Staff Supervision and Appraisal (Performance Management)

'The overall aim of professional supervision should be to provide the best possible support to service users in accordance with the organisation’s responsibilities and accountable professional standards. Organisations are likely to achieve this aim through workers who are skilful, knowledgeable, clear about their roles and assisted in their practice by sound advice and emotional support from a supervisor with whom they have a good professional relationship.

The secondary aim should be for the wellbeing and job satisfaction of workers, not simply because satisfied workers may be more likely to remain in their jobs, but because a duty of care for staff working in difficult and challenging roles is important in its own right'. (Social Care Institute for Excellence, October 2012).

Supervision is a partnership between you, your supervisor and the organisation. It is the registered manager’s responsibility to ensure that an effective supervision framework is in place. It should support a learning environment that enables supervisees to evaluate their practice and reflect on the provision of care that young people receive. Supervision should:

• Ensure that staff are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities in accordance with legislative and organisational requirements;
• Ensure that the quality of care young people receive is continuously reviewed, in order to provide them with opportunities to achieve positive, sustainable outcomes;
• Provide supervisees with the opportunity to understand and manage their feelings and responses to the young people’s behaviour;
• Recognise good practice and any personal achievements, which may inform any performance management review;
• Be confidential, subject to the safety of service users or staff whistleblowing – See Whistleblowing or Raising Concerns at Work Procedure;
• Be a continuous process;
• Encourage and involve you;
• Be structured and focused;
• Be planned and private;
• Be a two way process;
• Focus on your individual needs;
• Be motivating;
• Address professional development;
• Deal with situations sensitively and clearly.

All staff should receive regular supervision in line with their role and level of responsibility.

Recommended frequency and duration are as follows:

• Managers Monthly - Duration 90 minutes;
• Deputy Managers or equivalent Monthly - Duration 90 minutes;
• Residential Care workers Monthly - Duration 90 minutes;
• Staff working over 20hrs per week Monthly - Duration 90 minutes;
• Staff working under 20hrs per week Quarterly - Duration 90 minutes.

Newly appointed staff require more frequent supervision for at least the first six months of their employment. Thereafter the frequency will be determined by the supervisor and supervisee.

The frequency of supervision for newly-appointed staff will be agreed as part of their induction process.

It is essential all workers are aware who their supervisor is and whom to report to should any difficulties arise. The supervisor should also be able to discuss and understand the supervisee’s workload.

Supervision can be more or less frequent, longer or briefer by prior arrangement, if either supervisor or supervisee feels this is necessary to achieve performance objectives or targets.

The supervisor is responsible for convening supervision sessions. Both supervisor and supervisee should plan supervision and treat it as a priority. Supervisors are responsible for rescheduling any cancelled sessions at the earliest opportunity.

The meetings must be held in private although it may on occasions be appropriate to invite another Manager or Consultant.

Whilst the continuous, consistent and relational aspect of professional supervision is acknowledged and valued there may be circumstances where this is not possible (for example, the prolonged absence of a supervisor through illness). In such circumstances alternative provision will be made to ensure staff receive the support required. This will be done in consultation with individuals as necessary.

Where staff require external supervision as part of the conditions of maintaining professional registration they must provide their line manager with details of these arrangements, including the dates of planned supervision and when this has occurred.

The contract between the supervisee and supervisor should clearly outline the responsibilities and expectations of both parties. This should be discussed, agreed and signed off at an early point in the supervisory arrangement. Evidence that this contract has been discussed should be included within the content of supervision records, and reviewed if there are any changes to the contract (e.g. change in supervisor, role etc.).

The supervisor must keep a written Supervision Record detailing the following:

1. Targets / outcomes achieved since last supervision;
2. Key working / discussion regarding young people;
3. Physical interventions / incidents / safeguarding ssues;
4. Current workload / areas of responsibility;
5. Performance / development;
6. Regulatory performance;
7. Staffing;
8. Training – It is important that staff have the opportunity to evaluate how training has or will inform practice when working with the young people;
9. Sickness / absenteeism;
10. Record of hours / toil / annual leave;
11. Personal (non-work related) issues;
12. Any other business.

At the end of the supervision, the record should be signed by both supervisor and supervisee as an accurate reflection of the meeting. The supervisee is entitled to receive a copy of their supervision records and it is their responsibility to store these safely.

If the staff member believes that information contained in the supervision record is inaccurate, incorrect or misleading about a matter of fact, they may ask for it to be corrected or changed. If this cannot be resolved, the matter may need to be addressed via the “Dispute Resolution” section of this policy.

If the staff member remains unhappy, it may be appropriate to seek further action via the Grievance Procedure.

Morrison (2001) identified a “Reflective Practice Supervisory Cycle” that demonstrates how supervision can improve the knowledge and skills of staff. The cycle highlights how supervisors and supervisees can be influenced by their experiences of supervision:

Reflective Practice Supervisory Cycle

Tony Morrison – Staff Supervision in Social Care (2001)

'At the heart of reflective practice is the idea that our actions should be informed by a knowledge base that we engage with actively, as opposed to forms of practice that are based on unthinking habits or routines or knee jerk reactions to situations. A reflective practitioner is someone who acts on the basis of understanding and a careful consideration of the situation being dealt with. That understanding is, in turn, based on knowledge and values. The knowledge is based on a mixture of formal study and professional development and the practical lessons learned from previous experience, while the values act as a safeguard to make sure that we are acting appropriately and ethically'. Developing Critically Reflective Practice - Neil and Sue Thompson 2009

In summary, reflective practice is a key part of effective social work and the opportunity for reflection is important in the supervision cycle:

• Experiencing: Engaging and observing - the story - what happened?
• Reflecting: Investigating experience - what was it like based on knowledge and feelings?
• Analysing: Seeking to understand, hypothesising, asking why, what does this mean?
• Action Planning: Preparing for action, trying things out - what next?

