Leadership Is More Than Supervision: It Is Inspiring Others

Leadership

What it means to be a great supervisor in today's workplace.

A supervisor in today's workplace knows how to make decisions and how to bring subordinates along with those decisions. Respect for supervision isn't always automatic, even though an employee who has only been on the job briefly knows who is in charge of his department he truly cannot be totally committed and respectful of that supervisor until a period of time has passed. Watching the supervisor make decisions and pass alone instructions relating to those decisions it gives the new employee an idea of how energetic and purposeful this leadership can be. A supervisor sitting in his or her office shuffling through paperwork and answering email for half the day is not a supervisor that a new employee will automatically look up to or follow. But it is the supervisor who is out on the floor, moving around the building, asking questions, saying hello, making small talk if necessary, and looking as though there is purpose to every step of the way -- that is the person who shows drive and gets respect. That is the person who makes an employee feel like this is a company that is going someplace and is moving in the right direction in that effort. In a very real way a supervisor or foreman or executive is a role model for the employees. The way in which a supervisor works should be an inspiration to the employees; of course the supervisor has different motivations and duties than the ground floor employee, but the determination and the ambition shown -- no matter how different from the average employee the supervisor's direction will be and should be -- is the spark that can light a fire under employees witnessing the energy put out by the supervisor. 230.

We do need leaders who create enthusiasm in the workplace. Peter Drucker said that "…management is doing things right, but leadership," he added, "is doing the right things." The right thing for a supervisor to do is to lead employees. And the more self-confidence that a leader shows through the completion of daily tasks the more certain the average employee can be of the direction of the company. Confidence breeds confidence. Author Ken Kesey, who wrote "One Flew Over the Koo-Kos's Nest," knew something about leadership; he said that basically a supervisor doesn't lead by "pointing and telling people some place to go." In fact, Kesey asserted, a supervisor leads by "going to that place and making a case," which is the point this paper is making. Having talent and a good voice and youthful energy -- these are all attributes that can be important for a supervisor. But that supervisor also needs self-assurance, self-pride in the quality of work that is presented, and there can never be a doubt from the perspective of the employee that the supervisor has confidence in everything he or she is leading others to do. 230