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by Julieann Spray, Victoria A. Goetzinger, and Tony W. Cawthon
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upervision is a key element of most professional positions in student affairs. Despite that, little attention is given to learning the art and practice of supervision in graduate preparation programs, staff training, or professional development exercises. Rather, it is often simply a skill one has to learn on the job. Add to the mix the fact that, for even the most experienced professionals, personal identities are present – consciously or unconsciously – in these supervisory relationships. As student affairs professionals and specifically housing practitioners, it is necessary to reflect critically on how personal experiences and identities impact the supervisory experience. Two new books have dug into this subject, and, particularly in light of increased racial tension on campuses and around the globe, they provide valuable insight and applicable strategies.
Inclusive Supervision in Student Affairs: A Model for Professional Practice by Amy B. Wilson, Carmen M. McCallum, and Matthew R. Shupp (Taylor & Francis) provides a model of how supervisors should create a more inclusive environment, with professional practice informed by principles of social justice. Designed to be effective for supervisors at all levels, the book introduces a new inclusive supervision model, examines the tenets of inclusive supervision as well as potential barriers, and offers applications for practice. Readers are challenged to move beyond traditional supervision approaches and embrace a new model of how the supervisory relationship is impacted by individual beliefs, values, and identities.
Inclusive supervision can lead to the overall satisfaction of employees and improved retention rates, providing the opportunity for supervisors to create a unique experience for their supervisees that leads to a happier work relationship. Readers, as current or future supervisors, are charged with the responsibility to rewrite the story of supervision and to do better and be better for the profession. The theory and literature related to supervision in student affairs, multicultural competence, and multicultural supervision frame the inclusive supervision model and four transformative actions that supervisors can take: establishing safe spaces, promoting holistic development, showing vulnerability, and helping to build capacity in others.
The authors offer a perspective on the use of safe versus brave spaces in supervisory environments. Safe spaces are neutral and supportive, while brave ones encourage people to recognize and talk about difference as openly as possible. While acknowledging that brave spaces are more the focus of community-based dialogues, their model advocates for the use of safe space as it allows for an environment to be both physical and symbolic; someone can feel physically safe and comfortable while also feeling that they are in an environment that embodies particular values and practices. In addition to creating safe spaces for employees, supervisors can focus on the holistic development of a relationship with them rather than focusing primarily on tasks and goals. When supervisors know what drives their employees, these employees are more likely to be motivated, focused on their own development, and to feel respected. In short, supervisors must invest in the employees who are investing in their department. Being able to actively respect, try to understand, and acknowledge employees and their contribution is crucial for retention and encourages employees to bring all aspects of their identities into the work environment.
Though supervisors model responsibility and accountability, they must also demonstrate vulnerability, a valuable aspect of multicultural competency. They can demonstrate this in many ways: being willing to experience personal discomfort, acknowledging limitations and seeking opportunities to understand, and acknowledging and apologizing for cultural mistakes. The authors note that vulnerability is the most challenging tenet of the model, but with the right amount of challenge and support and a balance of contact and distance, inclusive supervision can be achieved. The final tenet in the inclusive supervision model is to build capacity in others, which supervisors can do by including everyone in these conversations, enhancing multicultural competence, and leading by example.
Student affairs professionals should also be aware of the barriers to quality supervision, such as fear of vulnerability, lack of authenticity, limited self-awareness, absence of trust, and lack of preparation. Fortunately, the authors offer a wide range of interactive and intentional resources: case studies, prompts to record personal reflections on supervision, checklists for creating safe spaces and practicing holistic development, and an inclusive supervision inventory. They also offer very practical knowledge that can be used not only for supervisory relationships but also in daily interactions and in advising and advocating for students. Given university housing’s commitment to holistic development and social justice values, this book would be an excellent tool to use for staff development.
