Action Planning for Supervisees & Supervisors
This chapter explores how supervisors can use action plans to support supervisees' development.
It will provide an overview of action planning in the context of supervision and introduce the skills supervisors need to help introduce action plans as part of their supervisees’ curriculum.
Learning outcomes:
Ideas that can be used for action plans to support supervisees.
Introducing action plans as part of a supervisee’s development.
Skills and responsibilities to support supervisors use action plans.
Chapter resources:
The following resources are available to share with your practice team or to support you to work through the workshop learning:
A narrated slide deck on the chapter is available to watch or download, so you and your team can work through it at your own pace.
Workbooks with space to complete exercises and note your reflections on key concepts and reinforce learning; one in PowerPoint format to add your own responses, and one on PDF format which can be printed.
Additional resources
Dreyfus model of skill acquisition
This resource can support action planning for supervisees across all levels and of various degrees of experience. The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition shows learner development through stages from novice to expert, and can suggest types of actions for different levels of capability.
Case studies
NCL practices have provided feedback on how changes made relating to themes in this chapter have had a positive impact on supervision and multi-professional teamwork:
What needed to change (what needed improvement)? | What changes were made? Who led and supported change? | What were the results? How has this improved daily work at the practice / within the team? |
Practice wanted to explore increasing the scope of practice safely for different professions. | Practice supported action planning between supervisee and supervisor, which include facilitating specific learning time for clinical supervisors to teach supervisees new skills and develop their confidence based on action plans. | Different professions have been able to widen their scope of practice safely, supported by Clinical Supervisors. Supervision structures within the practice has supported action planning and upskilled team members. |
Needed a tool to support team discussions on supervision. | Made use of the Dreyfus model , that was introduced in Supervision workshop. The model – a framework for describing the stages learners pass through as they acquire new skills – has supported action planning by helping supervisors to understand how team members can develop skills and measure progress over time. | Action planning now empowers supervisees to progress through various levels in their acquisition of skills, identifying support needs at appropriate stages of their development. |
Use supervisor - supervisee meeting time more effectively. | Began using supervision sessions with the FCP supervisee to support professional development, not just to review complex cases. These sessions now provide opportunities for both supervisor and supervisee to reflect on the supervisee’s progress from novice to expert. | The action plan offers clear guidance and steps to help supervisors better support supervisees’ growth and development. |