Qualities Of A Good Supervisor - Skills For Supervisors thumbnail

Qualities Of A Good Supervisor - Skills For Supervisors

Published May 10, 24
4 min read

Table of Contents


On 28 February 2023, the League of European Research Study Universities (LERU) introduced its report on holistic doctoral supervision. The report supplies an overview of practices that make it possible for "efficient supervision", with many examples from member institutions. The document calls for obligatory supervision training. This is a problem we have looked into thoroughly in South Africa.

Universities increasingly have systems charged with offering staff training. Our research suggests that neither of these groups make suitable guidance training facilitators.

There was resistance to supervisor training that worked off a facility of generic best practice. Supervision of a funded team in a chemistry lab requires an extremely various method from the supervision of a self-funded English literature prospect studying part-time. Participants ended up being disengaged if the training stopped working to acknowledge such distinctions.

Our research study recommends that it is much simpler for universities to offer one-off workshops than to guarantee continuous informal chances for managers to get the assistance they may require, when they need it. Therefore, targeted efforts to provide ongoing support are required. If a university provides a guidance training course, it should not be under the misapprehension that it has actually done all that is needed to enhance doctoral education.

It may be that LERU's member institutions, by virtue of being research study universities, currently have numerous chances for supervisors and doctoral prospects to share their research study and to learn from each other. However this was certainly not the case for our participants, numerous of whom work in institutions where the offering of doctorates is a new phenomenon and where research study workshops and so forth are rarely readily available.

However training courses will show efficient only if they are appropriately created and implemented. "More than agency: the numerous mechanisms impacting postgraduate education" Pressing boundaries in postgraduate guidance.

Supervisors play a critical role in any company. They handle the everyday activities of a group of staff members who report to them. That's a huge duty. It's also very different from what they're used to. Newbie supervisors don't instinctively understand how to lead and manage others. You should not anticipate them to.

Doing the work and leading others to do the work are 2 extremely various things. Many managers simply haven't been taught the necessary supervisory skills they will need to succeed. Newbie managers do not instantly acknowledge that the abilities they used to earn their promotion are basically various from the abilities they will require to be successful supervisors.

First-time managers must comprehend they are no longer evaluated on what they do personally but on the success of their group as a whole. Your details will be kept strictly confidential, it will not be shared and it will just be used in ways you consented to.



The task of a supervisor is to handle staff member and group performance, deliver results, promote best practices, and take on difficulties as they occur. For numerous, it differs from anything they have actually ever trained for or experienced in the past. Not surprisingly, this can make the transition from doing the work (specific factor) to leading individuals doing the work feel like a genuine obstacle.

Skills Every Great Supervisor Needs

You require to be able to communicate the ideal information using the ideal medium in such a method that encourages action, motivates change, and instills confidence.

Communication is frequently touted as one of the most essential skills for supervisors, and yet, listening goes unmentioned. Supervisors might discover themselves rushing to provide assistance, fix a situation, or use their advice when what is really needed is for them to merely listen.



This is a common mistake among supervisors and, if left unchecked, can weaken your ability to be a successful leader. As such, the very best thing you can do is to look for out training, as well as enlist the assistance of a mentor or coach, to establish your delegation abilities and develop your confidence.

, top priorities, and time of those in your charge is an ability all managers need to possess. Of course, with concerns ever-changing and interruptions ever-arising, you should likewise be highly versatile and agile.