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Section 3 of 6
Pathway 1: Providing clarity

How practice supervisors can provide clarity in practice

By now you will have a clearer sense of how you might want to grow in clarity. Here are a range of practical strategies to promote clear communication, consistent decision-making, and transparent processes, helping you improve clarity as a practice supervisor. These strategies will help your team work confidently, follow best practices, and provide high-quality support to children and families.

These are separated into suggestions that will benefit you, your team, and your work with wider stakeholders.

Which of the activities below do you think you, your supervisees and service would most benefit from doing? Select one from each section that you would like to experiment with.

Thinking about yourself - leadership role alignment exercise 

Clearly define and communicate your values and leadership style so your team understands not just what you do, but what you stand for. 

Consider creating a ‘user manual of me’ to outline your core values, leadership philosophy, and preferred working approach, helping your team understand your decisions and communication style.  Encourage team members to create their own ‘user manual of me’ to share their values, strengths, and working preferences, enabling deeper understanding and better support in supervision sessions.

A user manual of me can be shared on team spaces on intranets and can contain some or all the following elements:

  • the conditions l like to work in
  • the days/hours I work
  • how best to communicate with me
  • the ways I like to receive feedback
  • the things I need
  • the things I struggle with
  • the things I love
  • other things to know

Provide weekly updates on leadership decisions, team priorities, and organisational changes. This can be done through brief team meetings, emails, or newsletters to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Thinking about your team - vision-mapping workshops

Lead a workshop where your supervisees collaboratively create a vision map that outlines what good outcomes for children and families look like.

Have participants break down this vision into specific, measurable goals and expectations for their work.

Regularly review and adjust this vision map during supervision sessions to ensure that goals remain aligned with the evolving needs of children and families.

Plain language equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) statements 

Work with supervisees to create plain language statements that explain significant EDI principles. These statements can be used in their communication with families, colleagues, and multi-agency partners. This will help them clearly set out EDI considerations, such as addressing the needs of marginalised families or ensuring non-discriminatory practices.

Thinking about the wider system - clarity mapping in multi-agency meetings

During the meeting, use a visual tool such as a whiteboard or virtual platform to create a clarity map.

Start by placing the child or family’s main needs or goals at the centre.

Invite each stakeholder to add their agency’s role and specific responsibilities around these central goals.

Draw connections between the roles and the needs to show how each stakeholder’s work supports the overall outcome.

After mapping, discuss any gaps or overlaps in responsibilities, ensuring everyone is clear on their role.

Finalise by assigning clear action points and next steps for each stakeholder, promoting accountability and transparency.

Stakeholder mapping 

In supervision, ask the supervisee to create a stakeholder map identifying key agencies in a child’s support network, categorising them by influence, contact frequency, and role in outcomes.

Discuss strategies to strengthen relationships with these stakeholders, such as:

  • improving communication
  • clarifying expectations
  • scheduling check-ins
  • identifying any stakeholders needing more attention for better collaboration

Over to you

Now that 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 and reflect on their impact over time. 

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The resources have been developed by Frontline in collaboration with DfE.
Published: 30 January 2025
Last updated: 30 January 2025