How to Run a Great Supervision Meeting: A Guide for New BCBAs

By LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes, MA, BCBA · Last reviewed 2026-10-14 · 9 min read

You were promoted because you were a great clinician. Supervising is a different skill. A good supervision meeting does three things: it improves client care, it builds the supervisee's skills, and it makes them want to come back next month. Most meetings only manage the first. This guide covers all three.

Why this matters

Supervision affects whether people stay. In a study of behavior technicians, Kazemi, Shapiro, and Kavner (2015) found that satisfaction with training, supervision, pay, and job conditions together explained a meaningful share of turnover intentions. More recently, the BACB's December 2025 Newsletter reported survey results from former RBTs: 41% named lack of supervisor support as a factor in leaving.

Yet many supervisors were never taught how to supervise. In DiGennaro Reed and Henley's (2015) survey, about two-thirds of respondents said they hadn't received training on effective supervision practices. A 2022 follow-up found that fewer than half of supervisors had received supervisory skills training.

If you feel underprepared, you're not alone. The good news is that supervision is a skill you can learn.

Know the minimum requirements

For RBTs, the RBT Handbook requires:

• Supervision for at least 5% of the hours they provide behavior-analytic services each calendar month.
• At least two face-to-face, real-time contacts per month. Phone calls and email don't count.
• At least one of those contacts must be individual.
• At least one observation of the RBT providing services.

Supervisors must also complete an 8-hour supervision training based on the BACB's Supervisor Training Curriculum Outline (2.0) before supervising.

These are minimums. Meeting them keeps you compliant. It doesn't make supervision effective.

A meeting structure that works

This structure fits a 45- to 60-minute individual meeting. Adjust it for your setting, but keep the order.

1. Check in (5 minutes)

Start by asking how they're doing. Not as small talk, but because what they tell you shapes the rest of the meeting. Are they overwhelmed? Struggling with a family? Thinking about leaving? You'll only find out if you ask.

2. Follow up on last time (5 minutes)

Review the action items from your last meeting. Did they try the new prompting procedure? Did you send the materials you promised? Following up shows that what you discuss actually matters.

3. Review the data (10 to 15 minutes)

Look at graphs together. Ask the supervisee what they see before you tell them. "What do you notice about this trend?" builds clinical thinking. "This program is flat" just gives them your conclusion.

4. Feedback on your observation (10 minutes)

Be specific and balanced. Name what they did well as precisely as what needs to change.

• Vague: "Good job with him today."
• Specific: "When he started to leave the table, you blocked the exit and presented an easier task within a few seconds. That's exactly the plan."

5. Build one skill (10 to 15 minutes)

Pick one skill and teach it with behavioral skills training (BST):

1. Instructions. Explain the skill and why it matters.
2. Model. Show them how to do it.
3. Rehearsal. Have them practice with you playing the client.
4. Feedback. Tell them what was right and what to adjust, then practice again.

Parsons, Rollyson, and Reid (2012) describe this sequence as the core of evidence-based staff training. Repeat rehearsal and feedback until they perform the skill correctly. If you only talk about a skill, you'll likely be talking about it again next month.

6. Their questions (5 minutes)

Leave time for whatever they need. Sometimes the most important issue comes up at the end.

7. Action items and documentation (5 minutes)

Agree on two or three specific next steps, with dates. Then document the meeting: date, duration, format, what you covered, and feedback given. Supervision records must be kept for at least 7 years.

Mistakes new supervisors make

Spending the whole meeting on paperwork. Documentation matters, but if every meeting is about notes and hours, supervisees learn that supervision is a compliance check.

Giving all feedback at once. Ten corrections in one meeting is overwhelming. Pick the one or two changes that matter most for the client.

Only talking. Telling someone how to do a procedure isn't the same as teaching it. Rehearsal is where learning happens.

Skipping the relationship. Sellers, Valentino, and LeBlanc (2016) recommend building a positive supervisory relationship and setting clear expectations from the start. People take feedback better from someone they trust.

Canceling when things get busy. If supervision is the first thing you cut, supervisees learn it's the least important part of their job.

Your first meeting with a new supervisee

Use your first meeting to set expectations both ways:

• How often you'll meet and in what format.
• How to reach you between meetings, and how quickly you'll respond.
• How you give feedback, and how they'd like to receive it.
• What they want to get better at this year.
• What to do in an emergency.

Put it in writing. A shared understanding at the start prevents most of the frustration that shows up later.

Keep going with The ABA Playbook

Good supervision is a system you can repeat every month.

1. Use the playbook. Download the supervision meeting playbook for a ready-to-use agenda, a feedback script, and a documentation template.
2. Watch. Subscribe to The ABA Playbook on YouTube for practical videos on supervision and leading clinical teams.
3. Connect with other supervisors. Join The ABA Playbook community on Skool. It's free, and it's a place for new BCBAs and clinical leaders to share what's working and get advice on hard supervision situations.

References

• Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2025). December 2025 BACB Newsletter.
• Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2026). Registered Behavior Technician Handbook.
• Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Supervision and training.
• Blackman, A. L., DiGennaro Reed, F. D., Erath, T. G., & Henley, A. J. (2022). A survey of staff training and performance management practices: An update. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 16, 731–744. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-022-00762-0
• DiGennaro Reed, F. D., & Henley, A. J. (2015). A survey of staff training and performance management practices: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 8(1), 16–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-015-0044-5
• Kazemi, E., Shapiro, M., & Kavner, A. (2015). Predictors of intention to turnover in behavior technicians working with individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 17, 106–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2015.06.012
• Parsons, M. B., Rollyson, J. H., & Reid, D. H. (2012). Evidence-based staff training: A guide for practitioners. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 5(2), 2–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391819
• Sellers, T. P., Valentino, A. L., & LeBlanc, L. A. (2016). Recommended practices for individual supervision of aspiring behavior analysts. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 9(4), 274–286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-016-0110-7

About the author

LaKeysha Cobbs-Hayes, MA, BCBA, is the founder of Key Essentials to Behavior Management and Strategic Behavior Consultants. She trains RBTs, supervisors, and clinic leaders and builds practical tools for the people doing the work.

Last reviewed October 14, 2026. Requirements change; always confirm current requirements with the BACB. The ABA Playbook is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board.