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High employee turnover rates continue to plague organizations following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation. The career development sector is not immune to these challenges and will need to continually adapt to the shifting needs of diverse teams and intergenerational talent. One retention strategy can be found at the nexus of trauma-informed care and supervisory practice.
The University at Buffalo School of Social Work’s Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care (ITTIC) has developed a framework to support trauma-informed care in action through a focus on core values. The framework (ITTIC, 2022) identifies five core values for consideration:
- Safety
- Trustworthiness
- Choice
- Collaboration
- Empowerment
While trauma-informed care is often examined within the context of a service system or a service provider’s role, these values offer an opportunity to explore trauma-informed care within a supervisor-employee dynamic. When implemented effectively, trauma-informed supervision reinforces an environment that celebrates autonomy and collaboration while centring values of equity and benevolence. These values might be particularly embraced by Millennial and Gen Z employees – who now total over 50% of the Canadian workforce – but will likely aid retention efforts across an intergenerational workforce.
Trauma-informed supervision assumes that experiences of trauma are prevalent in any workplace, but that disclosure is not required in order to apply the principles effectively. Rather, trauma-informed supervision recognizes that staff should not have to disclose trauma in order for their employer to create the conditions to help them thrive. Employers don’t need to know what it is, or that it’s there, to create an environment that mitigates retraumatization while supporting success.
This article will explore the application of trauma-informed care in a service leadership context, where the service provider is considered the supervisor and employee thriving is well supported by the approach.
Each of the five values will be explored alongside practical strategies for implementation.
Safety
Being mindful of safety within a supervisor-employee relationship is imperative given the unavoidable power dynamics at play. This, of course, includes maintaining physical safety in the workplace, but it also includes intentionally upholding psychological safety. Interacting with one’s supervisor is inherently vulnerable as there can be an underlying fear of being judged, of being perceived as incapable, of receiving a bad performance review or of not getting paid time off approved. This is the power dynamic in action. You can be the most empathetic, emotionally intelligent supervisor around, but you can never escape the fact that your position holds power over others within a hierarchical structure.
A strategy for building and sustaining safety within this dynamic is naming. Naming is the practice of giving spoken word to things easily misconstrued or often left unsaid. Consider a time when you’ve been asked to provide an update on a project or task. Without context, you may feel that your supervisor is checking up on you, which feels uncomfortable and can erode safety. However, if your supervisor highlights that they are asking for a progress report to help evaluate whether you have capacity to take on an extra assignment, it names the intention behind the question. Naming is a useful practice in trauma-informed supervision that serves to reduce uncertainty and strengthen safety.
Trustworthiness
There can be no sense of safety without trust. For example, when staff feel that their employer is ethical, when they perceive that decisions are being made with positive intent, when they see resources being managed effectively, they are more likely to trust those in leadership. Believing that trust should be freely given to those with titles is an outdated practice. Trust must be cultivated with intentional action.
One way to cultivate trust is through transparency. Similar to naming, transparency occurs when information is shared openly, including the rationale behind decision making. Transparency helps to soften power dynamics within organizations. Though some developments simply cannot be shared (e.g. confidentiality related), when employers go the extra mile to share information, they signal to employees that they value their insights and perspectives. This simple act builds trust.
Choice
For those affected by trauma, maintaining an element of control can be helpful in preserving a sense of safety. In a supervisor-employee dynamic, staff may feel a lack of control because of the power dynamics at play. Management makes choices that affect staff such as writing policy, creating work schedules and setting priorities. Though this is undoubtedly the role of leadership, offering employees choice wherever possible will help them feel in control of their surroundings and what happens to them.
“For those affected by trauma, maintaining an element of control can be helpful in preserving a sense of safety.”
Look for opportunities to share power with staff by offering choice in the workplace. These choices could be things like flexible work arrangements, professional development opportunities, projects or committee participation. Choices will look differently for each organization depending on culture, size, industry, resourcing and priorities. The way to be trauma-informed in one’s supervisory practice is to offer choice to employees, no matter how insignificant that choice may seem to you.
Collaboration
Similar to choice, collaboration acknowledges that people can and should be co-authors of decisions that affect them. This helps mitigate the feeling that something is happening to them, as opposed to with them. Collaboration is co-creation in action. It allows individuals to come together to share ideas, to learn from one another and to create a stronger deliverable because of those involved. Being offered a chance to contribute shows that one is valued. When someone feels valued, it reinforces trust and aids in their sense of safety.
To hone this aspect of trauma-informed practice, supervisors can look for opportunities to collaboratively engage staff. Collaboration can occur both formally and informally. Ideally, both routes would be available within an organizational setting. Informal collaboration can occur through thoughtful dialogue. Ask staff for feedback and be open to their ideas and insights. Formal collaboration can occur via working groups, project teams or departmental committees.
Empowerment
Weaving through trauma-informed values in action is the theme of sharing power. As established, for those affected by trauma, being able to take control of their situation and be an active participant in shaping change that affects them, is imperative for maintaining safety. However, it can be difficult to lean into this space of action with the supervisor-employee power dynamic ever present. For this reason, it is necessary that a well-honed, trauma-informed supervisory practice includes intentionally empowering staff.
Empowering staff can occur in many forms. Anything that signals to staff that they are trusted, whether directly or indirectly, is empowering. This can be as explicit as telling staff that you trust them, or it can be more subtle – perhaps giving staff the opportunity to make decisions or problem solve within the scope of their role. Being consistent and intentional with supporting staff autonomy is a demonstration of trauma-informed supervision in action.
Bringing it altogether
ITTIC’s five core values of trauma-informed care offer a helpful lens to examine the supervisor-employee dynamic. The practical strategies offered above are a non-exhaustive list of how one can be trauma-informed in their supervisory practice. The most challenging part of implementing these strategies is being intentional. For trauma-informed supervision to make a meaningful difference in staff retention, the approach must be consistently applied. Applying this in a one-off scenario will likely be viewed performatively and may serve to erode trust.
Trauma-informed supervision takes sustained dedication and energy. One must remember that leadership is a privilege and staff deserve conditions that will support them to thrive. The effort required to implement this practice is worth it, to support flourishing individuals and organizations.
