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Save Multi-agency services: Line management, supervision and performance appraisal
These are distinct activities which, in a multi-agency setting, may be carried out by different managers.
Line management
This generally refers to the management of day-to-day issues and may cover:
- planning and monitoring workload
- ensuring quality of work
- ensuring health and safety
- time management
- motivating
- administration
- record keeping.
Supervision
Supervision is the process of reflecting on the practice issues that arise in the course of everyday work. It can help practitioners do their job more effectively by developing their capacity to use their experiences to rethink their practice and take action.
A good supervisor will enable the practitioner to reflect on their practice, to support and challenge it as appropriate, to discuss skills needs and to help work through situations where there is resistance.
Practice suggests that putting high-quality supervision, consultation and support in place helps practitioners to:
- become more self-aware in terms of their approach and evidence base
- understand their role in assessing and identifying need
- know how to respond to concerns raised by family members, young people, other practitioners and the community
- recognise their limitations and when to call on the expertise of others
- be familiar with current guidance on working together
- know how to manage issues of confidentiality and information sharing
- know who to contact when they have concerns about a child or family
- understand procedures for making referrals and involving others
- be clear about what information to share with whom and when.
Professional supervision
In some disciplines (e.g. nursing, midwifery, health visiting and clinical and educational psychology) there is a requirement for professional supervision by someone from the same discipline. The process of supervision will still involve working through everyday practice issues in a reflective way, but will tend to be provided through the practitioner's home agency. Supervision, essentially, is a way of developing the capacity of professionals to work with their experience and to use that experience to reshape, rethink and take action, which enables them to do their job more effectively.
Performance appraisal
Performance appraisal is an important issue for staff coming to work in a new multi-agency setting. Appraisal systems will vary from agency to agency, but it is important to give consistent messages and show consistency of practice in relation to the way that performance is managed.
In Youth justice 2004: A review of the reformed youth justice system, the Audit Commission advised that youth offending team (Yot) steering groups should take responsibility for implementing a performance framework incorporating:
- assessment of overall performance using national and local performance indicators and targets
- translation of the performance indicators and targets into individual tasks for all staff
- periodic review, a minimum of once a year.
Line management, supervision and appraisal in different multi-agency settings
In a multi-agency panel, line management and supervision will usually be carried out within the home agency. However, it can be helpful for you as panel manager to have some input into this process, for a number of reasons:
- to build relationships with panel members
- to track and monitor the progress of individual cases
- to ensure the quality of overall service delivery.
This will require careful negotiation with home agencies. It may be more appropriate for any input to be of a supervisory nature, perhaps in conjunction with anyone else supervising the practitioner.
In some multi-agency settings (especially multi-agency teams and integrated services) there may be dual line management arrangements, for example reporting lines into the multi-agency manager and to the manager in the home agency. If this is the case, reporting arrangements, performance appraisal arrangements and provision for regular three-way dialogue should be clear. There will also need to be a clear system for handling complaints and disciplinary procedures, which all members are aware of and feel they can sign up to.
Performance appraisal is a particular consideration for staff in multi-agency panels. Research suggests that sometimes the parent organisations of people working in multi-agency settings do not place a high 'career value' on the time they have spent working on multi-agency panels. By developing links with the line managers of your panel members you will be able to input into the appraisal process for those staff and help ensure that their work and contribution is recognised. It also provides an opportunity to raise any performance issues that may be affecting their contribution to the panel.
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Last updated on 30/04/2009
