Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 50, No. 3 - 97

Supervision as a Liberatory Practice
To engage in liberatory supervisory practices, supervisors must work
to acknowledge the importance of mental well-being among those
they supervise and work to promote healing within their workplace.
Balancing Accountability with Compassion
Engaging in liberatory supervisory practices does not mean that individuals are not
held accountable for their work performance and actions. Indeed, as noted by Quaye
and colleagues (2019),
Acting with compassion means also holding people accountable for their missteps.
As student affairs educators, we can be direct in our feedback, have high expectations
for others, and still practice compassion. Compassion is not synonymous with nice.
Instead, it means seeing someone's pain, trauma, and oppression and having a desire
to alleviate it. (p. 17)
Everyone has missteps and makes mistakes in their positions. However, it is important
to recognize that mistakes and performance-related issues should be addressed with a
goal towards improvement and development rather than punishment.
Starting from a philosophical belief that people want to do good work but often
need the support and tools to accomplish it allows space for accountability with compassion.
For instance, Lena discussed an incident when she made a significant mistake
at work, one that was serious enough that she feared losing her job. Her supervisor held
her accountable for her mistake but also provided resources that could prevent further
issues, which allowed Lena to both recognize her mistake and grow in her position.
In order to demonstrate how accountability can be balanced by compassion, supervisory
professionals should consider the following questions:
1. When holding an employee accountable, what assumptions and practices do I need
to unlearn becasue they are rooted in domination?
2. What methods do I utilize when I hold someone accountable for work-related
performance?
3. What practices do I need to utilize more often when holding someone accountable
but still offering some compassion? What practices do I need to use less often?
Modeling Critical Self-Reflection
Supervisors need to engage in ongoing critical self-reflection as a way to examine their
own supervisory practices. Liberatory educational praxis, and by extension liberatory
supervisory practice, requires critical reflection and action for transformation (Freire,
2000). This includes making the time to reflect upon their own identities, roles, and
beliefs about supervision. Moreover, supervisors must critically reflect upon the actions
and behaviors that support and encourage their employees as well as practices
that work against liberatory approaches.
Lena indicated that her supervisor, Jill, participated in ongoing reflection about
how to be a better supervisor. Jill's critical reflection on how her own identities as a
White woman shaped her supervisory experience and enabled her to better support
94 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 50, No. 3

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