Is your supervision approach cultivating active or passive learners?

Imagine supervisee, Claire, who brings a long list of problems, she describes as “urgent issues” that needs answers. Claire’s supervisor systematically works through each item, helping Claire leave the session relieved that her immediate pressure points have been addressed.

Yet a week later Claire’s back with a new long list of problems. She feels very reliant on her supervisor’s suggestions, and remains overwhelmed and drained. Supervision has become more like a fire‑fighting exercise when what she needs is the opportunity to step back, reflect, or build greater confidence in her own decision-making.

Contrast this with another supervisee, Leo. Leo’s session begins with his supervisor asking “What areas would you like to explore or develop today?” What have you reflected on since our last session that surprised you?”

Leo responds with a clinical dilemma that he found challenging and he explores this with his supervisor by sharing reasons for decisions and alternatives ways to address the issues/s. Together, they identify what Leo is learning and how this will inform his next steps.

Which scenario reflects your supervision style? More importantly: which one cultivates active learners rather than passive problem‑solvers?

The cost of “compulsive problem‑solving”

When supervision defaults to a purely problem‑solving exercise where the supervisee brings problems and the supervisor provides solutions, several things happen:

• The supervisee becomes dependent on the supervisor’s answers; they rarely develop their own clinical reasoning or learning strategies.

• Supervision becomes transactional (“What issues do you have? Here’s what to do.”) rather than transformational (“What are you learning? How are you growing?”). Supervision, at its best, is a co‑created, collaborative learning‑focussed conversation designed to build self‑directed learners and workforce capacity.

• If supervisees are always in “fix it” mode, they don’t pause to reflect, question, experiment and deepen their practice. Over time, this undermines lifelong learning, innovation and does not support them to thrive sustainably.

Turning supervision into a learning partnership

For the individual supervisee

• Bring a learning agenda, not just a problem‑list. Before each session, identify: “What do I want to learn or try this week?” rather than only “What do I need fixed?”

• Reflect on interventions and consider What went well? What surprised me? What might I try differently next time? What did I learn from this?

• Commit to a small experiment: pick one aspect of your practice to make a change and then report back on outcomes, any insights or questions you would like to consider in your supervision session.

• Ask yourself: “Am I waiting for the supervisor to give me the answer or am I actively generating options, hypotheses, insights?”

For supervisors

• Shift your role from problem solver to learning-facilitator. Invite supervisees to propose solutions first, to connect with theories or practical frameworks, to make suggestions and explore them together.

• Frame supervision questions that stimulate reflection, for example: “What assumptions did you bring into that case?” “What might you notice next time that you didn’t this time?” “What would you try if you weren’t responsible for solving everything?”

• Use a contract or agenda that prioritises learning goals and reflective practice, not simply clinical problems and encourage supervisees to identify their own learning goals

• Provide scaffolding for reflection by using frameworks and prompts to develop their learning skills.

• Pay attention to how safe supervisees feel with you to think aloud, question their own reasoning, or take considered risks in learning.

• Model vulnerability: share your own challenges and experiences as this builds psychological safety and the culture of shared learning.

For the workplace

• Ensure supervision is valued and protected. Allocate time and training for supervisors and supervisees.

• Embed a reflective learning culture by creating other opportunities for reflection and shared learning outside of supervision sessions.

• Measure the impact of supervision not just by “caseload issues addressed” but by indicators of learning: e.g., changes in practice, supervisee‑reported growth, innovation in care, client outcomes.

• Encourage self-directed, lifelong learning and provide training and tools around best practice supervision practices for supervisors and supervisees.

As a supervisee: When was the last time your supervisor asked you to propose solutions rather than offering them outright? How did that feel??

As a supervisor: How often are your sessions dominated by “What shall we do about this case?” rather than “What might you learn from this? or What might you do differently next time?”

As a workplace: Has your supervision model been designed to produce independent, reflective practitioners or simply problem‑solvers? What would you need to change to shift toward the former?

When supervision becomes a space for reflection, co‑creation and experimentation, you nurture professionals who actively engage in their own growth, and in turn deliver higher‑quality, agile, evolving care.

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