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Supervising for Excellence Training Participant Guide Part One/Module Four

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Table of Contents Listening Skills: …………………………………………………………. 3

Building Resilience:…………………………………………8


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Listening Skills v Compare verbal and non-verbal communication.

v Define active listening.

v Practice active listening skills.

Course Objectives


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Key Points:

Behaviors of good listeners:

How does it feel to be really listened to? Active Listening

Active listening involves concentration and focus—trying to understand as fully and

accurately as you can.

It involves two objectives: letting the other person know he or she is heard and try-

ing to understand the person talking.

It’s about attitude as well as demonstrating the active listening skill.

Showing genuine interest, concern, being open and willing to withhold judgment.

Expressing empathy. Truly understanding and accepting the other person’s mes-

sage and also his/her situation and feelings.

It’s a good fall back position when dealing with emotionally charged issues, tension

or conflict.

Notes Listening Skills


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PowerPoint Slides


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Listening is Part of the Job

v As a supervisor, you’ll need to use listening skills in a variety of contexts everyday:

– Gathering data to solve a problem

– Listen to a subordinate’s problem

– Listening to a subordinate’s perspective on an issue

– Understand other points of view in order to negotiate

– Most situations require listening…

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Active Listeningv Active listening allows the listener

to:

– Gain more information

– Improve understanding

– Facilitates cooperation

v An active listener:

– Looks and sounds interested

– Understands the speaker’s point of view

– Clarifies the speaker’s thoughts and feelings

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Active Listening Behaviors

v Get the story

v Probe/clarify meaning

v Listen for emotions

v Summarize

v Value silence

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Listening is Part of the Job

v Input – Talented employees want to be heard and recognized for their contributions.

v Motivation – What gets them up each morning and keeps them on the job?

v Challenges – What are they struggling with? How can you help them?


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PowerPoint Slides


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Get the Story

v Encourage the speaker

– Body language

– Genuine interest and curiosity

– Silence

v Ask open-ended questions

– “Tell me about the situation.”

– “Can you tell me more about that?”

– “What happened next?”

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Get the Storyv Draw out background/context

– “When did you first become aware of this situation?”

– “Have you ever dealt with anything like this before?”

v Clarify and check understanding

– “After the accident, you called your wife, is that right?”

– “So she called you on Tuesday and you called her back Wednesday, correct?”

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Probe/Clarify Meanings

v Use questions that take the speaker’s understanding a step deeper, or bring out the meaning or significance of the situation for the speaker.


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PowerPoint Slides


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Examples of Probing/Clarifying Meaning

v “What is your concern about that?”

v “What were you thinking when that happened?”

v “What do you mean by ‘disrespect’?” “What about that felt disrespectful?”

v “How do you think he sees this issue?”

v “Are you more upset that she didn’t call, or that she lied?” 38

Listen for (and Respond to) Emotion

v Be aware of non-verbal cues– Hesitation, change in tone, body

language

v Name the emotion in a way that validates it– When in doubt, stay general

(“upset”, “frustrated”)

v Allow venting

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Value Silence

v Don’t rush to respond. Allow time for the person talking to collect his/her thoughts if necessary.

v Give time for answering questions.

v Silence allows person to hear himself and formulate thoughts more clearly.

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Summarizev Make a “story” out of what you’ve

heardv Try to capture what’s most important

to the speakerv Include main facts, issues, concerns,

feelings, perceptionsv Check accuracy…

– “You’ve said a lot, let’s see if I understand…”

– “What I hear you saying is… Is that right?”

– “So, you’re most concerned about X, correct?”


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Building Resilience v Define resilience and identify resilience capacity.

v Identify the effects of worker exposure to trauma in the lives of clients.

v Understand how compassion fatigue and unresolved work-related grief erode

resilience.

v Develop and apply strategies that promote and enhance resilience, including

self-care actions.

v Recognize personal biases and experiences that influence judgment in case de-

cisions.

