Trial and Error: How Student Affairs Staff in Community Colleges Learn to Supervise

Supervisory skills play an important role in individual staff development and the achievement of organizational objectives. These skills are vital to professionals in community college student affairs, who support a diverse student population and a wide array of programming. This study was conducted to describe the kind of supervisory training experience student affairs professionals received. Through interviews with community college student affairs professionals, we found that many experienced a lack of formal training and acquired supervisory skills over time on the job, through trial and error, and from workshops.