The fallacy of either premise is that the new supervisor has immediately forgotten one of the first lessons of casework. Each person is an individual with unique needs. Hence, each caseworker requires a somewhat different supervisory approach. Consequently, one of the most critical first steps in supervision is similar to the first step in casework assessment. In this case, assessment means determining what each caseworker needs in the supervisory relationship to be able to do the job.
Some caseworkers require more feedback than others.
Likewise, some individuals need more information. Meeting these needs is the key to influencing caseworker behavior, and influencing caseworker behavior is the key to effective supervision. The assessment process also considers the reaction of individual staff to a new supervisor. Caseworkers naturally feel vulnerable when a new supervisor enters the unit. The predictable pattern of interaction with the previous supervisor no matter how ineffective is being replaced.