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USING THE MICRO-LEVEL PERSPECTIVE OF CONVERSATION ANALYSIS
TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION IN SUPERVISION
SUPERVISORS IN A CHALLENGING POSITION
So nowadays, supervisors in Germany are finding themselves in a challenging
position: Because of their different target groups, they are open to all kinds of
problems and issues a supervisee might want to address; at the same time they
are required to do supervision, not psychotherapy, nor train the supervisee;
and while openness is a vital part of supervision, they cannot just let the
conversation flow but need to crystallize a ‘supervisable’ problem (or help the
supervisee crystallize it).
Regarding the different process types, one-on-one supervision can be
Regelsupervision (‘regular supervision’), meaning it is provided on a regular
basis independently of an actual/current concern or issue, or another type
can be a shorter process of three to eight or ten sessions that is called for
in difficult workplace situations. This paper focuses on the latter sub-type:
A supervisee asks for support in a challenging workplace situation. From
the onset, the process is designed to comprise a specific number of sessions,
which usually take place at the supervisor’s office. Generally, the process starts
with a telephone conversation during which both interactants briefly speak
about the supervisee’s concern, a suitable design for the prospective process,
and the contract. One session usually lasts 60-90 minutes and is based on
conversations, plus occasional visualizations or other methods. Ihe sessions
are paid for either by the supervisee’s employer or the supervisee him-/herself.
WHAT IS CONVERSATION ANALYSIS AND HOW CAN IT BE USEFUL IN
INVESTIGATING SUPERVISION?
Ihe use of language in one-on-one supervision has not been investigated
thoroughly yet. This leaves a gap in how the supervision process works: How
do we know which interventions are effective? Which conversational patterns
can be found? For this purpose, the most applicable and most detail-oriented
methodology is provided by conversation analysis (CA). Based on the German
‘spoken-language research” and on the CA developed in the U.S. in the early
1970s,’ today CA in Germany investigates transcribed audio recordings
° For a detailed account see Johannes Schwitalla, Gesprochene-Sprache-Forschung und
ihre Entwicklung zu einer Gesprächsanalyse, in Klaus Brinker - Gerd Antos — Wolfgang
Heinemann - Sven F. Sager (eds.), Text- und Gesprächslinguistik, Vol. 2, Berlin, Mouton de
Gruyter, 2001, 896-902.
The most influential early work was Harvey Sacks — Emanuel A. Schegloff - Gail Jefferson, A
simplest systematics for the organisation of turn-taking for conversation, Language, 50, 1974,
e 213"