Mentalising enables staff to be more conscious of how their experiences impact on their thoughts and feelings and how these impact on our decisions and actions. If staff are able to understand young people’s intentions, it will support them to make sense of the young people’s behaviour. This skill of mentalisation enables staff to be empathic and provide insightful responses to a child's distress or trauma.

The organisation offers registered managers the opportunity for new employees to attend Therapeutic Residential Workshops. The Therapeutic Residential Workshops have been developed to combine our MBT (Mentalisation Based Therapy) framework with our expertise in the field of supporting and working with the behaviour of the young people. The following modules are examples of topics included within the workshops:

• Introduction to mentalisation;
• Reflection/the residential task;
• Introduction to child development;
• Introduction to attachment;
• Supporting a young person in therapy;
• Understanding supervision;
• Reflection/evaluation of the therapeutic residential workshops.

Mentalisation meetings also take place in the homes, facilitated by a member of the organisation’s therapy service, who supports the team to use MBT when considering the development and progress of young people living in the home. Mentalisation de-brief minutes are recorded as a tool for reflection when considering effective strategies and approaches to use when working with the young people.

The Caldecott Foundation is committed to the development of a competent and skilled workforce, who are passionate about improving outcomes for the young people in our care. By implementing these therapeutic workshops, we are aiming to attract, develop and retain expertise in our field, which will help us achieve excellent outcomes for a wide range of young people and demonstrate to providers the positive impact we can make on young people’s lives.

The Caldecott Foundation recognises the importance of supporting managers to develop supervision skills, in order to continuously improve the quality of supervision for staff. In 2016, the organisation has developed “Supervision Workshops”, which are facilitated by the therapy service. These supervision workshops will support management teams to consider the following issues when supervising staff:

• What is the supervision culture in Caldecott / your home at this time?
• The Caldecott Foundation’s “Model of Supervision”;
• The legislative and organisational requirements;
• The role of the supervisor/supervisee;
• The psychodynamic and relational processes associated with supervision;
• The potential effects of supervision on practice and thinking.

As previously discussed new employees will also be supported to understand the role of supervision through the Therapeutic Residential Workshops. This holistic approach will enable the organisation to upskill staff and improve the quality of care young people receive from a supportive and knowledgeable workforce.  

It is important that staff take action to ensure they are receiving quality supervision and having their professional development needs identified and met. If it becomes apparent at any point during the year that staff are not receiving supervision to the standard required they should:

• In the first instance arrange a one to one meeting with the supervisor to discuss and resolve, where possible, the difficulties, which you feel, have arisen.

If difficulties persist or it has not been possible to find solutions in the first instance, staff should:

• Request that a three way meeting between the supervisor, their line manager and the member of staff is arranged;
• The difficulties should be discussed and outcomes agreed;
• It is the responsibility of the supervisor’s line manager to ensure that these difficulties are satisfactorily resolved.

Performance Management is a supportive and developmental process. The purpose is to support the professional development within the context of the home’s plan for improving outcomes for children, provision and performance, and the standards expected. It also sets out the arrangements that will apply when levels of competence fall below what is expected of the member of staff.

The annual appraisal of staff performance will include a review of the previous 12 months. This should include previously identified targets; areas of strength and need identified by the worker themselves, or as a result of any disciplinary processes. For residential workers and managers this will include feedback from the young people and any feedback received from other stakeholders (family members, professionals, etc.). For Registered Managers this will also include feedback from their teams. For the Responsible Individual / Senior Managers this will include feedback from their supervisors and other relevant stakeholders.

The process should include the identification of areas of learning or required improvement and this will form objectives for the next year. The objectives will be linked to the relevant required standards, will be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound and will be appropriate to the specific job role and level of experience.

The appraiser and staff member will seek to agree the objectives and will determine the objectives, and any comments will be recorded in writing at the end the performance Management document. Objectives may be revised if circumstances change.

For residential staff (including Managers), a proposal will be made as to whether an incremental pay rise will be recommended to the Responsible Individual for approval.

For senior managers or staff members exceeding their set salary scale, any proposal for incremental rises will be recommended to the Remuneration Committee for approval. An appeals process is available on request from HR.

All staff have their performance formally appraised at least annually from the date they have successfully completed their probationary period. This is conducted by their supervisor and/or registered manager.

The employee's personal file contains a record of the Performance Management showing the level of performance achieved, targets set for the coming year, and the agreed training needs. Once a Performance Management process is complete, this record must be signed and dated by both Appraiser and Appraisee along with any additional comments.

A copy must then be sent to HR for the central personnel file and a copy of the training needs sent to the Quality Assurance and Training department.

The agreed targets will be monitored during supervision sessions to ensure progress is being made.

When progress is reviewed, if the appraiser is satisfied that the staff member has made, or is making, sufficient progress, the process will continue to be monitored through supervision as normal, with the next full review taking place at the subsequent scheduled annual review.

If the appraiser is not satisfied with progress, a Performance Counselling meeting will be arranged with the staff member explaining this and clearly outlining the deficits identified and the expectations for improvement.

Following this meeting, if there is supportive evidence that insufficient progress has been made, the staff member will be notified in writing that their performance will be managed under the organisation’s capability procedure. This notification will trigger the commencement of the formal capability procedure (see HR for a copy of the flowchart_comm).