Supervision and Appraisal

Supervisions and Appraisals are part of an organisation’s performance management system. Collectively, they contribute to safe and consistent standards of practice and form part of an organisation’s system of quality assurance.

Regular supervisions provide individual support for employees, making sure they are not working in isolation but have access to advice and guidance from a manager or experienced colleague. Regular supervisions give individuals opportunities to test out ideas, review decisions and reflect on practice and can be very valuable for all staff, regardless of their role and level of experience.

In the Health and Social Care sector, employees are sometimes involved in situations which can be difficult and distressing; having time for dialogue and critical reflection during supervision can help to foster resilience and reduce the risk of burn out.

Appraisal is a more formal process involving the review of an employee’s performance and improvement over a period of time, usually annually. It includes evaluation of goals and objectives; evaluation of job role; identifying positive performance; identifying areas for improvement and identifying and planning how development needs will be met.

This module will firstly look at the different types of supervision, how often employees should expect to have supervisions, how to carry it out from both a supervisor and supervisee viewpoint and how they should be recorded. We will then go on to look at appraisals from an employee point of view. Lastly we will look at performance development and improvement and how they fit in with the overall workforce development process.

Following this course, you will be able to understand and participate in supervisions and appraisals. If you are a team leader or experienced member of staff you may also be asked to carry out supervisions and appraisals. If you haven’t carried out supervisions or appraisals before, we recommend that you use this module as a starting point, but also consult with your line manager about gaining experience with their feedback and guidance initially.

We envisage that this module will take approximately 40 – 60 minutes to complete.