Motivation in Supervision

Introduction

This blog post is about supervision. But, perhaps more importantly, this blog post is about motivation in supervision. Supervisors in the mental health profession play important roles in helping agencies and organizations function well. These are agencies and organizations that provide vital services to others who are struggling with mental health challenges of varying kinds and degrees. Supervisors provide necessary structure to the functioning of these agencies and organizations. Clients are the recipients of these services, but supervisors must also consider the health and well-being of their employees. Without them, both agencies and the clients they serve will suffer.

What Makes a Supervisor?

In the mental health field, a supervisor is a person who leads people (employees) in providing mental health services to others (clients, patients, etc.). Supervisors are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that employees are aware of the job’s responsibilities and expectations. They must monitor the employee’s performance and provide guidance and correction/modification/clarification when needed. But what makes a good supervisor?

What Makes a Good Supervisor?

In my experience both as one who was supervised and one who supervised others, I appreciate the importance of this topic. Supervisors provide the organizational and technical foundation to help employees do their jobs, but they are also charged with providing motivation for their employees to do their jobs well. Motivation in supervision is a key aspect in being a good supervisor.

A Bit of History

Before we proceed, I’d like to provide a bit of history regarding this blog post topic. I had the fortune of being raised by two wonderful, hard-working parents. My career as a Clinical Social Worker was influenced in many ways by my mother, who was an RN and a Nurse Educator. Mom was a very intelligent woman, who thrived in her career in the helping profession. She had a special love and affection for educating others through workshops and presentations. Later in her career she was a sought-after speaker in her local area to speak on many subjects. The topics of her presentations varied from supervision/leadership to teamwork, and from humor to medication administration.

Typically, she would prepare her presentations with handwritten notes and then organize them into a final draft (either handwritten or typed). In thinking about this, I imagine that she would have been a fantastic blogger! Unfortunately, her work was in the pre-blogging era.

Recently I was sorting through some paperwork, and I came upon some handwritten notes for what looked like notes for a presentation about motivation in supervision. I didn’t find a final typed presentation paper, but instead these yellow legal-pad pages in her handwriting. There was so much there that, in the blogging world, one would term it as evergreen content. Information that remains constant and true through time.

I made a decision to compile her notes and write a blog post in her honor. The lion’s share of information you’ll read below is directly from her. Thank you, mom. I love and miss you.

Motivation

Keys to Motivation

1. Expect the best.
2. Study other people’s needs. There is more to motivation than backslapping and pep talks. Find out about others needs by listening well. People will tell you how they can be motivated.
3. Set high standards. Insist on certain core beliefs. Have a type of devotion to ideas and superior work.
4. Create an environment where failure is not fatal. The best supervisors expect their people to make mistakes. Help them to learn from their mistakes. The fear of failure can destroy creativity and initiative.
5. Use role models to encourage success. Give strong values by holding up real people who embody these values.
6. Recognize and applaud achievement.
7. Place a premium on collaboration. Build into the organization an allegiance with one another.

“The ultimate leaders may develop followers who will someday surpass them.”

Unknown

11 Guaranteed Ways to Kill Motivation

Is it possible to kill motivation? Yes, indeed. Actually, it’s quite easy. Here are some of the best ways to kill motivation (try to avoid them if at all possible!)

1. Tell your employee EXACTLY how to do the job.
2. Stress busyness rather than results.
3. Manipulate employees rather than treating them as adults.
4. Care only about yourself and your concerns.
5. Don’t listen to your employee’s ideas, concerns, or suggestions.
6. Dwell on your employee’s weakness and failures.
7. Never tell an employee what they are doing right.
8. Don’t get them involved in the purpose and goals of the work being done.
9. Don’t give any awards.
10. Never provide opportunities for growth or challenges
11. Either expect “second best” or “absolute perfection.”

Feedback

Feedback Should Be…

Appreciation Interviews

Key points of appreciation interviews include the following:

• This is an opportunity to talk about how the employee excels.
• It is suggested that supervisor or employee keep a positive accomplishment journal.
• Ask the employee to tell you what was “right.”
• Spread the good news.
• Give facts, not opinions.
• Supervisors, report what you see.
• Describe actual conduct.

Praise and Recognition

What Do We Know About Our Employees?

• People (employees) like to be recognized as being good or better than somebody else at something; and they will often go to great lengths to prove they are better.
• Everybody likes to be recognized for doing a good job. Although some may tend to shy away from the public aspect of glory, they nevertheless are disappointed when they don’t get any recognition for something they have done. People not only enjoy and expect recognition but also resent it when somebody else gets credit for something they have done.
• People appreciate getting responsibility when they think it is a compliment to them rather than just more work for which they will be recognized only if things go badly.
• People like to think that they are the master of their own fate when it comes to growing and developing and getting a better job. They may not want to do anything about growing, but they resent it if they think the organization is keeping them down with a job that is simpler than they can handle.
• People enjoy the end results of achieving, that is, being able to step back and observe something they have accomplished on their own.
• Things like policy, working conditions, benefits, and even money aren’t very long lasting as far as motivation is concerned. Only things that specifically affect employees on the job everyday are important. The presence of bad situations is a hindrance, whereas their absence is not a motivator.
• People tend to become what we expect of them. If we expect them to fail, they are more apt to fail; if we expect them to succeed, they are more likely to do so.

Pearls of Wisdom

In order for praise to be meaningful, make sure your employees value your judgment, not just your authority.

Praise spurs people to achieve, gives them inner confidence, and makes them grow. Praise gives status. It will make your employees feel noticed, recognized, and important.

Make your standards clear to all. Be objective. Reward novice employees on their effort to learn rather than on ability to produce.

Recognition pleases and heals. Be sincere, be specific. Praise what a person does instead of the person.

An ounce of recognition is worth a pound of complaints.

People when they feel good about themselves produce good results.

Help people reach their full potential. Catch them doing something right.

The things that get rewarded get done.

Reward risk taking instead of risk avoidance. Use yourself as an example. Talk openly about errors you’ve made and how you learned from them. Celebrate setbacks as well as success.

If you just hand out rewards, they come to be expected and lose their meaning.

Praise for the right reasons. Do not praise for compliance. Do not praise to manipulate.

Make a practice of recognizing performance that exceeds standards.

The thirst for recognition, for being someone important, is as real as apple pie, the National Anthem, tennis shoes, and Christmas trees.

One Minute Praisings

The Most Important Words

5 Steps to Better Motivation

1. Balance criticism with praise. When telling an employee about a mistake, also tell them about something done correctly. Try using the sandwich technique: 1) the first slice of bread = something positive, 2) the filling = the criticism, and 3) the second slice of bread = something positive. Giving an employee criticism using this technique may help them accept the criticism more constructively.
2. Reinforce appropriate behavior. Convey to the employee that work done correctly DOES MATTER. Notice any and all improvement.
3. Sincerely give positive recognition. Catch someone doing something right and tell them about it, then and there. If the employee thinks you are not sincere it’s worse than saying nothing at all.
4. Recognize work done well in front of peers.
5. Give positive reinforcement verbally, over the phone, or in an email. Involve other employees if possible. Tell an employee what a good job another has done (overheard praise).

Conclusion

What do we know for sure about people in the workplace?

Being a supervisor in the mental health field can be a difficult job, yet it can also be a very rewarding job. Finding ways to provide motivation in supervision will go a long way to a healthy, peaceful, productive, and positive work environment. Incidentally, be prepared to feel pretty good about yourself. Because what you give to others is going to be given back to you!