Course Objectives


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Key Points: In child welfare, we see tremendous resilience in our clients and co-workers every-

day.

Effective supervision includes understanding resilience and promoting it in the

workplace.

Notes Building Resilience


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“Resilience can be defined as the capacity to rebound from adversity strengthened and more resourceful.”

PowerPoint Slide

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Our Vulnerability

vWe absorb emotion

vWe can re-experience our history

vUnfinished business can be tapped

vCompetency can be challenged

vExpectations and liability are high

vVicarious traumatization

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Professional Vulnerability Factors

vTraining

vSupervision

vCaseload size

vPublic Opinion

vOrganizational Structure and Policies

vPublic Opinion47

Personal Vulnerability Factors

vPast history of the worker -history of trauma and/or abuse

vWorker’s coping style

vCurrent life situation - divorce, death of a parent, birth of a child


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Questions

v How have you experienced vulnerability in this work?

v How did you know that you were vulnerable?

vWhat did you experience?

PowerPoint Slide

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Vicarious Traumatization Defined

Enduring psychological consequences for helpers who are exposed to the traumatic experiences of victim clients. People who work with victims may experience profound psychological effects, effects that can be painful and disruptive for the helper and may last for months … (McCann and Pearlman, 1990)

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Vicarious Traumatizationv Also called secondary trauma

v Often experienced by workers who work with traumatized individuals

v Overlaps with burnout - work situation that is stressful, demanding and/or unrewarding

v Form of countertransference -induced by exposure

v Compassion fatigue51

Common Stimuli

v Witnessing the effects of violence, abuse, and or severe neglect

v Providing treatment to victims who suffer from post-traumatic syndromes

v After effects are disturbing -we see what it does

v Treatment process which requires engagement exposes the therapist to trauma


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Overexposure - Taps

v Sadness

vGrief

vHistory

v Anxiety

PowerPoint Slide

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Sadness, Grief and Anxiety

v Sadness - an invitation to empathy and self knowledge

vGrieving - a pathway to connection and healing

v Anxiety - a window to self

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Common Signs of Overexposure

v Irritability

v Fear

v Loss of confidence

v Difficulty holding empathy

v Feeling powerless

v Reactive

v Difficult to hold joy

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Overexposure - cont.

vDisruption in intimacy and sexual relationships

vIncrease drug and/or alcohol use

vUse of labels when describing clients


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Permission to Grieve

vWhat do you think about when you hear this statement?

vWhat do you know about your way of grieving?

vHow do you absorb loss?

vWhat do you need to talk about?

PowerPoint Slide

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Sadness - An Invitation to Empathy and Self-knowledge

vWhen do you feel sad about the work?

vWhat do you tell yourself the sadness is about?

vWhat do you do with sadness?

vWhat do you learn about your clients, yourself when you are sad?

vWho would you like to talk to when your sad?

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Anxiety - A Window to SelfvWhat are you struggling with at this

time? Is your competency in question?

vWhat are you trying to re-think/re -work?

vWhat are you doing with your anxiety?

v Is your anxiety a natural response, about a threat, taking you to loss?

v How is anxiety spread or contained?59

Separation from Competency

v Often related to how outcome is defined

v Related to expectations

v Is often experienced as anxiety

v Can be rooted in the definition of self

v Can be situation or client specific


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Resiliency Philosophy

v Look for meaning in ordinary things

v Detach yourself from expectations

v Do not submit passively, but surrender yourself totally to the work that needs doing

v Pay attention, don’t think to much and stay light on your feet

v Be positive and hopeful

v Don’t take anything personally

PowerPoint Slide

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The Resilient Self- Strategies for Providers

v Resist apathy - accept sadness and the necessity to grieve

v Stand-up to self doubt/honor wisdom

v Decline invitations to self-criticism/accept invitations for positive acknowledgement

