Personal Relationships and Employees

¶ … Supervisory Strengths

One aspect of this supervisor's character and managerial style that has always been strong is his ability to communicate on an interpersonal level, and also to large groups of people. He excels in giving direction in a clear and precise manner, and dispensing advice in a friendly and supportive fashion. He is also a good listener, which makes him able to understand when a subordinate does not clearly understand an assignment, needs emotional or practical support, or is having a personality conflict with another member of the staff. He understands the wisdom of not "focusing on what you want to say to get your point across," and instead turns his "focus on what you want the other person to hear" (Reh, 2007, "Getting your point across").

Sometimes this type of consideration can be as simple as just asking, 'what don't you understand,' rather than merely repeating the directions over again, if the person looks uncertain. Asking people to give immediate feedback about what they just heard is a good way to assess how much information they have absorbed.

A supervisor who is a good communicator also clearly tells employees what the desired end product should be, while still involving the employee in planning. He gives positive as well as negative feedback, and the feedback is specific and constructive. This supervisor sets specific deadlines, employs a hands-on approach by monitoring progress and never tries to micromanage small decisions (Reh, 2007, "The lesson of the red horse"). Employees are allowed to have a sense of ownership about their work, but they never feel as though they are fumbling around in the dark, without a clear idea of what to do next. He is also approachable, should a conflict arise, which prevents potential delays or setbacks from becoming too great to solve.

Supervisory Weaknesses

Unfortunately, although the supervisor's interpersonal skills are strong, the actual, technical knowledge he has about the various projects he oversees is often weak. This has resulted in him setting inappropriate timetables for certain complex projects and also a lack of awareness about the types of expertise that is needed, when assigning certain members of the staff to different projects. Additionally, a good sense of what sorts of skills are demanded of particular projects is helpful when engaged in planning activities, such as ensuring that people involved in multiple projects will be available during crucial junctures of project completion.

In terms of actual, personal relationships, the more technically sophisticated staff members often have a lack of respect for mangers who they believe do not have enough experience in their technical field of expertise. This can result in insubordination or a lackadaisical attitude. This attitude can permeate to the rest of the staff in general, and result in a lack of respect for the supervisor's authority. A lack of expertise in technical matters can also make it difficult to select new employees to include in a project, because of the difficulty in evaluating the unknown employee's technical fluency.