Supervisors Core

Days 1-2 A Leading Role

A Leading Role: Leadership Skills for CWS Supervisors in Outcome-focused Environments

Level: Core Practice – Supervisor

Credits: 6 (per day)

Intended Audience: New Supervisors, 0-2 years

Intended Objectives:

• Recognize the Adoptions and Safe Families Act of 1997, the National Goals of Child
• Welfare and the eight outcomes for California’s Outcome and Accountability Act of 2001.
• Identify and develop the skills needed to assume the multiple roles of a child welfare services unit supervisor.
• Identify a definition and model of leadership that will enable you to increase your
  effectiveness as a child welfare services unit supervisor.
• Identify a variety of effective leadership styles (and their key behaviors) and select one that is likely to help you achieve your objectives.
• Recognize how to develop a unit climate that supports high performance that is
  consistent with the department’s mission.
• Have increased awareness of fairness and equity issues, the challenges in child welfare practice and develop specific action steps to strengthen and improve
  culturally competent supervision and practice.
• Recognize how to be able to more effectively manage cultural differences that surface at the organization and unit level.
• Identify one’s own predominant leadership style based on the DISC.
• Explore the issue of transitioning from worker to supervisor.
• Demonstrate application of the Situational Leadership model to a case scenario.
• Be able to develop strategies to positively impact key indicators and outcomes
  associated with Child Welfare Improvement.
• Be able to apply a working definition of culture as applied to child welfare services
  and the role of the child welfare services supervisor.
• Complete an inventory that identifies a predominate leadership style based on the DISC.
• Value the need to supervise and monitor ways to achieve ASFA outcomes.
• Value a strength base approach to supervising staff.
• Value the supervisor’s role in establishing a positive organization climate.

Topics Include:

• Review of CW history, ASFA, CFSR, C-CFSR in Relationship to the Supervisor
• California’s Response to Federal Improvement Measures
• Managing for Best Practice
• Three Roles of the Supervisor
• Cultural Competence and Supervision
• Making the Transition to Supervisor
• Identifying your Management Molecule and Building Molecular Support
• Defining Leadership
• Tri- Dimensional Leadership Effectiveness Model
• Applying Situational Leadership Model
• Organizational Climate
• Leadership in CWS
• DISC
• Communication Blocks

Competencies Addressed:

AS1. Communicates agency mission, vision, and philosophy.

AS2. Develops awareness of one’s own attitudes, needs, and behavior and their effect on relationships within the agency. They may be similar or different than the organization’s.

AS3. Applies organizational and management approaches and philosophies to self and
the agency for maximum management effectiveness.

AS4. Understands how to successfully transition from peer and worker to supervisor.

AS5. Creatively and effectively advocates for clients and staff within and outside the agency.

AS6. Has an awareness of and utilizes strategies that can facilitate introduction and management of changes in the workplace.

AS7. Applies a system for ensuring accountability to stakeholders for agency
performance.

AS8. Appropriately uses data for decision-making and planning to ensure the proper
focus on outcomes.

AS10. Assess employee performance issues and recommend intervention.

AS11. Able to effectively manage the unit.

AS12. Utilizes leadership skills to effect employee performance.

ES1. Understands and values diversity and different styles of perceiving, learning,
communicating, and operating.

ES2. Understands the value of a developmental approach to supervision and can
adapt supervision style to worker’s stage of development.

ES3. Knows how to improve the transfer of learning from the classroom to the field.

ES4. Understands the value and components of a mentoring program.

ES5. Knows, can model, and teach necessary elements of statutes, rules, policies,
assessment, decision making, case planning, and case process to staff to
facilitate the best possible case outcomes.

ES6. Able to provide constructive feedback.

ES7. Able to apply coaching techniques to supervision situations.

ES8. Knows and can recognize when a worker’s emotional responses and/or judgment
interfere with the casework process and can empower the worker to identify and
examine these issues.

ES9. Knows the value and components of proactive, structured supervision.

SS1. Knows the value of Supportive Supervision.

SS2. Knows how to motivate staff.

SS5. Able to assess and improve team functioning.

SS7. Able to apply strategies to increase the job satisfaction of workers and improve retention.