v Reduce isolation/Stay in connection with others

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The Resilient Self-Strategies for Providers

v Refuse silence/Use your voice

v Refuse Defeat/Embrace hope

v Believe in your contribution to the client’s life/Redefine success

v Journey home63

Self-Care Actions

v Identify support person within the workplace with whom you can make daily contact

v Cultivate a mentoring relationship

v Develop rituals to open and close your interactions with clients

v Breathe when dealing with intense encounters


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Self-Care Actions

v Write and post self-affirmations on competency, your wisdom, and your creativity

v Establish professional learning goals

v Take time to recover from loss through conversations, moments away from your desk, and reminders to reflect on self and the work

PowerPoint Slide

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Self-Care Actions

v Engage in normal and healthy activities outside of work

v Celebrate your life, what you have, and where you are headed

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Supervision StrategiesvEncourage people to take their vacations,

lunch, and to take time off when they have put in long days

v Identify the parallel process

vTalk theoretically about counter-transference responses - what to learn from them about ourselves and our clients

vUtilize case staffings to teach about the work and it’s effect on us


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PowerPoint Slide

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Supervision Strategies

v Identify stressful encounters - give voice to the experience

v Assess reactive statements and positions, ask questions about these statements and emotional responses

vUse group supervision to reduce isolation

vDe-brief encounters that generate anxiety

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Supervision Strategies

vUse e-mails and postings to maintain a positive attitude and comment on a job well done

vCelebrate together -birthdays, anniversaries, years if service

vOther ideas?


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Child Welfare Workers’ Exposure to Trauma “Social work trauma can occur when a caseload event or series of events is beyond the capacity of the social worker to manage. This does not mean that any challenge at work will result in workplace trauma. Professionals grow by encountering workplace challenges that are beyond their grasp and developing new skills necessary to man-age new situations. Trauma effects, however, can develop when a social worker is confronted with an event or series of events that cannot be readily managed, either emotionally, or practically, and in which there is an element of danger. These events may be directed at the worker or they may be directed at the client and have an indi-rect effect on the social worker. In either scenario the impact of the event will be in part determined by the personal vulnerabilities of the particular worker.” (Horowitz, 1998)

Direct and Indirect Worker Trauma Direct Trauma:

Assault and vandalism Verbal abuse; threat of assault Public sources of harassment, ridicule, criticism and disrespect, including the media Organizational demands, such as high caseloads and lack of resources for families

resulting in limited hope for success Indirect Trauma:

Exposure to repeated stories of the dismal and destructive events in clients’ lives Repeated exposure to client affect including extreme anger and sadness—

emotional contagions A sense of responsibility for the conditions leading to a difficult event A sense of similarity with a client due to a situation or personal characteristic (“It

could have been me, or my child.”)

Effects

The effects of exposure to trauma are defined by the degree to which workers are di-rectly exposed to ongoing client trauma events, and to which workers have responsibil-ity for the conditions in a client’s life.

See continuum on next page


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Mild Middle Severe

Workers providing services in a contained office environment for a set period of time. These work-ers are affected by the stories they hear. These stories are at times related to ongoing events, but often these stories describe events in the past from which the client is currently safe.

Workers exposed to on-going trauma events directly related to clients. These workers work with the client in the office and in the client’s home. These workers also perceive themselves as hav-ing a degree of responsibility for determining conditions under which the trauma events may oc-cur.

Workers providing home-based services, often spending many hours in the client’s home and witnessing traumatizing condi-tions and events on a continual basis.

