Agenda Setting and Supervision Topics: Setting the Stage for Successful Supervison Meetings

Agenda setting is an important part of the one-on-one supervison meeting. Agenda setting is "a short focusing metaconversation in which you step back with the client to choose a direction from among several options" (Miller and Rollnick, 213). When used in a one-on-one supervison meeting (referred to in this article simply as "supervision"), this term refers to a collaborative conversation between the supervisor and the supervisee about what supervision topics are important to talk about. Ideally this conversation ends with a prioritized list of topics for supervison that is agreed to by both the supervisor and supervisee. 

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Agenda setting is often overlooked as part of supervision, but it is important for many reasons including: it increases supervisee buy-in to the supervison, elicits and explores many possible topics, reduces discord in the supervisory relationship, inspires supervisee self-reflection and makes the most efficient use of the supervison time. In my experience using agenda setting in supervisions, I often find that I learn new things about my staff and learn new ways that I can be a helpful leader. The process of agenda setting may initially be stressful, but after practice agenda setting is enjoyable and makes supervision more collaborative, playful and intentional. In the below paragraphs I have outlined the approach I have used in integrating agenda setting into supervisions.

Supervision Topics
Supervision topics are quite simply put the topics that the supervisor and supervisee will talk about during supervision. Ideal supervision topics should be appropriate for the supervision meeting, achievable within the given timeframe and important to the supervisee. Typically it is good to focus on supervison topics that the supervisee is motivated to work on or talk about. There are times when the supervisor must bring up topics, but it is best not to start off with mandatory topics as they may come up naturally from the supervisee. Sometimes supervisees engage in "venting" or complaining, this can be toxic to the conversation and should be avoided (I may write a post on this later). Supervision topics should most often be elicited from the supervisee, the supervisor's role in the agenda setting process is to evoke and explore these topics. The supervisor acts as a guide during the process and compassionately keeps the supervisee on track during this exploration.

Eliciting Supervision Topics
To elicit possible supervision topics, start by asking open ended questions and follow up with reflections to explore with the supervisee. Questions should be formulated in a way that allows the supervisee flexibility in her/his answer and challenge the supervisee to engage fully in the supervison session. It is very important that the supervisor allow for silence (or a "pregnant pause") after asking an evocative question at the beginning of the meeting. Often the supervisee can be caught off guard and they may need time to think before giving a responce. Some example questions are listed below:

• What would you like to talk about with the time we have today?
• What things would be most helpful to cover?
• How could we best use the time we have today?
• I have some ideas about today, but how would you like to use our time?

Exploring Supervison Topics
Once the supervisee begins to answer the question it is the supervisor's role to use a reflection that conveys curiosity, interest and reflects importance of the supervisee's ideas. The supervisor may use a reflection to deepen the supervisor's understanding of the supervisee's answer; conversely a reflection could be used to help the supervisee dig deeper in his/her responses. Once the supervisee and supervisor seem to have a handle on the responce, the supervisor can then ask a follow up question to elicit more supervision topics. An example is listed below:
Supervisee (EE): I have a lot of questions about resources available for housing. It seems like all of my clients are losing their housing and there is no where to go. It feels really overwhelming and hopeless, but I don't know if you have any ideas either.
Supervisor (OR): You have been struggling to help clients who have recently lost their housing. It has been tough on you and your are not sure where to begin with them. [complex reflection]
EE: Well, I know the resources that are available, it's just frustrating that there is not more.
OR: So you actually know what to do, but you are really trying to figure out how to manage the stress you are feeling about it all. [amplified reflection]
EE: Yea, I guess you are right. Maybe I need to slow down a little.
OR: OK, it sounds like self care or stress reduction or... what should we call it? [reflection and seeking to collaborate]
EE: Let's call it "how to be more present with clients."
OR: Alright. So we could talk about being more present with clients even when they have a lot of complex needs. What other ides do you have for today? [reflection and open ended question]

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Adding Supervisor-Derived Topics
The supervisor can continue down this road until enough topics are brought up or time constraints determine a need to move forward. This may be the appropriate time for the supervisor to offer topics that she/he wants to touch on during the supervision. If the supervisor has been doing a good job of modeling reflecting and listening to the sueprvisee, the supervisee will hopefully be primed to also listen to the supervisor's concerns. Before the supervisor shares his/her suggested supervision topics, it is important to ask permission. After the topic is shared, it is important that the supervisor elicits a responce from the supervisee. The supervisor should pick these topics prudently as not to overwhelm the agenda with supervisor suggested topics. An example is below:
OR: So you have brought some pretty important things to cover during supervision today. Would it be OK if I mentioned some of the topics that I was hoping to fit in? [reflection, asking permission]
EE: Sure.
OR: I wanted ot be sure that we touched back on the conversation we had last week about using mindfulness with clients, I am curious how that all worked out. [adding information]
EE: Oh, yea I forgot about that.
OR: What do you think? [asking permission]
EE: Yea, that is important, actually I had a question about that anyway...
OR: I would also like to check in with you about your satisfaction here at work and in your role, does that sound doable today? [adding information and eliciting responce]
EE: OK, we can do that.

Wrapping Up the Agenda
At this point in the conversation, the supervisor needs to provide a summary of all the supervison topics discussed, and then request the that the supervisee determine next steps. The supervisor can use her/his own judgement regarding the order and importance of topics during the summary. It can be helpful for the supervisee to explicitly state "this one is important" or "we definitely need to be sure to do this" for topics that are mandatory. It is also important to allow the supervisee as much choice as possible about the selection, order, time spent or other aspects of the supervision topics. An example is listed below:
OR: We have talked about a lot, I would like to go over all of it if that is OK. You mentioned that you have some logistical questions about computer issues, but you said that you think that you can figure those out with a little more practice. You mentioned that LaShawn was hospitalized and you wanted to be sure we checked in about that. Then you talked about how it feels like your clients have a lot of high needs right now and you want to work on being more present with them, by managing stress better. I also need to touch base with you about the mindfulness stuff you have ben working on as it sounds like you have had some success, and I really wanted to check in with you on job satisfaction. Where do you thing we should start? [summary and guiding question]
EE: Well, I am surprised that you are bringing up job satisfaction. Is everything OK with my performance?
OR: OK, no I am checking in just because I want to hear how things are going. I have no concerns about your performance at work. But, it sounds like we should tackle that one first. [clarification and seeking collaboration]
EE: Sure.
OR: What else would you like to get to today with the rest of our time? [guiding question]

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Visuals
Visuals can be a helpful tool during the agenda setting process. Supervisors can use a list format, an agenda setting map of circles format, a white board or a computer screen to help visualize the process of agenda setting. For visual-oriented supervisees the use of visuals can help the supervisee feel involved in the process and promote collaboration between the two parties. Often supervisees will learn from the supervisor modeling and come to supervisions prepared with a list.

Keeping the Conversation on Track
It can be helpful not to jump into action during the agenda setting process. While the conversation may veer off track into problem solving or chatting during the process, it is the supervisor's role to guide the conversation back to the issue at hand - developing a list of supervison topics. Sometimes all that is needed get back on track is a simple request "if it is OK with you, could we go back to talking about what we want to do with our time today." Sometimes a more complex responce is needed such as a double-sided reflection or a statment to clarify the purpose of the supervision time.

What are your thoughts and experiences with agenda setting in supervison? Leave a comment below!

Works Cited
Miller, R. M. & Rollnick, S. (2013). Glossary of Motivational Interviewing Terms. NY: Gilford Press. 

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