When I first started out, I remember feeling this immense weight in my supervision sessions. It was as if my voice, the very thing that connected me to my work, was tucked away. My supervisor was lovely, but the power dynamic was palpable.
I knew they held my future in their hands, so my own thoughts stayed locked up. I’ve come to understand that this feeling isn’t a failure on my part. It’s a common experience for many of us, especially in social work, where power dynamics are a fundamental part of the professional setting.
The beautiful thing about social work is that we have supervision throughout our careers. It’s not just for when you’re training. This continuous opportunity gives us the chance to really grow. It’s about finding and using our voice. It’s a journey through what one model calls the five stages of voice. So, let’s talk about that. Where is your voice right now?
The Five Stages of Voice: From Silence to Self-Belief
A model based on the work of Belenky et al. (1986) suggests we move through five stages of voice in our professional lives. This isn’t a linear progression; we might dip in and out of them. I know I have. But understanding them helps us see where we are and where we want to be.
First, there’s the silenced voice.
This is where I started. It’s that feeling of not having a voice at all, of being unheard. My words felt meaningless. I was afraid to even ask how good I was at my job. When we repress what we cannot say, it doesn’t just vanish. It continues to trouble us. It can be devastatingly controlling in our lives. This stage is about being a passive recipient.
The next is the received voice.
Here, we begin to speak, but we’re mostly echoing what others have said. It’s a voice based on external knowledge. We’re not yet connecting our words to our own experience. I remember a time when a supervisor suggested a particular theory, and I would just repeat it back in our next session without really thinking about how it applied to my own practice. It was my way of showing I was listening, but it wasn’t truly my voice.
The subjective voice is where we start to find our own meaning.
We begin to trust our internal knowing. This is where my own experience of burnout, and my subsequent recovery, really helped me connect with my clients on a deeper level. My personal feelings and intuition became a valid source of knowing.
Then comes the critical voice.
This is where we begin to question and challenge. We start to analyse concepts and their limitations in our own context. This happened for me when I started working with a new client. The official policy was a one-size-fits-all approach. But my experience told me this wasn’t going to work. My critical voice, informed by both my professional expertise and my personal values, helped me push back.
Finally, we reach the constructed voice.
This is the ultimate goal. Our voice is now integrated. It’s a confident blend of our professional knowledge, our lived experience, and our critical analysis. It’s a voice that is both authoritative and authentic. It’s a voice that belongs to us.
Power Dynamics: The Elephant in the Supervision Room
We can’t talk about the five stages of voice without addressing power. Power dynamics are at the very heart of the supervisory relationship. One person holds formal authority over the other. This creates a dynamic that comes from that inequality of power. In New Zealand, many social workers are moving towards external supervision to separate the “clinical” or “professional” supervision from the managerial aspects. This shift is often driven by a desire to get away from managerial agendas.
But power is not just about our roles. It’s also structural, and this is frequently understated. For example, a Māori supervisee’s perspective will be influenced by their experience of colonisation and institutional racism. A woman supervisee’s approach to a male supervisor may be influenced by her past experiences of gender inequality. These are not small things. They have a profound influence on the supervisory relationship.
The crucial question is whether empowerment is even possible in this unequal relationship. I believe it is, but only if both parties work at it. It requires a recognition that the supervisor’s power is defined and limited by their role. This power must be exercised constructively, treating the supervisee as a human being of equal status and worth. I think of it like the Māori principle of manaakitanga, where respect and hospitality are central. It’s about creating a space where everyone feels valued.
From Silenced to Collaborative: Dialogue Is Key
Dialogue is the most effective form of supervision. It’s not about monologues or polite talk. Dialogue, from the Greek ‘dialogos,’ is about a “flow of meaning”. It’s a process where we think, reflect, and create meaning together. We talk. We listen. It’s co-created reflective learning at its heart.
For supervisees, finding your voice means moving from a place where you’re afraid to ask how good you are to a place where you can share your work transparently. It means knowing that speaking your practice is a springboard for shifts in understanding. It’s important to remember what the other person can’t say, or dares not say. Our job as supervisors is to attend with empathy and compassion to both what is said and what is not said.
I remember a time with a supervisee who was constantly apologising for their practice. They were stuck in that “silenced voice” stage, worried about being scrutinised. Instead of giving solutions, I focused on listening. I used the exercise from a critical supervision model to ask them to list conversation topics they found difficult with service users, colleagues, and myself. This helped them understand how power varied across different relationships. They realised their perceived lack of power was a major factor. It was a small but profound shift for them.
Preparing for Dialogue: A Shared Responsibility
Dialogue doesn’t just happen. It needs to be prepared for. Both parties need to prepare carefully. As a supervisee, it’s about coming to supervision with a clear intention and a willingness to be vulnerable. Think about your practice. What are you proud of? What is challenging you? What felt uncomfortable?
As a supervisor, the preparation is about creating the right conditions. You must be a witness to a testimony. You have to be a safe space. The New Zealand Social Workers Registration Board provides a policy on supervision expectations, which can be a good starting point to remind ourselves of our professional obligations. You need to be prepared to name and explore power dynamics directly. A great way to do this is to use the questions from the critical supervision model.
Ask your supervisee, “What do we assume about each other’s power?”. Or, “How could our different forms of power help our conversations?“. These questions can make the invisible visible. The ultimate goal is to create a supervisory relationship where power is not a problem but a tool for growth and learning.
Ultimately, supervision isn’t about one person overseeing another. It’s a two-way relationship between two people of equal status and worth as human beings. It’s about the ‘we’ of supervision. This ‘we’ is the relationship that will create and re-create the meaning of our work.
So, as we reflect on the five stages of voice, let’s ask ourselves: where are we now? Are we still speaking with a silenced voice? Are we simply repeating what we’ve heard? Or are we ready to use our own, authentic voice to challenge, learn, and grow? The responsibility is on all of us to make our supervisory conversations a true dialogue. A place where we can truly become ourselves. A place where our voice can be heard.
References
Beddoe, L. (2012). External Supervision in Social Work: Power, Space, Risk, and the Search for Safety. Australian Social Work, 65(2), 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2011.591187
Carroll, M. (2014). Effective Supervision for the Helping Professions. SAGE Publications, Limited. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cpit/detail.action?docID=5163950
Johnston, L., Noble, C., & Gray, M. (2016). Critical Supervision for the Human Services: A Social Model to Promote Learning and Value-Based Practice. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cpit/detail.action?docID=4441864
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