Overview
Like other people in our society, I have personal values and beliefs that I use in making decisions in life, determining the best action to take in daily situations, and finding the best direction to take in any case. Indeed, the personal values and beliefs act like my life compass, illuminating the pathway towards a meaningful life of purpose, hope, and passion (Dixon & Chiang, 2019). As a healthcare professional, I apply core values and beliefs in making decisions, deciding the best course of action, and ensuring that desired outcomes are achievable. My values and beliefs include freedom, autonomy, success, motivation, integrity, advancement, respect, change, involvement, personal development, communication, learning, awareness of the self and others, teamwork, and excellence.
Personal Beliefs and Values Influencing the Choice of the Model
My core values and beliefs motivated my choice for the Reflective Development Model of Supervision. According to Dixon and Chiang (2019), the Reflective Development Model of Supervision focuses on three critical areas of observation for the supervisee’s development: awareness, motivation, and autonomy. In the beginning, the supervisee tends to depend on the supervisor for client diagnosis and the establishment of plans. Then, the supervisee moves to the intermediate stage of development, where the degree of dependency reduces significantly. In the advanced stage, the supervisee becomes independent or autonomous and only seeks appropriate assistance or consultation. As a supervisor, one needs to consider the different stages of development that the supervisee must pass before deciding on the best model.
In my case, the above aspects of the model make it very attractive to me as they fall within my spectrum of core beliefs and values. Specifically, I believe in autonomy and freedom for every person. I chose the Reflective Development Model of Supervision because it ensures that the initially dependent supervisees are trained to achieve freedom in their practice. In addition, the model emphasizes that I confirm that I have self-awareness and awareness of my supervisee (Johnston et al., 2016).
Through motivation, it is possible to ensure that I instill skills and knowledge in the supervisee in a relaxed environment and give them the freedom to practice and achieve autonomy. Moreover, this model emphasizes that we empower the supervisees and instill change in them to help achieve personal development, learning, and advancement. Indeed, all these critical aspects of the model fall within my spectrum of core values and beliefs.
The Underlying Tenets of the Theory
The reflective development model of supervision borrows significantly from the reflectivity and developmental theories in psychology. Specifically, the model builds on Neufeldt’s theory of supervisee reflectivity (Dixon & Chiang, 2019). The primary goal of this theory is to facilitate autonomous knowing through the development of reflectivity. By definition, reflectivity means the skill of self-reflection and improves the supervisees’ self-authorization.
In clinical supervision, reflectivity means the process through which the supervisees reconstruct their therapeutic experiences. The process involves processing multiple images, actions, and perspectives to reframe a challenging situation and find solutions for complex problems. The supervisor’s role is to report reflectivity by attending to and investigating the thoughts, actions, interactions, and emotions of the supervisees during supervisory sessions. This theory makes four critical assumptions- change of supervision with time and in every content, joint construction of knowledge, knowledge acquisition through professional and personal experience, and transformation of knowledge.
The reflective developmental model also borrows from the developmental approaches to clinical practice grounded in cognitive-developmental theory. According to this theory, humans develop sequentially through hierarchical stages. In this process, higher levels in the hierarchy are associated with more functional qualities of a counselor, such as tolerance for ambiguity, flexibility, and adaptivity (Dixon & Chiang, 2019). On the contrary, the lower levels in the hierarchy are associated with concreteness in thinking and high levels of dependency for behavioral tasks, direction, and structure. Consequently, the reflective model requires supervisors to apply this knowledge when dealing with the new and novice supervisees.
The Major Strengths of the Model
Unlike the traditional functions of supervision, the reflective development model moves beyond a perspective lens to provide a blueprint for constructing a session between the supervisor and the supervisee. In this case, it facilitates learning during the session, which is cyclic (Johnston et al., 2016). This model also follows the concept of an adult rather than childhood learning, which requires reflection on activity, consideration of alternatives, and action.
Furthermore, using the reflective development model of supervision clarifies the supervisory approach obstacles and conflicts between the supervisor and the supervisee. Precisely, the supervisor’s role is to facilitate learning for the supervisee and promote decision-making rather than directing, commanding, or coercing (Kemer et al., 2019). Consequently, it improves the relationship between the two and ensures an accessible and enjoyable environment. In addition, the model takes reflective practice towards achieving transformational changes in the supervisee’s behavior and thinking professionally and personally. Finally, the method allows for a “two-way” learning process. The supervisor learns the reflective exploration of the supervisee’s problems.
The Major Limitations of the Model
Despite that the model is highly effective in facilitating learning and development of self-authorization, it has some limitations. Specifically, the model makes some assumptions that are not necessarily reflective of reality. For instance, the belief that supervision changes with time and in every content does not apply in every situation (Johnston et al., 2016). In some cases, supervision might not change in the expected direction due to individual differences (for both the supervisor and supervisee). In addition, conflicts are likely to emerge during the sessions, and eventually, the transformation of knowledge might fail to actualize. Moreover, although the model dictates evaluative necessity, its philosophy fails to support quantitative and standardized evaluation.
Why the Model is a Good Fit
The model is the best as its tenets and philosophies support my core values and beliefs. Specifically, I strongly believe in awareness, motivation, and autonomy. The model allows me to facilitate learning in a relaxed environment rather than directing and giving strict instructions (Johnston et al., 2016). I believe that people are more likely to learn in a comfortable environment where there is a good relationship between the parties than when the leader gives commands and directions. Besides, I value the process of empowering others through motivation, communication, and respect.
Personalizing the Model to Meet the Needs of the Supervisor and Supervisee
From a personal perspective, I will apply this model based on the theory of the cyclic development of adults and the need for reflectivity. In this case, my ambitions as a supervisor are to facilitate knowledge and skills and ensure that the supervisees can work independently without supervision (Kemer et al., 2019). On their part, the supervisees want to achieve knowledge and independence at work. Therefore, I will begin by exposing them to the practice and procedures and note their areas of strengths and weaknesses. Then, I will follow the stages that the model outlines, starting with the knowledge that the supervisees are novice and highly dependent. In this case, I will lead by example in every task and then ask them to complete them under my guidance rather than monitoring. I will also give them the freedom to communicate during the session.
Conclusion
Based on this discussion, it is clear that the Reflective Development Model of Supervision is highly effective in ensuring a good relationship between the supervisor and the supervisee. In particular, this model creates a relaxed environment in which the supervisees have freedom and autonomy, which allow them to fully participate, learn, and acquire new skills.
References
Dixon, S., & Chiang, C. M. (2019). Promoting reflexivity and reflectivity in counselling, education, and research. Proceedings from the 2018 Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference, 15-31. Web.
Johnston, L., Noble, C., & Gray, M. (2016). Critical supervision for the human services: A social model to promote learning and value-based practice. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Kemer, G., Sunal, Z., Li, C., & Burgess, M. (2019). Beginning and expert ‘supervisors’ descriptions of effective and less effective supervision. The Clinical Supervisor, 38(1), 116-134. Web.