What We Actually Want From Our Supervisors (But Are Too Polite to Say): A Clinician's Guide to Supervisory Wishful Thinking

A Narrative from the Clinical Trenches

After years of nodding politely during supervision while internally composing resignation letters, those of us actually doing the clinical work have compiled a modest wish list for our supervisors. These revolutionary concepts, apparently known as "Present Leadership," suggest that supervisors might occasionally engage in the radical practice of supervising. We present these ideas not as demands—heaven forbid—but as gentle suggestions for those brave souls willing to venture beyond their administrative caves.

Physical Presence Consistency represents our most basic and apparently unreasonable expectation: that supervisors be present in the treatment setting during treatment hours. This radical concept suggests maintaining predictable availability rather than playing an elaborate game of supervisory hide-and-seek where we spend more time tracking down our supervisor than providing client care.

We fantasize about supervisors who create natural opportunities for informal guidance through consistent presence, rather than forcing us to schedule appointments three weeks in advance to ask whether we handled a situation appropriately. The dimension envisions supervisors accessible when immediate consultation is needed, instead of discovering they've left for an off-site meeting five minutes after a crisis begins.

Most audaciously, this concept suggests supervisors might prioritize physical presence during high-stress periods and critical operations rather than their uncanny ability to become mysteriously unavailable precisely when we need them most. We dream of supervisors who contribute to program stability through reliable availability instead of contributing to program chaos through creative interpretation of what constitutes "emergency only" accessibility.

Punctuality and Professional Modeling addresses our quaint belief that supervisors might demonstrate the same time management standards they enthusiastically enforce for clinical staff. This dimension suggests the revolutionary idea that supervisory behavior sets the tone for organizational culture—a concept that apparently comes as shocking news to supervisors who arrive twenty minutes late while lecturing us about respecting others' time.

We envision supervisors who arrive early or on time, setting positive examples for professional commitment rather than demonstrating that punctuality is a staff-level expectation that doesn't apply to management. The concept suggests demonstrating respect for our time through reliable attendance instead of the current system where our scheduled supervision becomes a thrilling guessing game of "will they show up or will I spend an hour reorganizing my files?"

This dimension dares to suggest that supervisors might model the same attendance standards they expect from us, rather than maintaining the time-honored tradition of different rules for different people. Most remarkably, it proposes supporting efficient program operations through organized time management instead of creating operational chaos through perpetual tardiness disguised as "flexible scheduling."

Emotional Engagement and Attunement represents our wildly unrealistic fantasy that supervisors might actually care about our professional development beyond ensuring we complete our documentation on time. This dimension suggests the possibility—however remote—that our supervisors could demonstrate genuine interest in our clinical challenges rather than responding to our struggles with the dead-eyed stare of someone mentally composing their grocery list.

We dare to imagine supervisors who provide consistent emotional support during difficult clinical situations, rather than the traditional approach of disappearing whenever things get complicated and reappearing three days later to ask why we look stressed. The concept involves creating "emotional safety" where we could share both successes and struggles without triggering a performance improvement plan or a lecture about resilience training.

Most audaciously, this dimension suggests supervisors might help us process clinical experiences rather than treating our emotional responses to trauma work as personal weakness requiring immediate correction. We envision supervisors who model professional emotional regulation instead of demonstrating how quickly one can transition from calm to volcanic when the coffee maker breaks.

Authentic Accessibility emerges from our collective dreams of supervisors whose "open door policy" extends beyond the laminated sign on their perpetually closed office door. This revolutionary concept suggests accessibility that feels genuine rather than performative—imagine supervisors who seem pleased rather than martyred when we seek guidance.

We fantasize about multiple pathways for accessing support that don't require scheduling appointments three weeks in advance or justifying why our question constitutes an "emergency" worthy of interruption. This dimension envisions supervisors who balance availability with professional boundaries, rather than oscillating between complete unavailability and inappropriate over-involvement in our personal lives.

