The Supervisor's Guidebook: Evidence-Based Strategies for Promoting Work Quality and Enjoyment among Human Service Staff

By: Dennis H. Reid and Marsha B. Parsons and Carolyn W. Green

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Synopsis: Supervisors of direct support staff have a critical and often demanding job in human service agencies. This guidebook describes in practical terms what supervisors can do day-to-day to perform their duties successfully and promote quality staff performance. Relying on their 60+ years of combined supervisory experience and over 100 published articles on providing support for people with disabilities, the authors provide tried and tested means for training, supervising, and motivating direct support staff. Chapter contents include a step-by-step evidenced-based protocol for fulfilling typical supervisory duties, straightforward strategies for ensuring job expectations are very clear for staff, performance- and competency-based procedures for training staff in necessary work skills, monitoring work activities in ways acceptable to staff, how to actively support quality work, how to correct problematic performance, and ways to enhance work enjoyment to promote staff motivation. Special features include 92 highlighted bullets of critical information for supevisors, common supervisory actions to avoid that impede staff work proficiency and motivation, succinct chapter summaries of key points for successful supervision, and over 300 references to selected readings providing research-based evidence and background for chapter topics.