What is Principles of Supervision?
Principles of Supervision (PoS) is a professional development program designed by the Chancellor’s Office to provide CSU supervisors with the knowledge and skills they need to effectively lead and manage their teams.
Examples of Topics Covered:
- Communication
- Motivation
- Recognizing implicit bias
- Team culture
- Performance management
Why Participate?
By participating in this program, managers, supervisors and leads will build their leadership skills and gain a deeper understanding of best practices in supervision and will be better equipped to lead effective and engaged teams to success.
Not only is this program for current managers, supervisors or leads, it is for anyone who wishes to obtain the knowledge for a role in management.
Participation Commitments
- To attend all seven live, online classes. We understand that sometimes plans change unexpectedly and participants may need to miss a class. If that happens, it is the participants responsibility to inform the facilitators and catch up on content before the next class. Missing two modules will result in an incompletion of the course.
- Complete the assigned pre-learning modules prior to the class session and be prepared to access the Learning Guide during class time. Failure to complete the pre-learning modules results in incompletion of the course.
- Class starts promptly. Morning sessions will typically be from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm. Late arrivals and/or early departures from class will be considered as a missed session. We ask participants to log-in as early as needed to ensure audio and video connection are properly working the day of the session.
- The sessions are very interactive. To ensure everyone gets the most value out of the program, all participants will be expected to actively take part via audio, video and chat throughout the course.
- Time commitment: each module is 2 1/2 hours. Pre work:
- Module 1 (20 minutes)
- Module 2 (30 minutes)
- Module 3 (50 minutes)
- Module 4 (35 minutes)
- Module 5 (20 minutes)
- Module 6 (30 minutes)
- Module 7 (20 minutes)
How to sign up?
The pilot cohort of Principles of Supervision will be launched from February 13th- April 2nd, with a break on the week of March 4th. The pilot cohort is for MPPs only. This pilot cohort will be on a first serve basis. The deadline to sign up is December 1st, 2023. If you are interested, please fill out the survey below:
For additional information on Principles of Supervision, including additional resources for each module, go to the Chancellor’s Office Learning and Development website by clicking this link CO Principles of Supervision.
You can also access the Principles of Supervision Learning Guide by downloading the free PDF below or ordering a physical copy of the "Principles of Supervision Learning Guide" available on Amazon.
This module introduces the supervisory skills framework and invites you to consider the core role and responsibilities of a supervisor.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes:
1. Introduce the supervisory skills framework
2. Explore the role of the supervisor
3. Identify management and leadership characteristics
4. Start your action plan
In this module, you'll use the HEXACO personality inventory to know yourself better and to understand your own personality traits. This module prepares supervisors to recognize their own strengths, potential hindernces, and implicit and explicit biases. It can also provide insight into the underlying reasons for some of the actions supervisors take, and how personality can impact leadership styles.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes:
1. Recognize the central importance of self-awareness and self-management in leadership
2. Explore how personal biases impact supervision
3. Identify tactics to address personal bias in the role of a supervisor
This module is focused on managing performance - essentially, how supervisors work with employees to plan, monitor and evaluate work done by the people on their team. This module will also examine how biases can influence your supervising as well as strategies to mitigate harmful impact.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes:
1. Define performance management and the steps for successful application
2. Examine best practices for observing employee performance
3. Recognize common biases in the workplace and how to move beyond them
4. Practice writing detailed, measurable performance standards
5. Analyze steps in establishing behavioral expectations
This module is focused on motivation and engagement, which are both critical factors in the productivity of individuals and the collaborative success of your team.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes:
1. Define two key factors of performance
2. Analyze ways to evaluate motivation and ability
3. Identify key drivers for motivation and how these differ by individual
4. Define key drivers and benefits of employee engagement
5. Identify ways to connect employees to the University’s mission
In this module, you'll examine ways to coach and develop the people on your team. This includes providing constructive feedback and tailoring your message to best support an individual's skill level and motivation.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes:
1. Identify key components of successful development conversations
2. Evaluate employee performance
3. Practice using the STAR/AR feedback model
4. Write SMART goals with your team
5. Conduct effective performance reviews
In this module, you'll review basic management functions, such as planning and guiding work, delegation and time management.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes:
1. Explore & Explain the four basic functions of management
2. Analyze & Recommend delegation styles depending on context (how, why, when and to whom)
3. Identify best practices for time management and value-based productivity
Successful supervisors develop positive relationships with their employees and help the team to get along with each other. In this final module, you'll analyze work relationships that you need to develop and consider the critical impact that communication skills can have in the relationship-building process.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes:
1. Identify areas to build and strengthen relationships
2. Analyze how culture impacts communication
3. Build essential communication strategies
4. Develop team culture and relationship goals through action planning