The concept daringly suggests that staff might feel comfortable approaching supervisors with questions and concerns without first rehearsing our presentation to minimize the risk of triggering a forty-minute tangent about proper channels and chain of command.

Real-Time Clinical Guidance represents our most ambitious fantasy: supervisors who provide immediate feedback on clinical situations as they develop, rather than learning about significant events through incident reports submitted weeks later. This dimension imagines supervision that transforms from periodic archaeological expeditions through our mistakes to ongoing collaborative clinical development.

We dream of supervisors who create teachable moments through present, engaged observation rather than teaching moments that consist entirely of explaining why we should have handled things differently. The concept suggests timely consultation on complex cases rather than post-mortem analysis conducted after outcomes are already determined.

This guidance would support quality clinical decision-making through immediate availability instead of forcing us to make complex decisions alone while our supervisor attends their fifteenth meeting of the week about improving communication.

Crisis Leadership and Support addresses our modest hope that supervisors might remain calm and available during clinical emergencies rather than adding to the chaos through their own panic responses or strategic absence. This dimension envisions supervisors who demonstrate effective leadership under pressure instead of transforming into additional clients requiring crisis intervention.

We imagine supervisors who use crisis situations as teaching opportunities rather than occasions for later criticism about what we should have done differently while they were hiding in their office "managing the situation" through urgent emails. The concept suggests increasing staff confidence through supportive crisis management rather than the traditional approach of decreasing confidence through post-crisis interrogations.

Most remarkably, this dimension proposes supervisors who model effective clinical leadership during actual crises rather than exclusively during staff meetings where they describe how they would have handled situations they weren't present to witness.

Professional Boundary Demonstration represents our ultimate supervisory fantasy: supervisors who model appropriate professional boundaries rather than serving as cautionary tales about what not to do. This dimension suggests supervisors who provide clear, consistent examples of effective boundary-setting instead of demonstrating how quickly professional relationships can become uncomfortably personal or rigidly institutional.

We envision supervisors who demonstrate healthy self-care while maintaining professional commitment, rather than modeling either martyrdom through complete self-neglect or self-care through complete staff neglect. The concept suggests creating understanding of boundary expectations through personal example rather than through lengthy policies explaining why we can't do things the supervisor does regularly.

This modeling would help us understand appropriate supervisory engagement rather than learning through trial and error which personal topics trigger oversharing sessions and which professional questions result in referrals to policy manuals.

From our perspective in the clinical trenches, these dimensions represent not revolutionary concepts but basic professional competencies that somehow became revolutionary through their rarity. We recognize that implementing these practices might require supervisors to be present, engaged, emotionally available, and professionally consistent—demands so unreasonable they border on actual job performance.

The Reality Check: We understand that our supervisors face competing demands, administrative pressures, and their own professional challenges. However, we also understand that effective clinical work requires effective clinical supervision, and effective supervision requires supervisors who engage in the actual practice of supervising.

We don't expect perfection—we work in addiction treatment, where perfection is neither possible nor helpful. We do expect competence, consistency, and the basic professional courtesy of supervisors who seem to remember that their primary job involves supporting the people doing the clinical work.

The Bottom Line: These "present leadership" concepts represent our professional needs disguised as supervisory development opportunities. We need supervisors who show up—physically, emotionally, and professionally. We need guidance that arrives when we need it rather than when it's convenient to provide. We need modeling that teaches rather than confuses, and support that actually supports rather than simply documenting our need for support.

In conclusion, present leadership represents our collective hope that supervision might evolve from its current state as an administrative obligation to its potential as a professional partnership. We offer these insights not as criticism but as collaboration—a roadmap toward the supervision we need to provide the clinical care our clients deserve.

For supervisors brave enough to embrace these concepts, we promise to respond with the engagement, growth, and clinical excellence that effective supervision makes possible. For those preferring traditional approaches, we promise to continue nodding politely while updating our résumés and dreaming of supervisors who actually supervise.