The simplest way to describe supervision is to call it job-therapy. This indicates that the supervision is work-related and that the worker, the work-personality, and (professional) development is a priority. Supervision is a form of work related training that focuses on providing a specific learning situation in which the supervisee learns through the internalization or enhancement of his self-reflection skills.

Supervision is by definition work related, the personality and the context are primarily approached from a professional perspective. Within the structure of supervision, there is a link between the work situation and learning situation during the sessions. This is done via the supervisee bringing work material and content as input to the supervision. Self reflection reports can also be used as supervision content.

The counseling form focuses on synthesizing identity, meaning that personal qualities stand central, with the supervisee developing as an authentic and distinctive professional, where he or she feels right in place.

In textbooks for supervision, such as that written by Van Praag, Serendipity is described as a characteristic of supervision. That is, that people often discover what he was not looking for, almost like a discovery by coincidence. Often such discoveries should not be undervalued in significance. Penicillin is an example of such discovery by coincidence. Pek van Andel (a Dutch researcher and Nobel Prize winner) describes serendipity in a more evocative way : “looking for a needle in a haystack, and rolling out with a farmer-girl”.