Supervision and Organizational Change

All organizations run into problems. Organizational dysfunctionalities creep into even those organizations that are founded with the best of intentions. How can organizational change occur when it is needed? What role does supervision play?

Sophia Housing, founded by Jean Quinn in Dublin, Ireland in 1997 to “work alongside people outside of home in a holistic way” hit some bumps several years into its life as an organization.  While Sophia was doing well at serving its clients holistically, leadership practices from the outside world had crept into the organization, and the holistic culture wasn’t being lived out fully in the way that people within the organization related to one another. Specifically, “command and control” leadership styles picked up elsewhere were working against the holistic, person-centered culture that Jean wanted to foster.

How did Sophia Housing address its need for organizational change? What part did supervisors, who were an integral part of the organization, play?

Sophia Housing had identified its need for change primarily through its supervisors.  Supervisors at Sophia Housing serve more as mentors or coaches than line managers.  Ever since Jean Quinn’s early experience of personal transformation through supervision, supervision had played an important role in her life and subsequently in the life of Sophia Housing.  Everyone at Sophia Housing receives attentive, supportive supervision focusing on individual growth and development.

Sophia Housing’s supervisors had heard about leadership practices that weren’t consistent with Sophia’s culture, and had supervised “upstream,” gaining Jean Quinn’s ear.

As a result, under Jean’s leadership, supervisors worked in tandem with an organizational consultant who specialized in leadership training. The organizational consultant, invited to offer leadership training in modules over six months, worked closely with supervisors, helping leaders in the organization surface their patterns, noting how leadership practices out of alignment with Sophia’s culture had crept in and how everyone had colluded in not challenging them. The supervisors worked with leaders both during the program and after, continuing with them in ongoing supervision after the six months were over. Through the integration of the training and supervision, Sophia’s leadership culture shifted, once again becoming more person-centered. Jean Quinn observed that, through surfacing assumptions and helping people talk about them frankly, a culture of openness was created: “There’s an honesty around, and there’s acceptance.”

Supervision can play an important role in organizational change: first, by pointing out the change that is needed; second, by surfacing hidden assumptions; and third, by serving to help bring about the change.  At Sophia Housing, supervisors did all three, restoring the culture and effectiveness of the organization. 

(This column is drawn from Chapter 7 of The Soul of Supervision. Used with permission of the publisher.)

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For more info: Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of Soul at Work and The Soul of a Leader and co-editor of The Soul of Supervision, works with leaders in healthcare, business, churches, government and non-profits to help them stay true to their souls. Visit her website.