Section 4 of 6
Pathway 1: Managing complexity
Pathway 1: Managing complexity
Managing complexity
Managing complexity as a practice supervisor
Managing complexity is a critical skill for practice supervisors in children's social care. This is because you often need to:
- navigate intricate systems
- make decisions in uncertain situations
- balance competing priorities
See examples of what that might look like when you manage complexity in relation to the following:
Knowledge and skills
Stay up to date and lead by example by:
- staying current with the latest research and best practices
- modeling expertise in child and family social work
- you guiding your team with evidence-based decisions, encouraging a culture of learning and growth
Decision-making
Manage risk by:
- critically evaluating data
- spotting patterns
- balancing risk to make informed, timely decisions while supporting the team to understand a family’s needs and risks
- facilitating safe, child-centred decision-making
Case discussion and supervision
Guide complex case discussions through:
- reflexive supervision
- supporting your team to manage challenging family dynamics, encouraging them to:
Evaluation
Thoroughly evaluate practice by:
- supporting supervisees in understanding and evaluating their practice
- focusing on how the flow of work reflects a child’s journey through the system, ensuring a continual review of practice effectiveness
Over to you
Take 5 minutes to reflect on the behaviours above and respond to the following questions:
- In which are you strongest and why?
- Which do you think you most need to develop?
- What are some actionable steps you could take to do so?
You can use the ‘managing complexity as a practice supervisor’ section in your 4C leadership capability framework action plan for this activity.
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