Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Great Social Work Supervisor?

What makes a good social work supervisor? Spoiler alert: it’s not a mile-long list of alphabet soup credentials or decades in the field. In fact, the qualities that truly matter are fewer (and far more powerful) than you might think. If you’re a fully independent social worker wondering how to become a social work supervisor and whether you’ve got what it takes, you’re in the right place. Below, we’ll break down the three essential traits you need to thrive in supervision—and why everything else can be taught.
So, you’re a fully independent social worker and you are wondering if you would make a good supervisor. Well, read below for the answer to this great question!

Essential Skills Every Social Work Supervisor Should Have

Are you organized?
Managing others does not come without stress, and supervision is no exception. Ensuring that your supervisees are doing what they should, in terms of client care, documentation, and ethics, but keeping up with the deadlines for renewals, paperwork required by the board, and detailed supervision notes, can be a little cumbersome. This intensifies if you have more than a handful of supervisees. Thank goodness our course, the 40 hour LCSW supervision course, will help you prepare for all of the documentation and paperwork requirements!

How Organizational Skills Impact Social Work Supervision

Are you scared of confrontation?
Not only will you be helping gate-keep the hallowed and honorable profession of social work, which requires some comfort with confrontation, but you’ll also be an advocate, a cheerleader, and a guide through the field for your supervisees. It is a promise that you will have to confront your supervisees anytime correction is needed. You cannot shy away from this aspect of supervision. If you’re not comfortable or haven’t had practice in confronting coworkers, subordinates, etc., our course will also help you prepare for this! A good supervisor training course will teach you this.

Why Conflict Management Matters in Supervision

Do you have a passion for growing others?
The Social Work Code of Ethics, in 5.01 states: (c) Social workers should contribute time and professional expertise to activities that promote respect for the value, integrity, and competence of the social work profession. These activities may include teaching, research, consultation, service, legislative testimony, presentations in the community, and participation in their professional organizations. We are called to educate future generations of social workers to ensure that our profession gains in esteem, knowledge, and respect. When you agree to supervise, you agree to guide a new social worker through the weeds of starting out. It is not only awe-inspiring work, but also (we think!) fun. It keeps you sharp, engaged in the current trends and needs of the field, and can even help you learn the lingo all these kids are saying….

The Role of Mentorship in Social Work Supervision

That’s it. That’s the list.

We think the rest is not only teachable, but we’ve included everything else we think you’ll need inside of our course.

But, you have to bring some serious ability to keep track of all of the moving parts, have some openness to getting comfortable with confrontation, and ultimately and above all, passion to do this work.

Blog post by Dr. Ashley Stephens Ph.D., LCSW-S