Building Collaborative Supervisory Relationships

Building and Sustaining Meaningful and Effective Relationships as a Supervisor and Mentor Chapter 2

Effective supervisory relationships require a strong foundation built from collaboration and a clear commitment to the ultimate outcomes of the relationship.

Building Blocks for a Strong Foundation

1. A clear understanding of roles and scope

2. Well defined expectations

3. A collaborative and participatory approach to identifying goals

4. Shared responsibility for the health of the supervisory relationship

5. Frequent bi-directional feedback and open discussions

Actions for Growing Committed and Healthy Learning Context

• Being attentive
  • be actively present
• Acknowledging and facilitating the learning process
  • both people are learning; mistakes are welcome
• Welcoming different perspectives and diversity
  • there is no “one right perspective/way”
• Learning about past experiences and preferences
• Providing frequent positive and constructive feedback
• Engaging in ongoing communication and feedback
  • a constant bi-directional process