Leadership and Supervision Self-Reflection
Assignment Overview
As a professional social worker, you have many opportunities to
take leadership roles. Evaluating your own skills as a supervisor and
leader helps prepare you for future roles as supervisors and leaders in
the field of social work. This assignment gives you the opportunity to
evaluate some of your capacities as a leader and supervisor.
By successfully completing this assignment, you demonstrate your
proficiency in the following EPAS and advanced generalist specialized
behaviors:
Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior.
C1.SP.A: Apply professional use of self and leadership skills with colleagues, clients, groups, organizations, and communities.
Related Assignment Criterion:
5. Reflect on personal strengths and challenges related to social work leadership and supervision best practices.
C1.SP.C: Integrate the ethical and effective use of technology
at all levels of practice in the specialization of advanced generalist
social work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and
communities.
Related Assignment Criterion:
4. Apply collaborative leadership skills to train
supervisees in the effective use of technology in the delivery of social
services.
Competency 2: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice.
C2.SP.A: Analyze dimensions and differentiation in diversity
and apply the influence of relationships and affective reactions to
intervention techniques and technologies with diverse clients, families,
groups, organizations, and communities.
C2.SP.B: Apply leadership skills, theoretical frameworks,
decision making and best-practice interventions with diverse
populations.
Related Assignment Criterion:
3. Create a summary of best practices in leadership
and supervision that integrates leadership theories including
transformational and either critical or conflict theory, and includes
culturally competent practice.
Competency 4: Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice.
C4.SP.A: Apply leadership skills, decision making, and the use
of technology to inform evidence-based research practice to develop,
implement, evaluate, and communicate interventions across the
specialization of advanced generalist practice settings.
C4.SP.B: Apply leadership skills, decision making, and the use
of technology to inform evidence-based program evaluation to develop,
implement, evaluate, and communicate interventions across the
specialization of advanced generalist practice settings.
Related Assignment Criterion:
2. Apply transformational leadership theory and other
leadership theories, such as critical or conflict theory, to inform
best practices.
Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice.
C5.SP.A: Apply leadership skills and decision making as social
change agents to collaborate with clients, colleagues, and identified
stakeholders to advance social and economic well-being in the delivery
of effective and technology-assisted social work services to
individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
Related Assignment Criterion:
4. Apply collaborative leadership to train supervisees
in the effective use of technology in the delivery of social work
services to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and
communities.
Competency 6: Engage With Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities.
C6.SP.B: Apply and integrate theories of human behavior and the
social environment in the specialization of advanced generalist
practice when engaging with individuals, families, groups,
organizations, and communities.
Related Assignment Criterion:
1. Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.
Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities.
C7.SP.B: Apply and integrate theories of human behavior and the
social environment in the specialization of advanced generalist
practice when assessing individuals, families, groups, organizations,
and communities.
Related Assignment Criterion:
1. Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.
Competency 8: Intervene With Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
C8.SP.B: Apply and integrate theories of human behavior and the
social environment in the specialization of advanced generalist
practice interventions with individuals, families, groups,
organizations, and communities.
Related Assignment Criterion:
1. Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.
Competency 9: Evaluate Practice With Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities.
C9.SP.B: Apply and integrate theories of human behavior and the
social environment in the specialization of advanced generalist
practice evaluation with individuals, families, groups, organizations,
and communities.
Related Assignment Criterion:
1. Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.
Assignment Description
For this assignment, synthesize theory, research, and best
practices to determine effective supervisor and leadership skills, then
evaluate yourself as a supervisor and leader.
Assignment Instructions
Be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the aspects of the
assignment. Complete the paper using the sections of content as
identified below. Use your text, previous readings in the course, and
additional scholarly articles. Also use the NASW Code of Ethics, the
NASW and ASWB Best Practice Standards in Social Work Supervision, and
the NASW Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competency in Social Work
Practice as you prepare the paper. Synthesize these resources into each
section, as needed, to formulate your construct of best practices in
leadership and supervision. The last section completes the paper with a
self-reflection of your current level of leadership and supervision
skills. Be sure to satisfy the additional requirements as you complete
the paper.
Section 1
Select the important aspects of leadership and supervision, from
your research, that you want to use in designing best practices in
supervision and leadership.
Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.
Research leadership and supervision skills and qualities based on
theories of human behavior. Think in terms of theoretical bases that
contribute to the success of social work supervisors. What are the
qualities and skills that help a supervisor with their day-to-day
duties? What are the qualities and skills that help with higher-level
planning for an organization? Identify the theory(ies) of human behavior
you select to align best with these supervisor and leader skills.
Apply transformational leadership theory
and other leadership theories, such as critical or conflict theory, to
inform best practice.
Identify the aspects of transformational leadership theory and
critical or conflict theory that you see as most important in
establishing in leadership and supervision best practices.
In this section, also identify the components from NASW Code of
Ethics, the NASW and ASWB Best Practice Standards in Social Work
Supervision, and the NASW Standards and Indicators for Cultural
Competency in Social Work Practice that you want to include in your
synthesis of best practices in supervision and leadership.
Section 2
Create a summary of best practices in
leadership and supervision that integrates leadership theories including
transformational and either critical or conflict theory, and includes
culturally competent practice.
Synthesize the research content that you identified in Section 1
into the categories below to inform the model of best practices that you
create.
Developing effective organizational and interpersonal communication skills.
Managing time and tasks effectively.
Managing different personalities and conflict, hiring, performance evaluation, disciplinary action, and termination.
Maintaining ethics, confidentiality, and liability.
Practicing professional development, self-care, personal reflection, and self-correction.
Developing and managing an effective culturally competent practice including organizational culture and environment.
Section 3
Identify collaborative leadership skills
to train supervisees in the effective use of technology in the delivery
of social services.
In Section 3, continue to use the research that you identified in
Section 1 to identify best practices of a collaborative leader in
training supervisees in the effective use of technology.
Section 4
Reflect on personal strengths and challenges related to social work leadership and supervision best practices.
Conduct a thorough yet concise self-reflection related to best
practices you designed in Section 3. What are your areas of strength?
What areas do you find challenging? Be specific in your analysis and use
examples.
Additional Requirements
The assignment you submit is expected to meet the following requirements:
Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are
formatted according to current APA style and formatting standards.
Include a title page, reference page, headers, and appendices as
applicable. Reference any appendices as needed within your paper.
Cited resources: Minimum of five scholarly sources. All literature cited should be current, with publication dates within the past five years.
Length of paper: Minimum of 7 double-spaced pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Resources
National Association of Social Workers and Association of Social Work Boards. (2013). Best practice standards in social work supervision [PDF]. Available from https://www.socialworkers.org
National Association of Social Workers. (2017). Code of Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English
National Association of Social Workers. (2015). Standards and indicators for cultural competence in social work practice [PDF]. Available from https://www.socialworkers.org/