1650 words

Assignment Overview

As a professional social worker, you have many opportunities to take leadership roles. Evaluating your own skills as a supervisor and leader helps prepare you for future roles as supervisors and leaders in the field of social work. This assignment gives you the opportunity to evaluate some of your capacities as a leader and supervisor.

By successfully completing this assignment, you demonstrate your proficiency in the following EPAS and advanced generalist specialized behaviors:

• Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior. 
  • C1.SP.A: Apply professional use of self and leadership skills with colleagues, clients, groups, organizations, and communities. 
    • Related Assignment Criterion: 
      • 5. Reflect on personal strengths and challenges related to social work leadership and supervision best practices.
  • C1.SP.C: Integrate the ethical and effective use of technology at all levels of practice in the specialization of advanced generalist social work  with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. 
    • Related Assignment Criterion: 
      • 4.  Apply collaborative leadership skills to train supervisees in the effective use of technology in the delivery of social services.  
• Competency 2: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice. 
  • C2.SP.A: Analyze dimensions and differentiation in diversity and apply the influence of relationships and affective reactions to intervention techniques and technologies with diverse clients, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
  • C2.SP.B: Apply leadership skills, theoretical frameworks, decision making and best-practice interventions with diverse populations. 
    • Related Assignment Criterion: 
      • 3.  Create a summary of best practices in leadership and supervision that integrates leadership theories including transformational and either critical or conflict theory, and includes culturally competent practice.  
• Competency 4: Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice. 
  • C4.SP.A: Apply leadership skills, decision making, and the use of technology to inform evidence-based research practice to develop, implement, evaluate, and communicate interventions across the specialization of advanced generalist practice settings.
  • C4.SP.B: Apply leadership skills, decision making, and the use of technology to inform evidence-based program evaluation to develop, implement, evaluate, and communicate interventions across the specialization of advanced generalist practice settings. 
    • Related Assignment Criterion: 
      • 2.   Apply transformational leadership theory and other leadership theories, such as critical or conflict theory, to inform best practices.
• Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice. 
  • C5.SP.A: Apply leadership skills and decision making as social change agents to collaborate with clients, colleagues, and identified stakeholders to advance social and economic well-being in the delivery of effective and technology-assisted social work services to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. 
    • Related Assignment Criterion: 
      • 4.  Apply collaborative leadership to train supervisees in the effective use of technology in the delivery of social work services to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
• Competency 6: Engage With Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities. 
  • C6.SP.B: Apply and integrate theories of human behavior and the social environment in the specialization of advanced generalist practice when engaging with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. 
    • Related Assignment Criterion: 
      • 1.  Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.  
• Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities. 
  • C7.SP.B: Apply and integrate theories of human behavior and the social environment in the specialization of advanced generalist practice when assessing individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. 
    • Related Assignment Criterion: 
      • 1.  Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.
• Competency 8: Intervene With Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities 
  • C8.SP.B: Apply and integrate theories of human behavior and the social environment in the specialization of advanced generalist practice interventions with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. 
    • Related Assignment Criterion: 
      • 1.  Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.
• Competency 9: Evaluate Practice With Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities. 
  • C9.SP.B: Apply and integrate theories of human behavior and the social environment in the specialization of advanced generalist practice evaluation with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. 
    • Related Assignment Criterion: 
      • 1.  Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.
      • Assignment Description

For this assignment, synthesize theory, research, and best practices to determine effective supervisor and leadership skills, then evaluate yourself as a supervisor and leader.

Assignment Instructions

Be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the aspects of the assignment. Complete the paper using the sections of content as identified below. Use your text, previous readings in the course, and additional scholarly articles. Also use the NASW Code of Ethics, the NASW and ASWB Best Practice Standards in Social Work Supervision, and the NASW Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competency in Social Work Practice as you prepare the paper. Synthesize these resources into each section, as needed, to formulate your construct of best practices in leadership and supervision. The last section completes the paper with a self-reflection of your current level of leadership and supervision skills. Be sure to satisfy the additional requirements as you complete the paper. 

Section 1

Select the important aspects of leadership and supervision, from your research, that you want to use in designing best practices in supervision and leadership.

Identify qualities of a successful supervisor and leader based on theories of human behavior.

• Research leadership and supervision skills and qualities based on theories of human behavior. Think in terms of theoretical bases that contribute to the success of social work supervisors. What are the qualities and skills that help a supervisor with their day-to-day duties? What are the qualities and skills that help with higher-level planning for an organization? Identify the theory(ies) of human behavior you select to align best with these supervisor and leader skills. 

Apply transformational leadership theory and other leadership theories, such as critical or conflict theory, to inform best practice.

• Identify the aspects of transformational leadership theory and critical or conflict theory that you see as most important in establishing in leadership and supervision best practices.
• In this section, also identify the components from NASW Code of Ethics, the NASW and ASWB Best Practice Standards in Social Work Supervision, and the NASW Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competency in Social Work Practice that you want to include in your synthesis of best practices in supervision and leadership.

Section 2

Create a summary of best practices in leadership and supervision that integrates leadership theories including transformational and either critical or conflict theory, and includes culturally competent practice. 

• Synthesize the research content that you identified in Section 1 into the categories below to inform the model of best practices that you create.  
  • Developing effective organizational and interpersonal communication skills.
  • Managing time and tasks effectively.
  • Managing different personalities and conflict, hiring, performance evaluation, disciplinary action, and termination.
  • Maintaining ethics, confidentiality, and liability.
  • Practicing professional development, self-care, personal reflection, and self-correction.
  • Developing and managing an effective culturally competent practice including organizational culture and environment.

Section 3

Identify collaborative leadership skills to train supervisees in the effective use of technology in the delivery of social services.

• In Section 3, continue to use the research that you identified in Section 1 to identify best practices of a collaborative leader in training supervisees in the effective use of technology. 

Section 4

Reflect on personal strengths and challenges related to social work leadership and supervision best practices. 

• Conduct a thorough yet concise self-reflection related to best practices you designed in Section 3. What are your areas of strength? What areas do you find challenging? Be specific in your analysis and use examples. 

Additional Requirements

The assignment you submit is expected to meet the following requirements:

• Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting standards. Include a title page, reference page, headers, and appendices as applicable. Reference any appendices as needed within your paper.
• Cited resources: Minimum of five scholarly sources. All literature cited should be current, with publication dates within the past five years.