September 2026
Goal setting in supervision is core to building a supportive, purposeful, and growth-oriented supervisory relationship. As a supervisor, one of my key roles is to facilitate professional development through guided exploration of the practitioner’s experiences, identity, and preferred professional narrative. When goal setting is approached through this lens, supervisees gain clarity not only about what they want to achieve, but why it matters, who they are becoming, and how their existing strengths can carry them forward.
A strengths-based approach reframes supervision from “What’s going wrong?” to “How is this practice issue or challenge connected with your professional values?” This shift invites curiosity, reduces defensiveness, and opens space for meaningful reflection on practice.
From the very first session, I begin with a conversation about the supervisee’s professional practice framework: their core values, motivational drivers, and the picture they hold of their future professional self. I call this their preferred worker position. Naming this early helps us understand not only where they are now, but where they are heading.
Each supervision session is a standalone conversation with its own goals, shaped by the supervisee’s narrative. As we explore a particular practice issue or concern, we identify the strengths and skills that were present in the story. I often use scaffolding questions to link the discussion back to values and identity, such as:
“Given what this story shows about your strengths, what might be the next step in your practice journey?”
“How does this experience shape the kind of practitioner you want to become?”
Through this process, supervisees often gain fresh insight into why certain issues keep arising in their practice. It also opens a pathway to exploring the broader context in which they work: at the client or community level, organisational level, sector level, and societal level.
My hope is that, over time, supervisees increasingly experience their work from a position of: I am capable. I am resilient. I am learning and growing professionally. This is the heart of strengths-based, narrative supervision: starting with the end in sight and walking toward it with intention.
By Vicki Carrick
Vicki is a trained Social Worker and Community Worker, accredited by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) and the Australian Community Workers Association (ACWA). Her extensive experience and dedication make her a trusted professional in the field.