What Effects Can Look Like

Constant awareness of pain surrounding work

Intrusive thoughts about clients and their circumstances

Hyper-vigilance

Depression

Lack of competence in decision-making

Work spillover into personal life

Personal Vulnerability Factors

Past experiences in the worker’s life (i.e., worker’s own experience with abuse)

Worker’s coping style

Current life situation (i.e., divorce, death of a parent, birth of a child)

Professional Vulnerability Factors

Training

Supervision

Caseload size

Organizational structure and policies

Resources for clients

Public opinion


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How Resilient Are You? Directions: Rate yourself on the following statements: 1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree 1. I’m very resilient. I adapt quickly. I’m good at bouncing back from difficulties. 1 2 3 4 5

2. I’m optimistic, see difficulties as temporary, expect to overcome them and have things turn out well.

1 2 3 4 5

3. In a crisis, I calm myself and focus on taking useful actions.

1 2 3 4 5

4. I’m good at solving problems logically. 1 2 3 4 5

5. I can think of creative solutions to challenges. 1 2 3 4 5

6. I trust my intuition. 1 2 3 4 5

7. I’m curious. I ask questions and want to know how things work. I experiment.

1 2 3 4 5

8. I learn from my experiences and the experiences of others.

1 2 3 4 5

9. I’m very flexible. I feel comfortable with inner complexity (trusting and cautious, un-selfish and selfish, optimistic and pessimistic, etc…)

1 2 3 4 5

10. I anticipate problems to avoid and expect the unexpected. 1 2 3 4 5

Continued on next page


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11. I’m able to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty in situations. 1 2 3 4 5

12. I feel self-confident, enjoy healthy self-esteem, and have an attitude of profession-alism about work.

1 2 3 4 5

13. I’m a good listener and have a lot of empathy for people. I can “read” people well.

1 2 3 4 5

14. I can adapt to various personality types (even difficult people). I’m non-judgmental. 1 2 3 4 5

15. I’m able to recover emotionally from losses and setbacks. 1 2 3 4 5

16. I’m very durable and keep going through tough times. I have an independent spirit.

1 2 3 4 5

17. I have been made stronger and better by difficult experiences. 1 2 3 4 5

18. I can convert misfortune into good fortune and discover unexpected benefits in al most any situation.

1 2 3 4 5

19. I can express feelings to others, let go of anger, overcome discouragement, and ask for help.

1 2 3 4 5


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In his book, Managing at the Speed of Change, Darryl Conner lists five characteristics of resiliency:

Be positive - See life as challenging, dynamic, and filled with op-portunities.

Be focused - Determine where you are headed and stick to that

goal so barriers do not stand in your way. Be flexible - Open yourself to different possibilities when faced

with uncertainty. Be organized - Develop structured approaches to be able to

manage the unknown. Be proactive - Look ahead, actively engage change and work

with it. These resiliency features can be illustrated with the Cycle of Change and show us how being resilient helps throughout the process of change oc-curring in our lives. (See graphic on next page) Being proactive enables you to prepare for what might be coming. It helps you to scan for signs of change at the step of sensing “something’s up.” Focus is needed to clarify the situation and clearly identify the problem or opportunity. Organization enables the development of a comprehensive and detailed plan of implementation. A positive outlook facilitates the ac-tual beginning of the work of change as plans are put into action. Flexibil-ity will be needed as adjustments are made and you begin to sense “this will work.” From the position of having gotten through change you once again need to be proactive as you look ahead to what might be next and prepare to go around the cycle again. Surviving change and thriving through change will depend upon being a resilient individual. And resil-iency will be needed because change always brings feelings of resistance.

Resiliency and the Cycle of Change


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The Cycle of Change

Adapted from Managing at the Speed of Change: How Resilient Managers Succeed and Prosper Where Others Fail. Conner, Daryl R. New York: Villard Books, 1995.


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We’ve all demonstrated resilience in our lives. Take a few moments to recall a chal-lenging time in your life (professionally or personally) in which you were able to demon-strate each of the characteristics below and describe that time. I stayed positive when: I stayed focused when: I stayed flexible when: I stayed organized when: I was proactive when:

Recognizing Your Resilience

supervising for excellence training participant …centerforchildwelfare.fmhi.usf.edu/kb/trsup/part...

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