1. Principles of Effective Intervention: Supervision-Leadership Skills
William “Chris” Cunningham
Grant County Community Corrections
501 South Adams Street
Marion, Indiana 46953

2. What we will cover? The principles of effective intervention
How to merge Leadership and Supervision with EBP and PEI
Modeling skills to impact change
Taking current personnel system from task to change driven system

3. Principles of Effective Intervention (Corrections)
Risk Principle: target moderate to high risk offenders (WHO)
Need Principle: target criminogenic factors (WHAT)
Responsivity Principle: styles and modes of service must be matched to the learning styles and abilities of the offenders (HOW)
Objective Principle: certain interventions are more effective at reducing or managing risk than others depending on what your objective is
Fidelity Principle: interventions must be administered with strict adherence to the social learning model in order to get the results expected

4. Principles of Effective Intervention (Corrections)
1. Assess Actuarial Risk/Needs.
2. Enhance Intrinsic Motivation.
3. Target Interventions.
a. Risk Principle: Prioritize supervision and treatment resources for higher risk offenders.
b. Need Principle: Target interventions to criminogenic needs.
c. Responsivity Principle: Be responsive to temperament, learning style, motivation, culture, and
gender when assigning programs.
d. Dosage: Structure 40-70% of high-risk offenders’ time for 3-9 months.
e. Treatment: Integrate treatment into the full sentence/sanction requirements.
4. Skill Train with Directed Practice (use Cognitive Behavioral treatment methods).
5. Increase Positive Reinforcement.
6. Engage Ongoing Support in Natural Communities.
7. Measure Relevant Processes/Practices.
8. Provide Measurement Feedback.

5. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
1) Assess Personnel Skills Risk/Needs.
Develop and maintain a system of ongoing personnel assessment tools.
Assessing employees in a reliable and valid manner is a prerequisite for the effective management (i.e.: supervision and training) of staff.
Timely, relevant measures of staff risk and need at the
individual and aggregate levels are essential for the implementation
of principles of best practice in staff supervision, (e.g.,
risk, need, and responsivity).
Screening and assessment tools that focus on dynamic and static
risk factors, profile staff training needs, and have been validated
Are vital. They should also be supported by sufficiently detailed and accurately written procedures.
(DISC, Primary Colors, True Colors, MMPI)

6. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
2) Enhance Intrinsic Motivation.
Supervisors should relate to staff in interpersonally sensitive and
Constructive ways to enhance intrinsic motivation.
Behavioral change is an inside job; for lasting change to occur, a level of intrinsic motivation is needed. Motivation to change is dynamic and the probability that change may occur is strongly influenced by interpersonal interactions, such as those of ambivalence that usually accompany change can be explored through motivational interviewing, a style and method of communication used to help people overcome their ambivalence regarding behavior changes. Research strongly suggests
that motivational interviewing techniques, rather than persuasion tactics, effectively enhance motivation for initiating and maintaining behavior changes.

7. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
Target Interventions.
A. RISK PRINCIPLE: Prioritize supervision and training resources for higher risk Staff.
B. NEED PRINCIPLE: Target interventions to employee training needs.
C. RESPONSIVITY PRINCIPLE: Be responsive to temperament, learning style, motivation, gender, and culture when using interventions.
D. DOSAGE: The higher the training need the greater the time invested in change.
E. TRAINING PRINCIPLE: Integrate training (all of the above) into the staff improvement plan.
a) Risk Principle
Prioritize primary supervision and training resources for staff who are at higher risk. Research indicates that supervision and training resources that are focused on communication, thinking and problem solving skills offer the best results.

8. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
b) Staff Need Principle
Address Staff’ greatest training needs. Employees have a variety of needs, some of which are directly linked to poor performance. These staff needs that, when addressed or changed, affect work performance. Examples of staff needs are attitudes, values, and beliefs; low self control; peers and personality type. Based on an assessment of the employee, these needs can be prioritized so that training is focused on the greatest training needs.
Questions to Ask:
Are Supervisors and staff trained in motivational
interviewing techniques?
• What quality assurance is in place?
• Are supervisors held accountable for using motivational interviewing techniques in their day-to-day interactions with staff?

9. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
c) Responsivity Principle
Responsivity requires that we consider individual characteristics when matching supervision with staff. These characteristics include, but are not limited to: culture, gender, motivational stages, developmental stages, and learning styles. These factors influence staff responsiveness to different types of training.
The principle of responsivity also requires that staff be provided with training that is proven effective with other staff. Certain training strategies, such as cognitive-behavioral methodologies, have consistently produced better results. Providing appropriate responsivity to staff involves selecting services in accordance with these factors, including:
a) Matching training staff needs; and
b) Matching style and methods of communication with staff on stages of change readiness.

10. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
d) Dosage
Providing appropriate doses of training, pro-social structure, and supervision as a strategic application of resources. Staff needs (risk) dictate a higher allocation of structure and supervision. Staff in need commonly require strategic, extensive, and extended training/support. However, too often individuals are neither explicitly identified nor provided a coordinated package of supervision/training.
The evidence indicates that incomplete or uncoordinated
approaches can have negative effects, often wasting resources.

11. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
e) Training Principle
Training, particularly cognitive-behavioral types, should be applied as an integral part of the staff change process. Integrate training into staff requirements through individual training plan (taking a proactive and strategic approach to supervision and staff training). Delivering targeted and timely training interventions will provide the greatest long-term benefit to the organization, the community, and the clients.
Questions to Ask:
• How do we manage staff assessed as highly skilled?
• Does our personnel assessment tool assess for necessary skills?
• How are cognitive skills and training needs incorporated into training plans?
• How are staff matched to training resources?
• How structured are training plans for staff, especially during the first 6 months in the organization?
• How are supervisors held accountable for using assessment information to develop a training plan and then subsequently using that plan to develop staff?

12. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
4) Staff Train with Directed Practice (using cognitive-behavioral methods).
Provide evidence-based programming that emphasizes cognitive
behavioral strategies and is delivered by well trained staff, preferably supervisors.
To successfully deliver this training to staff, supervisors must understand thinking, social learning, and appropriate communication techniques. Skills are not just taught to staff, but are practiced (modeled) or role-played and the resulting
pro-social attitudes and behaviors are positively reinforced by supervisors. Organizations should prioritize, plan, and budget to predominantly implement staff training that have been scientifically proven to impact behavior.
Questions to Ask:
• How are social learning techniques incorporated into the training programs we deliver?
• How do we ensure that our staff trainings are delivered in alignment with social learning theory?
• Are the staff trainings we deliver and contract for based on scientific evidence proven to impact behavior?

13. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
5) Increase Positive Reinforcement.
When learning new skills and making behavioral changes, human beings appear to respond
better and maintain learned behaviors for longer periods of time, when approached with
carrots rather than sticks. Behaviorists recommend applying a much higher ratio of positive
reinforcements to negative reinforcements in order to better achieve sustained behavioral
change. Research indicates that a ratio of four positive to every one negative reinforcement
is optimal for promoting behavior changes. These rewards do not have to be applied
consistently to be effective (as negative reinforcement does) but can be applied randomly.
Increasing positive reinforcement should not be done at the expense of or undermine
administering swift, certain, and real responses for negative and unacceptable behavior.
Staff having problems respond positively to reasonable and reliable additional structure and
boundaries. Staff may initially overreact to new demands for accountability, seek to evade
detection or consequences, and fail to recognize any personal responsibility. However,
with exposure to clear rules that are consistently (and swiftly) enforced with appropriate
graduated consequences, all staff and people in general, will tend to comply in the
direction of the most rewards and least punishments. This type of extrinsic motivation
can often be useful for beginning the process of behavior change.

14. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
6) Engage On-going Support within the organization.
Realign and actively engage pro-social supports for staff
within the Organizational structure (The Big “O” and the
Big “MO”). Research indicates that supervision and peer
interventions with staff result in positive change by
improving bonds and developing informal ties to pro social
interaction.
Questions to Ask:
• Do we engage the organization for staff as a regular part
of the training plan?
• How do we measure our supervisor and peer interactions as they relate to staff change?

15. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
7) Measure Relevant Processes/Practices.
Accurate and detailed documentation of training plan, along
with a formal and valid mechanism for measuring outcomes, is the
foundation of evidence-based practice. Organizations must routinely
assess staff change in cognitive and skill development, and
evaluate effectiveness, if training is to remain effective.
In addition to routinely measuring and documenting staff change,
staff performance should also be regularly assessed. Staff that are
periodically evaluated for performance achieve greater fidelity to
program design, service delivery principles, and outcomes. Staff
whose performance is not consistently monitored, measured, and
subsequently reinforced work less cohesively, more frequently at
cross-purposes and provide less support to organization.

16. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
8) Provide Measurement Feedback.
Once a method for measuring relevant processes / practices is in
place (principle seven), the information must be used to monitor
process and change. Providing feedback to staff regarding
their progress builds accountability and is associated with enhanced
motivation for change, lower staff turn over, and improved
outcomes.
The same is true within an organization. Monitoring delivery of
training and fidelity to procedures helps build accountability and
maintain integrity to the organizational mission. Regular
performance audits and planning with an eye toward improved
outcomes, keep staff focused on the ultimate goal of increased
performance through the use of evidence-based principles.

17. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
Questions to Ask:
• What data do we collect regarding staff assessments and Training plans?
• How do we measure staff change while they are under supervision?
• What are our staff outcome measures and how do we track them?
• How do we measure staff performance? What data do we use? How is that data collected?
• How is information regarding staff change and outcomes shared with the organization? With staff in general?
• With whom do we share information regarding outcome measures?
• How is staff performance data used in the performance evaluation process?

18. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
Questions?

19. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
Sources:
Color site ( Free True Colors Test. Harvard’s Learning Organization Survey –.
Manager Tools
Motivational Enhancement (
Motivational Assessment-Supervisory Tools for enhancing proficiency: An MI guide for supervisors, specifically. (
“Implementing Evidence-Based Practices in Community Corrections: Principles of Effective Intervention”
“Evidence Based Correctional Practices”
Implementing Evidence-Based Policy and Practice in Community Corrections: Second Edition

20. Principles of Effective Intervention (Leadership-Supervision)
Employee incentive Basics ( A list of possible rewards.
84 employees reward ideas ( and
Target Intervention/Skill Training with Directed Practice:
Carey Guides ( These guides can assist supervisors in providing tangible examples, when coaching employees; however, they require purchase.
Center for Effective Public Policy ( The Center synthesizes its work in writing for the criminal justice field so others can learn from the Center’s efforts. You can find training
Leadership Coaching, Tony Stoltzfus
Leading Change, John P. Kotter
“Promoting Public Safety Using Effective Interventions with Offenders”
Effective Communication/Motivational Strategies in Assessing and Overcoming Resistance to Change
“Program Planning and Design: NIC e-Learning Program”