High quality supervision contributes to the structure needed to support trauma-informed work. Yet many supervisors never receive formal training. Is your organization’s culture intentional? Do you have a team designed alliance and communication agreements with your staff? Do you view supervision time with staff and performance appraisals as opportunities to partner and learn your staff’s goals and hopes for their clients/consumers/ students and their ideas for new ways to provide services or new programs that respond to unmet needs? Are these meetings an opportunity for your staff to tell you the resources and tools they need to do their jobs? High quality supervision + timely appraisals = strong supervisor/employee communication + reduced employee stress + insight and tools your employees need to maximize performance. This formula also improves workplace culture because unhappy employees often spend lots of time helping their coworkers remember their own complaints and frustrations! No workplace is perfect, but almost every workplace can be improved with conscious intent and time.
