Systemic Supervision: Authority, Ethics & Collaboration

Systemic Supervision: Navigating Authority, Ethics & Collaboration

Restructuring the Supervisory Dilemma | Panel Presentation

Candidate No: [Insert Number] | Systemic Family Therapy Training

The Supervisory Dilemma

Developmental Starting Point

Organized around 'Collaboration' as non-intervention. Fear of hierarchy leading to flat, descriptive supervision.

The Shift: Intentional Authority

Realization: Authority is required to protect safety, locate responsibility, and create 'Safe Uncertainty'.

Theoretical Spine & Context

Barry Mason’s Six Steps

Used as the primary reflexive spine to structure inquiry.

Hawkins & Shohet (7-Eyed Model)

Rotation of lenses (Eye 5: Supervisory Relationship, Eye 6: Supervisor-System).

Burnham, Hardy & Reynolds

Ethical reflexivity, cultural responsiveness (Social GRACES), and accountability.

Step 1: Framing & Contracting

“I’m wondering… what held your attention… what you might have heard in terms of the interactions and the language?”

Constituting the 'Learning Community' (Todd & Storm)

Deliberately framing the space around experience vs. opinion

Hawkins & Shohet Eye 1 (Focus on Work) & Eye 6 (Supervisor-System)

Step 2: Protecting Difference & Slowing

Reframing the 'Radiator' Moment

Resisting the urge to synthesize or 'solve' quickly. Holding multiple descriptions (Andersen's Polyphony).

Safe Uncertainty

Step 3: Supervising 'Positioning' & Process

“There was a point you were following a certain line… and then you shifted. I’m wondering what happened there?”

Engaging Eye 4 (Supervisee) & Eye 5 (Supervisory Relationship)

Step 4: Surfacing Assumptions & Bias

The 'Elephant in the Room': Addressing unspoken anxieties.

Rifa: “Where’s that bias come from, Prakash?”

Deconstructing 'Body Language' as a subjective cultural construction rather than objective truth (Hardy & Bobes).

Step 5: Re-Locating Responsibility

Moving from Individual Blame to Relational Context

Example: Deconstructing the 'Absent Father' vs. 'Sacrificing Mother' narrative.

Question: “Were these roles assumed or discussed?”

Accountability without Blame (Vikki Reynolds) | Systemic Neutrality

Learning Forward

Consolidating Supervisee Development

Moving from 'Advice Giving' to 'Facilitating Ownership'.

Future Action

Question: 'What might you take forward from this discussion?' (Mason's Step 6)

Meta-Reflection: Supervisory Identity

Authority & Collaboration are not opposites.

Authority is the mechanism for ethical responsibility and safety.

From 'Knowing' to 'Inquiring with Intent'.

A move towards Culturally Responsive & Justice-Oriented Supervision.