Section 5 of 6
Pathway 1: Expanding capacity
Pathway 1: Expanding capacity
How practice supervisors can expand capacity in practice
By now you will have a clearer sense of how you want to develop your ability to expand capacity.
Here are a range of practical strategies that will improve team efficiency, encourage professional growth, optimise resource use, and create sustainable improvements in service delivery.
These activities are designed to be realistic and applicable to your role, focusing on what you can apply during team meetings, supervision sessions, and in your daily work with a range of stakeholders.
Choose one activity from each section to experiment with in your practice.
Thinking about yourself
Peer learning circles
Join or initiate regular peer learning circles with other practice supervisors. These informal sessions allow you to share challenges, successes, and innovative solutions in your work. The exchange of ideas with peers will broaden your perspective and strengthen your leadership skills by learning from others in similar roles.
Personal resilience check-ins
Schedule brief, monthly self-reflection check-ins where you assess your own wellbeing, work-life balance, and areas for growth. You can do these check-ins independently or with a mentor to help you stay focused on your personal development and ensure you are managing your workload sustainably.
Thinking about your team
Modelling self-care
Lead by example by openly sharing your self-care practices during meetings and supervision sessions. Discuss the importance of finding a healthy way to integrate your work and life and encourage your team to prioritise their wellbeing. By normalising these conversations and demonstrating healthy habits, you create a supportive environment that helps people manage the demands of social work.
Team learning exchanges
During team meetings, ask each team member to share a recent case where they learned something significant – either from a challenge or a success. These short exchanges promote a culture of continuous learning, helping the team reflect on their practice and learn from each other’s experiences.
Thinking about the wider system
Amplifying family voices in supervision
Use supervision sessions to focus on how supervisees can include the voices of children and families into their practice. Ask supervisees to bring real examples of family feedback or lived experiences to discuss how it can inform better decision-making and service delivery.
Building multi-agency connections in practice
Encourage supervisees to identify a partner agency and initiate or strengthen a connection with them. In supervision, discuss how this relationship can be developed, what has been learned from the collaboration, and the effect it has on their work with children and families.
Over to you
After you’ve reviewed these activities, choose one from each section that you’d like to experiment with. You can use the 4C leadership capability framework action plan to detail when and where you’ll try these out and consider their effect over time.
The resources have been developed by
Frontline
in collaboration with
DfE.
Published: 30 January 2025
Last updated: 30 January 2025
Published: 30 January 2025
Last updated: 30 January 2025