see themselves as best in their field
• Self belief
• Good at achieving own goals
• Can be shrewd in dealing with others for own aim

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Avoidant Personality Style

• Characteristics include
• Prefers the known to the unknown
• Few close relationships
• Self-conscious
• Discrete and deliberate dealing with others
• Reserved and self-restrained
• Sensitive about what others think

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Example Scenarios

• Think about the particular personality style
  what is it? How is it affecting the problem?
• Discuss what the best way of approaching the
  problem with the particular supervisor might be
  remember there is no right way!

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Example Dr. M

• Dr. M has worked through the ranks of her
  University department and is widely considered to
  be the hardest-working staff member. She
  frequently goes above and beyond the call of
  duty. Because of this, she has managed to
  produce dozens of academic papers despite limited
  departmental resources. Most evenings she takes
  a briefcase home with her, and will frequently
  expect supervisees to do the same, telling them
  they will not get anywhere in the academic world
  if they dont make a little sacrifice. Her
  attention to detail is noteworthy but also
  notorious, she can seem picky and pedantic.

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Dr. M - Scenario

• Dr. M has called you into her office to discuss
  your first draft. You think that you have done a
  good job but you still need some helpful pointers
  to move forward. Dr. M spends most of the
  meeting talking about the introduction section in
  detail, critiquing the use of particular
  references and the theoretical model you have
  chosen to focus on.

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Example Dr. S

• Dr. S is a field supervisor working in a
  world-renowned heart surgery department. He is
  witty, extroverted and effective at his job. He
  has a reputation for convincing supervisees to
  embark on research projects that contribute to
  his own research. Sometimes this can lead to the
  supervisee taking unnecessary risks with their
  degree and falling short of the university
  requirements. If Dr. S feels his supervisee
  doesnt like him, he handles this professionally
  but is noticeably lukewarm towards them in
  return, and offers less time to supervise them.

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Dr. S - Scenario

• Dr. S has been your field supervisor for 6 months
  and you get on well with him. However, you have
  agreed to undertake an ambitious project using
  heart surgery patients and you are finding it
  difficult to collect the data necessary to
  satisfy your university supervisor. Dr. S offers
  reassurance that everything will be fine, but
  you are less convinced and beginning to worry.

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Example Prof. R

• Prof. R definitely keeps himself to himself. He
  rarely attends departmental functions and
  normally finds a way to excuse himself early if
  he does. As a supervisor, he is uncertain about
  ideas outside of his expertise, and appears
  unenthusiastic or wary about them. He is
  mysterious and difficult to contact, and very
  little is known about him outside of his academic
  existence. When supervision is booked, he comes
  across as shy and emotionally distant.

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Prof. R - Scenario

• You have been having difficulty with Prof. R in
  the very early stages of your research, which is
  becoming uninspiring to you. By coincidence,
  your placement supervisor has an appealing
  project idea that has some links to your own.
  When you suggest it to Prof. R, he is resistant,
  and then avoids further discussion, leaving you
  feeling stuck. It is difficult to contact Prof.
  R at the best of times, and it could be too late
  to change project by your next supervision
  meeting.

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Reflections

• How much did you link what you knew about the
  supervisor with the scenario posed?
• Would it have been easier without the information
  on the supervisors personality?
• How might this help in the real world?
• What other reflections on this do you have?

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Tying it all together...

• Think of a bad experience in supervision
• Discuss in pairs
• What were the important factors in the
  relationship?
• What were the important factors for the
  individuals (supervisee / supervisor)?
• How could it have been different?

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Managing Problems... Advice

• Explore the problem collaboratively
• Be clear about misunderstandings
• Rethink roles / boundaries
• Contract if necessary
• At a last resort seek help from 3rd party