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Robert Brown, Shruti Desai, and Craig Elliott’s Identity-Conscious Supervision in Student Affairs: Building Relationships and Transforming Systems (Routledge) offers a model of identity-conscious supervision that addresses the intersectionality of supervision, diversity, equity, and inclusion. The book identifies oppressive systems and dominant ideologies that continue to harm marginalized communities and attempts to empower student affairs practitioners to lean into the messiness and discomfort to enact powerful change. The book also details personal experiences in navigating power structures, social norms, and professional standards that privilege dominant identities.
The book presents an interdisciplinary approach utilizing nine strategies that are at the core of identity-conscious supervision: at the individual level, developing a relationship with self and others, forging a strong sense of self, acknowledging power dynamics, and acting with courage; and, on the supervisory level, encouraging the exploration of identity, understanding expectations, working through conflict, sustaining identity consciousness, and maintaining an impact on institutional change. By focusing on individual actions, introducing frameworks and models that support identity-conscious supervision, and examining barriers that may limit the model (as well as strategies to overcome them), the authors illuminate how to incorporate identity-conscious supervision into professional practice.
Identity-conscious supervision provides the tools to acknowledge the inherent power difference between supervisor and supervisees. Most student affairs professionals learn how to supervise from personal experience rather than through intentional, consistent instruction, but the model presented here can help them overcome limited training, lack of self-work and teamwork, and identity-neutral practices that create an echo chamber of harmful outcomes for marginalized staff. Identity-conscious supervision interrupts systemic bias and strives to create a “do no harm” culture within higher education. The value of this kind of supervision comes from centering people rather than the work they produce. This approach must begin with understanding individual identities as well as unpacking behaviors that reinforce oppressive systems. Developing strong relationships with others that build upon trust, love, and vulnerability can create a transformative partnership that serves as a catalyst for system-level change. However, these relationships cannot be developed until supervisors understand what the authors call an “inherent power dynamic” in the relationship. Effective supervision requires power sharing in order to build mutual respect and trust, and employers are called upon to act courageously to center the supervisee’s voice by deconstructing privileged spaces.
The authors maintain that discussions about identity in supervisory relationships and team dynamics must be brought to the foreground and normalized in order to foster the intentional exploration of identity. The authors challenge practitioners to go beyond synergistic supervision to a holistic view that considers the complexity of multicultural and social justice issues. One model for identity-conscious supervision is the Critical Authentic Leadership model, which centers people’s moral values, perspectives, knowledge, and strengths. Integrating this model and Critical Race Theory into their supervisory work can help to force dominant ideologies to the surface. Supervisors then “have a responsibility to reshape human resource practices to address systems of domination within workplace environments.”
The supervisory-level section ends by centering conflict engagement and reconciliation. Although conflict is natural and healthy, and housing professionals help students manage it on a weekly basis, they often struggle to handle conflict in their own supervisory relationships. Readers can consult several models for conflict reconciliation, ranging from restorative justice to feminist models, and learn how to move beyond conflict resolution to create a space where people feel valued and heard.
Cultivating inclusive workspaces requires time, patience, and persistence. Identity-conscious supervision is a cyclical process that moves back and forth between self-awareness and action, and this consciousness must be sustained on the individual, intrapersonal, and structural levels. As supervisors, it is critical to recognize internalized superiority and dominance in order to be able to identify and dismantle disruptive patterns and behaviors.
While there are definite similarities and some overlap between the two books, they are both valuable resources about an important topic. Supervision training should be a priority for housing and student affairs practitioners, no matter what their experience level. These inclusive approaches are an essential foundation for that training and can serve as essential tools to deconstruct oppressive systems, normalize identity conversations, and transform supervision across higher education. These models challenge the individual lens through which many view the world and propel us toward a society that is equitable and just. Along with all these lessons, these books serve as simple reminders that, at its core, supervision is about the relationship with others.
Julieann Spray is a graduate assistant in leadership development at Clemson University. Victoria A. Goetzinger is a graduate community director at Clemson University. Tony W. Cawthon, Ph.D., is an alumni distinguished professor of student affairs at Clemson University.
