One of my Business Coaching Corner blog readers wrote: “I would like to know more about supervision so I know how to both use and provide it.” … “I have been told that supervision is meant as a space for the employee to use to identify their needs, goals and desires for their future and the delivery of the service they provide. I have not been able to find a definitive description and so far unable to find our organisation’s policy on this subject. Therefore, I would find supervision a useful topic for your blog.”

Okay, since you could and others have written books on this subject, let’s devote this brief blog to understanding what Supervision is: Although not always reliable, a posting on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, defines it as: “Supervision means the act of watching over the work or tasks of another who may lack full knowledge of the concept at hand. Supervision does not mean control of another but guidance in a work, professional or personal context.” So, it looks like my reader has a good working definition of Supervision.

From my career experiences, “Supervison”, “Management” and “Leadership” are inter-related and hierachical. So, let’s first expand the definition of Supervision to include Management: Wikipedia, defines it as: “Management comprises directing and controlling a group of one or more people or entities for the purpose of coordinating and harmonizing that group towards accomplishing a goal. Management often encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources. Management can also refer to the person or people who perform the act(s) of management.”

Let’s add Leadership to the equation: Wallis Kinnng Associates provided a Wikipedia postings on Leadership: ““House defines "leadership" organizationally and narrowly as "the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members." Organizationally, leadership directly impacts the effectiveness of costs, revenue generation, service, satisfaction, earnings, market value, share price, social capital, motivation, engagement, and sustainability. Leadership is the ability of an individual to set rules for others and lead from the front. It is an attitude that influences the environment around us.

In would-be controlling groups such as the military, political parties, ruling élites, and other belief-based enterprises like religions or businesses, the idea of leadership can become a Holy Grail and people can come to expect transformational change stemming from the leader; such entities may encourage their followers and believers to worship leadership, to respect it, and to strive (whether realistically or not) to become effective in it. Ideally, one cannot buy or sell leadership in the military; instead, leaders must ratify their position of command in the hearts and minds of their soldiers in order to obtain the best from them. Followers in such a situation may become uncritically obedient. Personal strategies that one can use to guard against the unrealistic expectations associated with belief in leaders include:
    -maintaining a questioning attitude
    -bolstering confidence in one's own decision-making abilities
    -seeking independent verification through appropriate measurement and reporting infrastructures“

Now we know the generally accepted definitions of Supervision, Management and Leadership. Let’s discuss the real world. I found that there isn’t much difference between Supervision and Management, just more people and or things to “Supervise”. I also learned that you can “manage things” but you have to “lead people”.  And I have especially enjoyed the responsibility for helping to turn “Managers’ into “Leaders”. One of my favorite thoughts from General Norman Schwarzkopf’s book It Doesn’t take a Hero and his speeches is, and let me paraphrase here: “When given command; take charge and do what’s right!”  I had the great honor of working with General Schwarzopf when he spoke at a RE/MAX annual convention that I produced in 1992 after Operation Desert Storm.

I’ve found that delegation is the toughest task for a Supervisor or Manager to learn and this is especially true for Entrepreneurs. As discussed in my “Value Added Management” blog, an important lesson to learn is how to get out of the way of your subordinates and let them go, do and be. But that takes “patience”; a quality I've found that a lot of managers and work environments lack. Another important lesson learned early on in my management career was that you can delegate “accountablility” but not “responsibility” for completing a task. Interestingly that leads us to a future blog topic “Power”. How does a Supervisor, Manager or Leader get “power” over their subordinates? And since I also know that my “Supervision” reader shares an interest, maybe we’ll even have a chance to discuss the four control dramas in that future blog from the book The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield and how that insight might influence your supervision or management approach.

I hope that this blog helps my reader’s understanding of “Supervision”. Now, I’d like to hear some of your comments. What do you think Supervision is? What do you think of my reader’s and Wikipedia’s definition of “Supervision”? What are your thoughts on Management and Leadership?

Please let me know your thoughts on this blog by posting a comment here, sending an email to:  DaveWestfall@dewpointe.com  or by filling out a contact form on my coaching website at: www.dewpointe.com.

All the best,

Dave Westfall, MBA
Business Coach and Internet Marketing Consultant